Little River Band – Treasure Island Resort & Casino – Welch, MN – May 9, 2025

Little River Band – May 9, 2025 at the Treasure Island Resort & Casino, Welch, MN

Review and photos by Jim Zons

When it comes to bands who have been around for a long time, you often get a chance to see them again and again. But rarely have I seen a band whose concerts I’ve attended were so widely spaced in years (at least for me!)  and whose members changed as much over the years as the Little River Band. The first time I saw LRB was sometime in the 1990s (I think!) at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair in Chippewa Falls.  I remember being backstage and the band coming off stage after their set, and the lead singer at the time lamenting to me that they once used to pack huge stadiums, and “now we’re playing at a fairgrounds!”  I don’t remember exactly what I told him, probably something like “it doesn’t matter, man!  They love you guys!”  In any event, they went back out for their encore right after that, and I thought .. cool.  The next time I saw them, in the early 2000s, they were booked on a routing stop to play at the little Pioneer Grill and Saloon right here in my backyard in rural Wisconsin, with another lineup of performers.  I do have to say it was AMAZING to have the Little River Band play at a tiny venue in the middle of nowhere! Fast forward 20 years, and it was time for another lineup and another venue when the current version of the Little River Band rolled into Treasure Island Resort and Casino’s Event Center in Welch, MN on May 9, 2025.

Some history:  the Little River Band has been around for 50 years, getting their start in Melbourne, Australia in 1975. Their biggest hits charted in the mid 1970s to early 1980s and were staples of AM radio back in AM radio’s music hey-day. As mentioned, the line up has gone through a number of personnel changes;  there hasn’t been an Australian performer in the band for almost 20 years and no original members since 1997, and the original founders aren’t even allowed to tour or reference the name Little River Band due to legal disputes over trademarks and other naming rights.  So, truly, the band that is now on tour celebrating 50 years of the Little River Band is really just a decent LRB tribute band (although their bass player and lead vocalist, Wayne Nelson, has been with the band on and off since 1980).  Once you get past that, it is still enjoyable and fun to hear a great mix of classic radio hits you can instantly sing along with, performed by some quite capable musicians and singers.  It is a little jarring though to hear the current members of the Little River Band chatter in between songs with distinct American southern accents (a couple of the guys are from Nashville) as opposed to Australian accents!

The evening’s set list was an instantly recognizable mix of chart-topping radio hits, like “Man on Your Mind,” and “Happy Anniversary” and 1982’s “Take It Easy On Me” which current lead vocalist Wayne Nelson actually shared lead vocals credit with on the original recording. The harmonies of the current lineup of LRB distinctly reminded me more of the country band Restless Heart as opposed to the original LRB harmonies, but it was still fun to hear live versions of classic hits like “Help Is On The Way,” “Night Owls (again featuring Wayne Nelson who was original lead vocalist on the 1981 recording),” “Cool Change,” “Lady,” and “Lonesome Loser.”  If you get a chance to catch the Little River Band 50^th anniversary tour, and want to be transported back to the 1970s and early 1980s, it’s worth the “Cool Change” to buy yourself a ticket for a great evening of classic music.