Next Position Please

Nothing like a Tuesday night at the House of Blues. This venue, which is part of the well known chain, is like a Disney theme park ride, complete with its own gift shop.With its faux tin shack exterior and many examples of "folk art" on the inside, they may as just as well call it The Haunted Southern Roadhouse ride. No scary animatronic hillbillies or Uncle Remus characters to seen here,thank god. I think they are just one step away from being an adult Chuck E. Cheese. Though I have to say, I don't mind this place. Food and drink is pricey, but this is L.A., the Sunset Strip no less. Sound and lighting are top notch and the staff at this venue are extremely friendly.

At first sight it appears to be a horrible turn out. This is the second night of Cheap Trick playing here and the tickets are in the $80 range. On top of this they are doing a Monday and Tuesday two-nighter, hardly big concert going nights for their fan base. I ask the bartender how the turnout was for last night and he says it was barely half full. This is the reality of the concert business these days. High ticket prices in this economy are resulting in some shockingly low attendance figures. Many of these acts need to get realistic about what they are charging to see them play. The days of inflated ticket prices, which have just gone through the roof in the last ten years, has to be waning. I was sifting through some old ticket stubs from the 80's (yes, I have saved most of them) recently and I was just gob smacked at how low the prices were. I know it was 20 to 25 years ago, but still. It seems like most of the shows were less than $15! Veteran acts now routinely charge $75 to $125 or more for shows, figuring that their older fan base has money and will pony up to see them. I think that mid-level veteran acts are going to have to bring those prices down. Cheap Trick, for example, should be $40 to $50 at most.

Anyway, getting off that tangent and getting back to the gig. The opening act was Ricky Warwick,a tough looking bloke from Belfast, Ireland sporting tattoo sleeves on his arms, a 70's porn mustache, and an acoustic guitar. He began by saying "I know what you're thinking when you see a guy with an acoustic guitar, 'Oh no, here we go, another bastard who wants to serenade us about his feelings " He turned out to be a rock n' roller with the tools of a singer-songwriter. He had the kind of style that was the equivalent of Bruce Springsteen or John Mellencamp goes to Ireland. He was not as brilliant a writer as those two gentlemen, but he bashed out some decent originals in a compelling and heartfelt way. He did a cover of Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades' and that helped him get over with the crowd. He acquitted himself admirably.

Now the main event. The venue has filled up to maybe a little more than half way by the time our headliners arrive.Cheap Trick have been around since the early 70's (though their debut album was in 1976) and have long been considered the elder statesmen of that rock sub-genre known as Power Pop. There are those who like to dismiss that label and just see them as a rock band, maybe even a classic rock band, a Guitar Hero band. However, if the Power Pop is defined as having the crunching power chords of The Who combined with pop melodies of a band like The Beatles, with maybe some Beach Boys-style harmony thrown in for good measure, then Cheap Trick is a Power Pop band. They were a group that achieved major success for a brief time in the late 70's and early 80's after their 'Live at Budokan' album blew up, fueled by pumped up live versions of their own "I Want You To Want Me" and a cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" and relentless touring, mostly as an o pening act for the likes of KISS,The Kinks and Be-Bop Deluxe. Their popularity faded by about 1983 or so. There was a big, but also short-lived comeback in the 1988 with the "Lap of Luxury" album, which featured a pretty awful rent-a-power-ballad called "The Flame" (a song the band apparently hates) which went to number one and an over-produced in an 80's way cover of Elvis' "Don't Be Cruel". Almost immediately after that good fortune it was back to flop albums and more of a cult following, but the touring has never stopped.

In retrospect, the band's first four albums are absolutely brilliant records: filled with great tunes, quirky lyrics, fine musicianship and the world class vocalizing of Robin Zander. This is a band that may have suffered because they were thought of as being too soft for the rockers and too hard for fans of pop and new wave. It is the first four albums that a make up the bulk of their show these days. They hit the stage to their traditional opener "Hello There" and proceeded to plow through a mostly greatest hits set. They showed their influences with covers of "That 70's Song" (actually "In The Street") by Big Star, "Magical Mystery Tour" by The Beatles, and "California Man" (which is on their second album) by The Move. The playing was tight and economical throughout, with no bombastic over-indulgence into heavy jams or anything. They have songs with tremendous choruses and hooks, but retain a hard rocking edge.

The band was alway visually striking and unique. They had two pretty boy members (Zander and bassist Tom Petersson) and two goofballs (Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos). Rick Nielsen stills sports the black suit, bow tie, and cap combination from the early days and goes through a succession of custom guitars (a twin neck that has a caricature of him on its body and an unwieldy-looking five neck guitar monstrosity) and acts as De-facto MC. On this night he said hello to his wife in the balcony and announced it was their 39th (!) wedding anniversary.He kind of reminds of the actor John Lithgow. Nielsen also thanked the bands that Cheap Trick used to open up for in the 70's. He did,however, note that while the rest of The Kinks were good guys, Ray Davies was "An Asshole", though he stepped away from the microphone and mouthed these words. Tom Petersson, with his suit and black horn rim glasses,looks like a hip college professor. Bun E. Carlos looks practically n ormal and considerably thinner than in their heyday. Robin Zander hides himself behind wrap-around sunglasses and cowboy hat pulled down tight.

75 minutes after they began it ended with "Goodnight", "Dream Police" and "Just Got Back". Would be nice if they played longer considering what they charge, but it is a solid show that won't disappoint anyone. Only two songs ("Magical Mystery Tour" and "Ghost Town") were from after 1982 and there was nothing save the "That 70's Song" cover from the last twenty years,but then the band is wise enough to play to their strengths and to give the people what they want. I hope they continue to do so for many years to come.

Set List:

Hello There
That 70's Song (aka "In The Street")
California Man
High Roller
Oh Candy
If You Want My Love
She's Tight
Heaven Tonight
Magical Mystery Tour
I Want You To Want Me
Voices
Downed
Ghost Town
Surrender
Goodnight

Encore:
Dream Police
Just Got Back