LIVE REVIEW: Cheap Trick pulls off "Pepper"

CLEARWATER -– There were rooster crows and checkerboard guitars, "Lovely Rita" and punk-pop power. One dude tackled the intricate voices of four. And a band of Illinois cut-ups took on a dare from Liverpool legends...and triumphed.

When the Beatles recorded "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967, John Lennon said the album could never be performed live: too intricate, too trippy. But at Ruth Eckerd Hall Friday, in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,180, Cheap Trick did just that, tackling the pop canon with equal parts reverence and their own snarly sense of fun.

Cheap Trick, whose signature hits "Surrender" and "Dream Police" were certainly inspired by McCartney & Co., put on this tribute last year in L.A. and New York. But this local stop was special.

Lead singer Robin Zander (above) lives in Safety Harbor. Geoff Emerick, the original engineer on "Pepper," was in house overseeing the soundboard. Special guest Donovan, the '60s psychedelic folkie who taught the Beatles how to finger-pick an acoustic guitar, was flown in from Ireland to tell a few tales, sing a few of his own hits ("Catch the Wind," "Sunshine Superman") and play imperfectly lovely renditions of "Dear Prudence" and "Blackbird."

And when it came time to tackle "Pepper" front to back, Cheap Trick was backed by the Florida Rock Symphony, a booming 24-piece orchestra with a sense of fun and grandeur (ooh, and a cool sitar guy!). The ultimate question, however, would be how Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, drummer Bun E. Carlos and bassist Tom Petersson would blend their rowdy sound into a masterpiece.

After straight-ahead covers of the title track, "With a Little Help From My Friends" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," the band entered a comfort zone. "Getting Better" sounds like a Cheap Trick song already, and the reliably zany Nielsen let his theatrics shine, tearing off some ragged solos that led into "Fixing a Hole," which featured Zander rearing back and howling.

Zander, whose voice has always had that crystalline Lennon snap, had the night's toughest task, tackling all those different deliveries but maintaining his own panache. His most impressive feat was "She's Leaving Home," in which he delivered those  high-holy notes with a slowly swelling string session behind him. When Nielsen pointed to his frontman and said, "This is the only man who could do this show," you believed the hype.

The night wasn't without its bumps and bruises. "Within You Without You," with Donovan on lead, was a mess, but an interesting mess. And Cheap Trick followed with a "When I'm Sixty-Four" that reigned them in a bit too much.

But soon enough, they turned "Lovely Rita" in a whirling scrum of noise, and "Good Morning Good Morning" was loosened up into a slick rock jam. "A Day in the Life" is a perfect song, and instead of getting too clever (the Beatles already took care of that), Cheap Trick played it right down the middle, the audience singing along...and appropriately standing at the end.

Cheap Trick returned to play an encore version on "Abbey Road"'s epic finale. Long after the lights went up, the crowd demanded more. And who knows? Maybe someday they'll get it. After all, the "White Album" turns 40 this year.

[Times photo by Scott Keeler]

Comments

[CHAD]

http://www.cheaptrick.com/wordpress/?cat=3

sean
you've made it on cheap trick.com

[Mark]

The show was great, but very short. Who did you have to know to go to the after show jam?

I saw Cheap Trick in CA. July of 2007 for Two Sold Out Shows. 18,000 a night and June of this year. All Sgt Pepper Tributes and all shows were awesome.Mr Robin Zander is an incredible singer and performer.He still is "The man of a thousand voices"

[Steve Persall]

Why, thank you. I figure Daly needs someone to pick up his slack during well-deserved down time. GnR can really take it out of you, you know.

[Cat]

Again, thanks Steve. You're kinda like Sean's secretary handling the blog questions. Almost like being there.

By the way, I loved your Quantum of Solace review.

[Steve Persall]

Cat: The after-jam was upstairs in the Heye Great Room. Went until a little after midnight when Sean escorted Princess Di and me to our vehicle and hugged her just a little too long.

I remember the Entwistle band (and others) played My Generation and dedicated it to John. The band is the same as he left it (I believe) and they replaced him. Not sure who handled the bass line on My Generation (I was, as the Brits say, in my cups by then) but it sounded like John was guiding his fingers.

And Chad, I think Robin was going for the Sgt. Pepper look. Or else Michael Jackson with testosterone shots.

