"Can you honestly tell me you forgot..."
by F.P. Anacrusis on 10/17/23Rialto Theatre-Tucson - TucsonRating: 5 out of 5"Forgot the magnetism of Robin Zander, or the charisma of Rick Nielsen?'"(Mike Damone Fast Times At Ridgemont High - 1982). 41 years later, Mike Damone's words to describe Cheap Trick still hold true today. Cheap Trick made a stop @ The Rialto Theater on 10/11/23, and they did not disappoint.
Robin Zander has always been the perfect front man with the prerequisite good looks and good voice, and both are holding up well in 2023. Rick Nielsen slowed down a little bit, but he was still tossing guitar picks the entire show and entertaining the crowd. The pleasant surprise, and the glue that held the band together, was Robin's son, Robin Taylor Zander. He deserves so much credit for both his vocal and guitar work.
Robin Taylor Zander doubled most of his dad's vocals throughout the set and played his heart out on rhythm guitar. If you go see Cheap Trick, you will be hard pressed not to be drawn into spending all of your time watching him provide so much energy to the band. He also was given the opportunity to sing lead vocals on an underrated deep track, "Downed", from the 1977 release "In Color". He killed it!
The set list consisted of a nice mixture of songs (He's a Whore, Big Eyes, She's Tight, I Know What I Want, You Got It Going On) from their entire catalog with four tracks from both "Dream Police"and "In Color". I appreciated that the songs were played the way in which they are on the albums. The highlight for me was, "Need Your Love"from the Dream Police album. They nailed all the vocals and the music, and when I closed my eyes and just listened, I was transported back to the 1979 tour to support the album.
The crowd lost their minds when Cheap Trick played their most popular songs, "I Want You to Want Me", "Surrender”, and "The Flame". I watched everyone from the Rialto security detail to the bar tenders, to the local Tucson PD, singing the chorus, "Wherever you go, I'll be with you. Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Whenever you need someone to lay your heart and head upon..."
A very entertaining show that kept the crowd captivated without any of those usual low points where the crowd loses interest. Great job Cheap Trick for putting on a show that was worth every hard-earned penny I paid for the tickets. You know it was a great show, when you go home and add a myriad of their songs to your favorite playlist, which is exactly what I did when I got home. “The Dream Police, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah nah…”