Cheap Trick January 30, 2010 - HOB Boston

For music fans, you know you’re in the right place when the band lists off the other famous musicians in the crowd that night and their faces happen to line the halls of the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Saturday night at the House of Blues – Boston, Cheap Trick had a list of the best. When members of the Eagles and Aerosmith show up, you know you’re in for a musical treat. But that wasn’t the only hint.

Cheap Trick hit it big in the US in 1977 with their album In Color which included the infamous “I Want You to Want Me”. Throughout the next 30 years, this punk rock band put out undeniable hit songs (“Surrender”, “Dream Police”, “The Flame”, just to name a few) that have generations singing along. This is where my second hint came in: as much as I was surrounded by middle-aged moms and dads, I looked up and saw a group of fifteen year-old boys hanging over the second-floor railings. Then on my way to the bar I was elbowed by three girls in their mid-twenties who were rushing to the front of the stage to catch a glimpse of the still great looking long blonde-haired Robin Zander. And it wasn’t easy to fight through this sell-out crowd. Any band that can bring multiple generations together has something special.

Certainly the majority of their fan base was in the mid-life crowd but these aren’t people who just stopped in for a good show and some drinks. Cheap Trick fans, as I found out very quickly, are absolute die-hards. They’ve been to thirty, forty, even fifty plus shows thanks to the bands continuous touring. This is the third hint: any band that can carry fans through three decades is a must see. Even more so, any band that can make those soccer moms come out from hiding and show up in their low-cut best shirts must have a lead singer who can still rock it.

 The truth is the entire band can. Having seen Bun E. Carlos recently in his role as drummer for the super-group Tinted Windows (which includes members of Hanson, Smashing Pumpkins and Fountains of Wayne), I know he still had it but Rick Nielsen had the energy of a man performing his true passion. These men have been doing it for a long time, and they’re good at it.

An hour and a half later, all my hints had come together to create an unforgettable memory. “I Want You to Want Me” has taken on a whole new meaning.

Article and Photos By: Teresa Reilly

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