Cheap Trick Does Sgt Pepper

by Photo Diva

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cheap Trick Does Sgt Pepper

I was never really a big Beatles fan (they were a little before my time) but I have loved Cheap Trick since high school. When I first heard about the “Sgt. Pepper Live Featuring Cheap Trick” show at the Las Vegas Hilton I knew that it was going to be something really special and I really wanted to cover it for this column and I got my chance on Media Night this past Tuesday. This was the first time for me working with this particular PR agency so we were unfamiliar with each other and there was a misunderstanding that almost kept me from getting to cover the show but luckily for me the agency reps and I got it worked out in time…but it was a close call.

Before I delve into my review of the show I think a little bit of a history lesson is in order. Released in June of 1967, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is the eighth studio album by the Beatles and became one of the most influential albums of all time. That was the summer before I started Kindergarten so it wasn’t really something that influenced me until much later when a certain 1978 movie of the same name, starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees, was released and my friends and I spent the summer seeing it over and over and over. I know, I know, the movie sucks big time but I was young so don’t judge. The movie did introduce me to the likes of Aerosmith, Earth, Wind and Fire, Alice Cooper and Billy Preston (who were all in the film) and helped me develop my varied taste in music.

Lead Vocalist Robin Zander

In 1974 Guitarist Rick Nielsen, Bassist Tom Petersson, Drummer Bun E. Carlos and vocalist Robin Zander created the band Cheap Trick. Their debut album “Cheap Trick” was released in February 1977 and did extremely well in Japan but didn’t really hit it big in the States until the release of their live album, “Cheap Trick at Budokan” — recorded at one of their Japanese concerts that included a live version of “I Want You to Want Me” — in 1979 when I was a 16-year-old high-school student. It was one of the first albums I ever bought and I think I wore out at least two copies.

Now Cheap Trick doing the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album in it’s entirety seemed like a pretty wild idea at first to me but after some thought it began to make sense. Take one of the best rock bands of all time — a band that was called the American Beatles in the Japanese press in their early days — and have them pay tribute to one of the most cutting-edge rock albums ever created. It’s a no-brainer really but how do you take an intricate 40 minute album and turn it into a 90 minute spectacular? With a little help from friends of course.

Rick Nielson, Bun E Carlos and Robin Zander Pay Tribute to Sgt Pepper

The show opens with a symphony playing a beautifully arranged medley of Beatles songs — I Want To Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Love Me Do and Please Please Me — from the top tier of a two-tier stage. Soon multi-Grammy nominee Joan Osborne, Beatlemania vet Rob Laufer, Bill Lloyd from the country/rock duo Foster and Lloyd and Ian Ball from the band Gomez take their turns at some beloved non-Sgt Pepper Beatles songs. I was in the back of the nearly full 1,700 seat theater waiting for my turn to shoot the show (with a pool of photographers so large they had to divide us into two shifts of sorts) so I didn’t get to see this part very well but from what I could hear the orchestra play a moving instrumental version of Eleanor Rigby, Joan Osborne nailed “The Long and Winding Road” and Rob Laufer and the Clark County Children’s Choir did a breathtaking version of “Across the Universe.” As soon as Ian Ball finished “I Am the Walrus” the walls within the back of the lower half of the stage began to rotate and out come the guys from Cheap Trick and it was time for me to get in position behind the front of house/sound booth and start shooting.

Another Look At Robin Zander

As usual I was allowed to shoot the first two songs/no flash of the headliner act which was, for this show, the first two songs of Cheap Trick doing the Sgt Pepper album: the title song and “With a Little Help From My Friends.” I was so focused on getting a good shot in such a short period of time that I really wasn’t listening to the performance. After my shooting time was over and I moved out of the way so the next group of photographers could shoot their two songs I headed to my seat to see the rest of the show. I got to my seat just as the guys started “Getting Better” and I quickly got out of business mode and into pure pleasure mode as Cheap Trick lovingly went through the set. One of my favorite and most emotionally stirring moments was when Ian Ball joined Robin Zander onstage to sing one of the best versions of “She’s Leaving Home” I have ever heard. When I first heard this song back in the 70′s I imagined myself as the girl leaving home, the song filling me with teen angst-driven excitement. But on this night, I imagined that it was my nearly 19 year old daughter, Erin, leaving home someday and tears started streaming down my cheeks. Funny how time and circumstances can change how you react to a song’s lyrics and music.

Overall this show is probably the best show I’ve seen this year. It probably doesn’t hurt that the guy at he sound board, Geoff Emerick, was also the engineer of the original Sgt Pepper album and was successful this night in bringing all of the elements — a rock band, full orchestra, a 6-piece Indian ensemble, a keyboardist additional guitarists and six backup singers — together in a way that is a true celebration of the music. The lighting and staging is both subtle and appropriate with the exception of the part where the roadies take the show to a grinding halt as they slowly and not too smoothly roll out a low, almost bed-like platform holding the 6-piece Indian ensemble for the song “Within You Without You” (sung beautifully by Rob Laufer) and then roll it back offstage which is my only gripe about the whole show.

Cheap Trick Guitarist Rick Nielson

A couple of people have asked me to compare it to “Love,” the Cirque du Soliel salute to the Beatles over at the Mirage but there’s really no comparison. “Love” is all about this great artistic spectacle focusing on bits and pieces of the Beatles entire musical library accompanied by remastered original soundtracks. It’s all about the spectacle and less about the music. “Sgt Pepper Live” is a tastefully subtle tribute to a particular moment of musical history and is less about the spectacle and more about the music. I hear there are still some tickets left for tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday night shows so I strongly suggest you go see for yourself what a fabulous celebration of music this is. If you can’t make it, no worries as the DVD from the Waldorf Astoria/New York City performance is now available and all artist proceeds go to the Michael Milken Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Speaking of cancer charities I just signed up to do the Danny Gans Memorial Champions Run for Life 5k benefiting the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation at The District at Green Valley Ranch on October 10. It’s no surprise that charitable contributions are down due to the economy but that doesn’t mean the need decreases so if you can please click here and scroll down to the Register Here button and click to donate or to participate with me in this inspiring event. In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

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