[GK]

Was at the show, and this is a very accurate review. Really enjoyed it, although Ruth Eckerd is a bit sterile, given no booze in seating area and definitely no 1960's mood enhancers (Donavan "straight", not the best). At 44, I felt good that I was bringing down the average age of the crowd (Did Top-of-the-World have a promotion going last night?) Robin and Cheap Trick are to be commended for having the #$lls to pull this off - and nailed it.

[CHAD]

i love cheap trick, but what's up with what robin's wearing. he kinda looks like an extra from gilligan's island

[surfdog]

what a great show! Really cool to hear an entire album played like that,
nice to see the sitar dudes sittin around waitin for their turn

been singing "within you without you all day"!
In fact I'm listening to it right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3OXDwmlEZE

i saw donovan like a year ago in tampa performing arts and he was really bad, he did not sound close to his sound.
last night he sang his tunes much much better (you can imagine how bad he must have been in tampa)but still not like he used to sound on my eight track tape

[CHAD]

gotta love cheap trick.

[Ed]

Great to read this. I saw the show at the Hollywood Bowl in CA the end of June and it was amazing! Also sold out: over 18,000 people with a 45-piece orchestra, and the sitars.
That night they did only 1 Cheap Trick song: World's Greatest Lover (which George Martin produced).
Amazing!

[Cat]

Thanks Steve, for the additional info. I was at the show, but where was the after~jam? & just who is in the John Entwistle Band? .. the remaining members? or do they have somebody replacing John now? I saw all the cool guitars & cowbell up for auction, but I didn't have enough extra do-re-mi to bid.

I thought `She's Leaving Home` was the HIGHLIGHT too.

[Steve Persall]

Very cool evening from (gin and) soup to (gin and) nuts. Fun to bid (the pre- and post-show parties were for Chi Chi Rodriguez's youth golf foundation) on a cowbell autographed by Buck Dharma of BOC. Even though I was out-bid (I think it went for $4000) it was cool to hear him authenticate it with a jam on Don't Fear the Reaper.

Fogged memory of Cheap Trick doing Surrender and I Want You to Want Me, and a Who song or two (Teenage Wasteland? "We're all wasted.")

You would've been proud of Sean, though, who I couldn't talk into a drink at intermission while he was working (or maybe you rummies wouldn't be proud).

Best song of the night? Zander's take on She's Leaving Home, proving he isn't only a great rock and roll singer but a great singer, period. Standing O stuff.

[Cat]

Sean,

Did you attend the private jam session afterward with Dave Mason? and the John Entwistle Band? and The Who songs? How was that?

[ed]

you can see alot of the Pepper bits from previous shows on you tube. Skippers Smokehouse is having (already had) a 40 yr tribute for the White album.

[Sherry]

I remember like it was yesterday the summer I flew here to FL from CA to visit my mom. It was 1978, I was thirteen, and feeling quite worldly when I got off the plane wearing a pair of blue and red Vans with the words "Cheap Trick" written on the outside rubber. My mother told me years later she was horrified to read that and thought I was advertising myself as being, well, "cheap". I laughed and told her no, Cheap Trick was the hottest band at the time and I wanted everyone to know it. Times have changed, I've changed, (I'm Mennonite now) but I did tell my children (all teens now) about Cheap Trick and I even let them see a video of Surrender on Youtube last year. The band had left such an impression on me, and the video was like a little window for my children to peek into my youth years. God bless you Robin Zander and the rest of the group! I'll never forget.

[Dan]

Excellent review, well done Sean. I'll bet that things were considerably less tense in the parking lot than they were for Ratdog on Tuesday night, where any display of fun or frivolity caused one to risk getting arrested by the pinheads of Clearwater PD.

[Marissa]

Groovy! Wish I'd been there. Gee, I say that often. *sigh*
Excellent review all the same, Sean. Thanks for letting your readers peek into the concert.

[Cat]

This was just the most AWESOME JUBILEE I thought it would be! I LOVED every minute, except for Donovan. He could have phoned his part in. I can't be sure that it really wasn't Doug Henning reincarnated.

[Former Producer Dave, aka Maestro]

Wow Sean, great review. I wish I could have seen that show because it sounds like it was amazing.