Burr Ridge-based rock star Jim Peterik, best known as the former guitarist for Survivor (for whom he co-wrote “Eye of the Tiger”) and longtime guitarist-vocalist for The Ides of March, played to a sold-out audience Saturday at the Theatre of Western Springs. [See the above video for some musical highlights of the event.]

The charismatic purple-haired rocker played stripped-down versions of many of his best known songs, including Rocky-series staples “Eye of the Tiger” and “Burning Heart,” Sammy Hagar classic “Heavy Metal” and Survivor ballad “The Search Is Over,” alongside 38 Special hits “Hold On Loosely” and “Rockin’ Into the Night” and a new composition called “Somebody’s Child.”

“It’s great to strip it down, to just be in the bedroom—I mean, writing the songs in the bedroom—and just really tell the story behind some of these songs,” Peterik told the audience, also working in generous shout-outs to Patch (referencing our earlier interview) and Casey’s Market and joking about “Tiger” co-writer Frankie Sullivan suing Newt Gingrich over the song.

He was joined on-stage by “Swiss-army-knife” keyboardist Jeff Lantz and bassist Bob Bergland, and worked plenty of inter-audience play into his act, even soloing up and down the stairwells. Theatre member Jim Gary of Elmhust, self-deprecatingly saddling himself the “lesser Jim,” opened the show with a brief acoustic folk-rock set, to a warm reception.

Peterik, known locally as much for his neighborliness and gregariousness as for his rock-and-roll fame (“I recognize everyone in the audience,” he joshed at one point,) greeted friends and fans in the Theatre reception area for over an hour after the show.