Saturday night in Akron saw former Cinderella vocalist Tom Keifer and his band bring a headlining set to the historic Goodyear Theater. While it isn’t official that Keifer will never rejoin Cinderella, it certainly appears that way with each passing year and each excellent new record that he puts out with his current band.

And so it was in Ohio’s Rubber City as the band weaved their way through a set that featured most of Cinderella’s greatest tunes and a handful of well placed songs from their latest studio effort; Rise. Their previous record, The Way Life Goes, is solid in its own right; but the new stuff is even better and sounded great live.

For decades Keifer has been one of rock music’s biggest underdogs. It’s a role he appears comfortable in and one that maybe he secretly relishes. It’s kept him at the top of his game, after all, when many of his contemporaries have succumbed to excess or a lack of creativity. Cinderella was pigeonholed as a hair band because of the era that they came from. Sure, they rocked the look, but musically they were always more Bon Scott era AC/DC and The Rolling Stones than they were Poison. Of the “hair” era bands, I put Cinderella at the very top of the mountain when it comes to the quality of their songs. Unfortunately, they were lumped in to a group that really can’t hold a candle to them.

Keifer’s unique vocal style put constant strain on his voice and led to multiple surgeries on his vocal chords over the years. It’s safe to say that some doubted whether he’d be able to sing again. Post-Cinderella, both the old and the new, sound just as powerful and fresh as ever.

While his voice is the iconic sound to the Cinderella material, this stuff can’t be good without the musicians behind it also. As expected, Keifer put together a badass band to apparently fulfill his vision for what his musical legacy will be; both past and present. The current lineup features Keifer’s wife Savannah on vocals and piano, Tony Higbee on guitar, Billy Mercer on bass, Kendra Chantelle on vocals, Jarred Pope on drums, and Kory Myers on the keyboards. The whole band is on fire on the album and most especially live.

Tom Keifer Band Setlist 10/19/2019 Akron, OH

1. Touching The Divine

 2. Night Songs*

3. Coming Home*

4. It’s Not Enough

5. Somebody Save Me*

6. Rise

7. Nobody’s Fool*

8. Solid Ground

9. The Last Mile*

10. Don’t Know What You Got (Til It’s Gone)*

11. Shake Me*

12. Shelter Me*

Encore

13. Long Cold Winter*

14. The Death Of Me

15. Gypsy Road*

*Cinderella songs