Cheap Trick

Jason Landry, contributor 

 

I was 16 in 1988 when I first saw Cheap Trick at the Hampton Beach Casino in New Hampshire on their Lap of Luxury tour. That night, lead guitarist Rick Nielsen pinged me off the head with one of his guitar pics, which I still have to this day. Many years later in 2015, I met him backstage at a Cheap Trick concert in Boston and retold this story to him. Towards the end of the Boston show, he pointed toward me as I was sitting in the front row and pelted me with dozens of guitar pics. After the show he asked me, how many pics do you have now, with a big grin on his face.

 

Tonight’s show at the Hampton Beach Casino was like a full circle moment. Cheap Trick took the stage promoting their newest album All Washed Up, one of their best efforts in years (in my opinion). I was worried that this show wasn’t going to happen because only a few days earlier, Nielsen had some sort of medical emergency on stage. When you’re 77 years old, something is bound to happen, especially when you play the amount of shows that they do each year. But lo and behold, the show went on, but not without some technical difficulties. Nielsen’s in-ear monitors weren’t working and he couldn’t hear anything for a few songs. Once they finally fixed it, he went about doing his thing—which also included throwing fist-fulls of picks into the audience (and yes, I scored another for my collection).

 

The band ran through numerous hits including, ”Hello There”, “Ain’t That A Shame”, “I Want You To Want Me”, and “Surrender”, but it was their latest song, “The Riff That Won’t Quit” that became my new favorite song. I wanted to hear them play this newer hit live—and of course, I found it to be epic!

 

Daxx Nielsen did an amazing job behind the drums and Tom Petersson was a few steps back from the front laying down the low end on his 12-string bass (I’ve never seen anyone else play one like this). Robin Zander’s vocals were as great as ever, and his son, Robin Taylor Zander, played rhythm guitar and sang back up on everything, giving the overall vocals that added extra something. He even took lead vocals on the track, “High Roller”.

 

I was happy I got to see one of my favorite rock bands again, and also grateful that there are times in the show specifically during the drum and bass solos where Rick could sit off stage and take a break. He is the epitome of Cheap Trick, and without him up there being his zany self, I’m not sure they would have captivated my attention for almost forty years.