Kevin Cronin

I was standing with John Barrack and John said, well, if you're going to end the band, I guess we got to empty the lockers, sell the equipment.

It was like the ice water thing where they pour ice water in your head.

I was just like, wait, what?

That just blew my mind.

I thought at that moment, I haven't really given this my all yet.

Because before it was Gary and I, and then the band, of course, Alan and Neil and Bruce were all part of it, but Gary and I were sitting in the front seat of the roller coaster.

And, um, so I felt it was my job to continue to keep REO Speedwagon moving forward.

My relationship with Tommy Shaw and our relationship with Styx helped that because Tommy felt the same way about Styx.

Tommy joined Styx right about the same time I rejoined REO.

And, uh, there was talk of Tommy and I being in a band together for a hot second.

But, um, uh,

So there was never any preconceived notion on my part that I thought that REO Speedwagon would ride into the barn, we would all retire at the same time as friends, the crew would be with us.

I know.

It just didn't work out that way.

And it's been a year for me of kind of my mind being a little blown by that because, like you said it, REO Speedwagon is an American institution of sorts.

And so there's a lot of people that are disappointed by the fact that REO Speedwagon has put out a statement saying that we're not going to ever tour again.

So...

But the good news is that for the last four months,

where normally I'd be thinking about the 2026 tour.

I haven't been thinking about that for the first time in 50 years.