Cheap Trick had a gig at the House of Blues on Saturday, January 30th. Although the majority of the audience was middle-aged, the atmosphere was totally filled with high-energy powerful rock tunes during the one and a half hour show.
The band kicked off the show with the introductory melody of "Way of the World". Robin Zander’s mystically pure high voice on "I Want You to Want Me", "Voices", and "The Flame" was, bittersweet, stimulating and molten simultaneously. When the band played Elvis Presley’s "Don’t Be Cruel" as a special highlight, Zander’s voice was absolutely sexually appealing, yet completely unique from the sexy way the King sang it.
Bun E. Carlos relentlessly created powerful drumming rhythms, especially during the performance of one of their biggest hits, "Dream Police". Deep bass sound, constantly produced by Tom Peterson, also boostered the heaviness of "Auf Wiedersehen".
The band played four songs from the current release "The Latest": "Miracle," "These Days," "Miss Tomorrow" and "Sick Man of Europe".
Rick Nielsen is an incredibly entertaining guitarist. He talked a lot, cut his "middle finger" by accident (he emphasized "middle finger" and then called for a Band-Aid), happily tossed handfuls of confetti at the audience again and again, threw a big cardboard piece with "The Latest/Cheap Trick" written on it to fans on the third floor and said hi to Joey Kramer of Aerosmith who was seeing the show from the backstage, introducing the song "Heaven Tonight" as "Steven Tyler’s favorite." He frequently switched among many custom-made guitars for each song and used the five-neck guitar, his trademark, for "Surrender".
The show ended with "Good Night," bidding the audience farewell:
"Good night now ladies and gents. That’s the end of the show, now it’s time to go."
The performance united the audience under the magic of the Cheap Trick sound in Boston. The words of Rick Neilsen couldn’t have been more accurate: "I love to play and I think everybody in the band likes to play. And people like us!"
*Set list Boston -1/30/10*
Way of the World
Come On Come On
Miracle
I Want You to Want Me
These Days
Baby Loves to Rock
Heaven Tonight
Miss Tomorrow
Don’t Be Cruel
Voices
Sick Man of Europe
The Flame
Surrender
Dream Police
Auf Wiedersehen
Good Night
Eiko- Good review of a great band!
But I have to correct you: that’s not confetti Rick throws out to the audience. Those are his custom guitar picks.
What do you think he has turned into Rip Torn??? Confetti???
I think everybody that was at this show, would have given Cheap Trick an excellent review! Definetly would put it up there with one of my all time favorite concerts! Mr. Zanders voice was remarkable to say the least! Loved every song on the setlist and the “Latest” is sure to be a “classic album”! My girl and I were right up front and singing along! We saw smiles all around us! Even caught a couple of Rick’s pics! Thank You Cheap Trick..Get back here soon!
Eiko, I know you’re an intern and all (which means you’re young, and probably this was your first Cheap Trick show), but confetti? Please. Rick’s signature move — besides playing smoking guitar — is throwing picks. The album cover he tosses out during “Surrender” is framed by them. Good job getting the set list, but next time, check ALL your facts.