Posted by The very first concert I ever attended was Cheap Trick. I was only 12 years old, I know, a late bloomer for some, and it was during their second leg of the Dream Police tour. I became a Cheap Trick fan during the Live at Budokan album and “I Want You To Want Me” single and soon started collecting their cassettes. Surprisingly, as “punk-ish” their debut album is, it soon became my favorite; I say surprisingly, since I really dont care for punk music.
My uncle bought our tickets the day they went on sale and back then you actually had to go stand in line at the box office! Of course there would be a long line to stand in even at 7am when tickets normally didnt go on sale until 10am on a Saturday. My 2 uncles, the wife of one of my uncle’s and I scored floor tickets, 6 rows back from the stage in front of bassist, Tom Peterson. Since that was 42 years ago, I really dont remember the set list or even how long the show was. I do recall, in some ways, they were still riding the coattail of the Budokan album so they started the show with “Hello” (which has become tradition) and ended with “Clock Strikes 10/Goodnight”, (also a tradition) keeping to the live, true to form feeling. The best part of the show was scoring a guitar pick from Rick Neilsen, that may be the reason I still collect picks to this day!
Cheap Trick paid a visit to the Paramount, Friday 11/4/21 and unfortunately I did not score a pick; for whatever the reason, the novelty was no longer there. They did however start the night with Hello! It was also quite surprising how many older songs they included in their set including Elo Kiddies and He’s A Whore as well as the more popular songs they may be more famous for. Although they released their latest effort this past April they only sang a couple songs from it which is not typically the norm when a band tours in support of their latest album.
As a fan of the original line up, it was a slight disappointment not seeing Bun E Carlos behind the kit but hey, I believe in evolution so I can understand thats nature and he left the band years ago! Tom Peterson also had open heart surgery not too long ago so he ended up sitting this show out but in all honesty, Robin Zander’s son Robin Taylor Zander or RTZ as he is so affectionately called, did a splendid job filling in his predecessor’s shoes. RTZ also did a great job singing Downed from the Heaven Tonight album.
I would be remiss if I didnt express how great it was to see/hear Robin still belting out those classics! There wasnt a cracking in his voice nor did he have to result in singing an octave or two lower than the recorded version of songs like many classic rock artists get away with doing at their shows nowadays! And what can be said about the playfulness Rick displays; he truly is an icon! I can only imagine there are but a few of his favorites that he tours with, playing the guitars that he recorded the songs with but even so, the showmanship and musicianship are incomparable!
Here is an abbreviated gallery from their show at The Paramount in Huntington, NY on 11/4/21 To view full gallery, visit http://www.robarmstrongphotos.com
Long Island Sounds 