Sgt. Pepper Live is the latest chapter to Cheap Trick’s enduring legacy
By Chris Carney


There is a long held maxim in the music world that the truly great bands make their mark on the stage and not in the studio. Whether it was the operatic crescendo of The Who, the smoke and grime haze of the Grateful Dead or the present-day masters of mass musical hypnosis, My Morning Jacket, every truly great band killed it live.

Perhaps more than any other band, American rockers Cheap Trick owe their career to their raucous, humorous, adrenaline-pulsing live shows. Formed in Rockford, Ill., in 1975, Cheap Trick toured the numerous bowling alleys, dive bars and warehouses throughout the Midwest. These shows led Epic Records’ Jack Douglas to sign them, after the prolific producer had seen them perform in Wisconsin, perhaps between strikes of the bowling ball. In 1977, they released their critically lauded but commercial dud self-titled debut. Their next two albums, In Color and Heaven Tonight, also failed to earn them a huge American following, despite featuring future hits “Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me.” Cheap Trick had taken its three swings at stardom and a return to the well-worn bench of the never-were seemed imminent.

Then something strange happened. Japan came calling. While Cheap Trick had failed to muster the legions of fans they would soon be able to lay claim to in the United States, the Japanese had made all three albums gold records. In reward Cheap Trick traversed the ring of fire and filmed two of their shows at the Nippon Budokan, the Madison Square Garden of Tokyo. The resultant double live album, At Budokan, became the breakthrough Cheap Trick had prayed for.

At Budokan was the essence of what the Japanese knew and the world was about to learn: Cheap Trick rocked. Their mishmash of humor, melodic vocals and hard rock riffs worked brilliantly onstage. Robin Zander’s vocals melded perfectly with Rick Nielsen’s guitar cavorting, especially when Nielsen attacked his peacock feather-inspired five-neck guitar.

Cheap Trick had hit it big on the backs of a one-time import-made-multiplatinum domestic release. From there they toured ceaselessly, released a further 14 studio albums, At Budokan II and contributed to numerous soundtrack albums.

Cheap Trick has endured the decades when other bands have faded like background radiation from a dying star. They continue to innovate, entertain and occasionally illuminate.
For Cheap Trick it ends where it all began, on the stage. They return to Las Vegas together with the Sgt. Pepper Symphony Orchestra for a series of shows at Paris Las Vegas, June 22-23 & 25-26, to perform a complete live rendition of The Beatles’ legendary album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

This full-length homage to this seminal 1967 record features a full orchestra, lights, sounds and video, plus some of the band’s very own hits. Cheap Trick is live once more. Rejoice.



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