They’re all alright. Actually, Cheap Trick sounded more than just OK Sunday at a sold-out Metro, where the veteran band headlined the Wrigleyville venue’s 40th-anniversary celebration finale with a set focused around its ’70s glory days.
The pairing of Metro — which has played an incalculable role in the local and national music scenes — and the Rockford-based ensemble proved fitting given their status as area institutions. They also share a history. Notably, Cheap Trick logged a four-night stand at Metro in 1998 at which it performed a different album in its entirety each evening.
Though its lineup looks a bit different today, Cheap Trick spent the better part of the past decade adhering to the protocol it established early on when it cut its teeth in dive bars, bowling alleys and high school gymnasiums: relentless touring. And while the band doesn’t enjoy the exposure of its ’70s heyday or late ’80s comeback, it continues to record. A trio of studio albums and a terrific holiday LP (“Christmas Christmas”) have hit shelves since 2016.
That same year, Cheap Trick earned induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Long-overdue recognition of the group’s significance arrived later in the form of an exhaustive early history (“This Band Has No Past,” 2022) and another book in which the band gets co-star billing alongside contemporaries for altering music (“They Just Seem a Little Weird,” 2020).
Renowned for persistence — Cheap Trick never broke up even amid a threadbare stretch in the ’80s — the band currently skirts potential problems by turning to an innate solution: two of its members’ children. Lead guitarist Rick Nielsen’s son, Daxx, assumed the drum throne following the departure of co-founder Bun E. Carlos in 2010. More recently, vocalist-guitarist Robin Zander’s son, Robin Taylor, joined as a full-time touring member. The jack-of-all-trades also stepped in for bassist Tom Petersson in 2021 after the latter underwent open-heart surgery and for Rick Nielsen last fall after the guitarist “had a minor procedure.”
That family-affair strategy was on full display at Metro. Daxx Nielsen delivered energetic jolts with a steady barrage of beats and rolls; Robin Taylor Zander supplied rhythmic guitar and backing vocal support. Cheap Trick may be starting to show its age — understandably so, with the three remaining original members in their 70s — but the band still knows how to put on an entertaining rock concert without relying on technology or frills. It dared anyone in attendance not to have fun — or get caught up in the avalanche of singalong refrains, concise pop hooks and punchy dynamics.
Other than the addition of Robin Taylor Zander, who shaded and shadowed a majority of his father’s lead vocals, the only other noticeable changes to the group since its 2016 Metro appearance pertain to its slightly diminished mobility and Robin Zander’s range. Granted, the singer can still belt — and should stand as the envy of a number of vocalists whose pipes permanently corroded. Yet his once-infallible register has narrowed some, most audibly on high-register and falsetto passages.
Credit Cheap Trick, however, for not masking the obvious. In one of the worst-kept secrets in the industry, artists have used sonic cheats and hidden musicians to beef up their live sound for decades. For longtime fans, seeing Robin Taylor Zander augment vocals to classic tunes might seem odd, but it didn’t detract from the overall impact or overstep his father’s parts. Another honest tell: Cheap Trick’s audio engineer refrained from goosing the board levels during the 105-minute show.
Not that the quintet gave the crowd any reason to look anywhere but the stage. Surveying Cheap Trick’s outfits — Nielsen’s trademark ball cap and black sports coat; Robin Zander’s sparkly jacket and “Dream Police” hat; Petersson’s recognizable scarf and leather jacket — served as a reminder of its visual influence on peers. That extended to the band’s showmanship, led by Robin Zander’s extroverted presence and Nielsen’s hallmark antics.
At 74, the guitarist is a national treasure — an animated prankster whose one-off quips, mouthed mid-song commentaries, exaggerated poses and rubbery expressions speak to the troublemaker in everyone. Watching Nielsen up-close also confirmed a less-obvious fact: he remains an underrated guitarist. Employing a wah pedal as his sole accessory, he came to everything else the old-fashioned analog way, via fingers and strings, imagination and skill, feel and texture.
Per tradition, he trotted out a parade of custom guitars, showered fans with colorful picks and refused to take anything too seriously. He played his instruments as if they were a natural appendage, and for all the bluster involved, approached fills and solos with measures of control, pace and spaciousness. As his face flashed “who, me?” and “aw shucks” glances, Nielsen kept his left index and middle fingers busy on the fretboard.
The guitarist evoked the slyness of a sleight-of-hand magician who always keeps another surprise in reserve. He dangled, teased and shuffled notes; buzz saw tones and foot-stomping riffs sliced through the mix. Scribbling outside the lines and seldom taking a direct route to the finish, Nielsen’s casual acrobatics suggested Cheap Trick’s melodic songs didn’t always reveal everything on the surface. He tapped out ringing harmonics (“Clock Strikes Ten”); swirled dark psychedelia (“Heaven Tonight”); added razzle-dazzle to familiar fare (“I Want You to Want Me”); and engaged in wordless back-and-forth conversations with his bandmates (“Ain’t That a Shame”).
Steadied by the fat bottom end of Petersson’s 12-string bass, Cheap Trick bounced and boogied, strutted and swaggered. The band explored pleasure (“Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll”), pain (“Stop This Game”) and many emotional states in between. The few missteps: It ceded lead vocals to Robin Taylor Zander during “Downed,” a meta moment during which it felt as if Cheap Trick was covering Cheap Trick. And though the elder Zander resumed his normal duties for “The Flame,” the ballad came across as a hair-metal exercise.
No matter. In less than six months, it will be Cheap Trick’s turn to commemorate an official milestone: 50 years together. As Nielsen and Co. demonstrated at Metro for the umpteenth time in their career, few American bands lay claim to such sheer originality — or have been more ready to rock.
Set list from Metro July 16, 2023:
“Clock Strikes Ten”
“Hello There”
“Just Got Back”
“California Man” (The Move cover)
More Top Picks Christmas Tree
“He’s a Whore”
“Big Eyes”
“On Top of the World”
“Ain’t That a Shame” (Fats Domino cover)
“Heaven Tonight”
“The Ballad of TV Violence (I’m Not the Only Boy)”
“Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll”
“Stop This Game”
“Downed”
“I Know What I Want”
“The Flame”
“I Want You to Want Me”
“Dream Police”
Encore
“Never Had a Lot to Lose”
“Surrender”
“Auf Wiedersehen”
“Goodnight”
Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.