\u201cI started kind of reassessing some things. And I started wanting to reach further,\u201d Cronin told Billy Corgan\u2018s “The Magnificent Others<\/a>” podcast. \u201cI was wanting a little more. And not necessarily outside the band. I wanted to lift the band in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n Cronin said he started working with a vocal coach, \u201cputting in 10,000 hours on my voice\u201d so he would be ready to resume touring.<\/p>\n \u201cSo when the band got back together after the pandemic, I was psyched. And some of the guys in the band shared that excitement and some of the guys didn\u2019t,\u201d the 74-year-old singer said. \u201cAnd so it became a little bit of a, like, \u2018Wait a minute, what\u2019s going on here?\u2019 You know? And so there was a little bit of a chasm opening within the band.\u201d<\/p>\n Cronin said things really started to fall apart in 2023 when REO Speedwagon was planning a Las Vegas residency, performing the band\u2019s entire \u201cHi Infidelity\u201d album \u201cwith a massive audio visual presentation.\u201d When bassist Bruce Hall injured his back a week before the residency was scheduled to start, the band replaced him with Elton John\u2019s bassist Matt Bissonette.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Bruce and I think he might feel like I was out to get him,\u201d Cronin told Corgan. \u201cI\u2019ve heard that from people, that there\u2019s a feeling there and it\u2019s just not the case at all. I hold no ill feelings toward him.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier reports said that Hall wanted to rejoin the band later in 2023, but the band continued touring with Bissonette. REO Speedwagon performed at the New York State Fair that summer and at the Syracuse amphitheater in 2024.<\/p>\n The band played its last show as REO Speedwagon on Jan. 1, 2025. Cronin said he tried to repair the rift, but was unable to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just became an impossible situation,\u201d he told Corgan.<\/p>\n The relationship further soured when REO alumni reunited without Cronin<\/a> for a special \u201cretrospective\u201d performance (featuring Syracuse native Alan Gratzer<\/a>) last June in the group\u2019s hometown of Champaign, Illinois. Cronin went on tour under his own name, but later admitted it was harder to sell tickets<\/a> as the Kevin Cronin Band.<\/p>\n Cronin, Hall, Gratzer and retired keyboardist Neal Doughty sparked fans\u2019 hopes when they reunited in September<\/a> as grand marshals for the University of Illinois homecoming parade. They performed with the Fighting Illini marching band, marking the first time all four had been together in a musical capacity since 1988, when Gratzer left the band.<\/p>\n But no further reunions have been announced, and it remains unclear if REO Speedwagon will take it on the run again.<\/p>\n REO Speedwagon, fronted by Cronin since 1972, is best known for \u201870s and \u201880s rock hits like \u201cCan\u2019t Fight This Feeling,\u201d \u201cTake It On the Run,\u201d and \u201cKeep on Loving You.\u201d Cronin said last year that he may continue performing solo \u2014 his next concert will be Feb. 23 on the Rock Legends Cruise<\/a> \u2014 and will also work on finishing his memoir, tentatively titled \u201cRoll With the Change: My Life Within and Without REO Speedwagon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A classic rock singer is revealing more details about what led to his band\u2019s breakup. REO Speedwagon split…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-427163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"REO](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PQNJR62L2RABDCXLJ63NUURXCE.JPG\")
REO Speedwagon performs at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview in 2022. Photo by Warren Linhart<\/p>\n