Cheap Trick - Like many who followed Cheap Tick in the early days, I always felt this band was very underrated. You would generally find them in a really cool rock fan's record collection and that even included some serious punk rockers. Then Cheap Trick broke and I wondered if they actually maybe one of those odd 'overrated underrated' bands that gets talked about by some with somewhat overly reverent tones. But in studying some live footage on television and revisiting the early works, no this band is legitimately excellent and deserving of all they get and then some. Basically, they have taken a Beatles like sensibility of rock music and balanced elements from whatever they personally like about rock music and created their own small but substantial niche between a lot of popular genres. They nail the pop hooks, rock hard, push a jam, pull back into songcraft, and just create a great time for themselves and the audience.
All of that was on display tonight with the three veteran Tricksters and Rick Nielsen's son who does a bang-up job on drums in the touring band. They played a set featuring their big hits of course, but a variety of material from their first album onward. There were a few covers sprinkled about including a cool version of Lou Reed's 'I'm Waiting for the Man', which they've done for some time and allows Petterson a lead vocal after a 12-string bass solo opening. Zander is in fine voice, Rick Nielsen is 66 years young and still has at least a few good years left, so Cheap Trick is still a force for any fan of rock'n'roll, pop, and assertive rock music. These guys do it all with just the right formula.
Photo of the Night: Rick Nielsen certainly loves excess when it comes to collecting guitars. Good thing he doesn't play the organ or he may covet this. What I would like to know is exactly how many combination of sounds can you produce and can you manually flip all the switches into these combinations in one lifetime?
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