Update on Cheap Trick’s shows

Add comment October 22nd, 2009

Though the third leg of Def Leppard’s tour  has been canceled for “unforeseen personal matters,” Cheap Trick isn’t taking much of a break. The Rockford-based Tricksters opened for Def Leppard and the tour’s third leg was to have started today with 20 shows.

Cheap Trick will perform close to home Dec. 10 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont at Jack’s Cheap Christmas Event.

Miles and Daxx Nielsen on Jimmy Fallon Friday

Add comment October 7th, 2009

You can double your Nielsen late-night TV viewing pleasure Friday: Miles and Daxx, sons of Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, will perform on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (11:30 p.m. Comcast 3).

Miles will play bass and Daxx  will play drums for Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons, the alternative pop/rock band based in Appleton, Wis. Miles has been a member for years; Daxx has played with the group off and on.

On Saturday, the group plays at  the intimate Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City.  Miles returns home to Rockford for an Oct. 16 show of his own featuring his pop rock/folk/Americana music at Kryptonite, 308 W. State St.

Younger brother Daxx recently moved from Los Angeles and now makes his home in Nashville.

Guitarist dad Rick Nielsen, also of Rockford, last performed on late night TV with the 35-year-old power pop quartet Cheap Trick on Sept. 1 on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” 

In this Register Star photo taken in 2000, Daxx, (left), Rick and Miles Nielsen are getting ready to announce a Rockford Area Music Industry award at the MetroCentre in Rockford.

Cheap Trick’s fantastic Vegas show, and the Rockford band back on the road again

2 comments September 14th, 2009

The 1,635-seat theater at the Las Vegas Hilton last night was about two-thirds full for opening night of Cheap Trick performing “Sgt. Pepper Live,” according to Brian Kramer of Rockton.

And the audience gave the group a standing ovation at the end of the show where Cheap Trick sang all of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album and a few more Beatles songs.

Kramer said the show was “completely fantastic” and that vocalist Robin Zander’s voice “worked so well, so dynamically with the album.” Guitarist Rick Nielsen of Rockford wore a red coat and red pants with vertical dark lines, rather than his typical checkerboard-patterned clothes.

AMY J. CORRENTI | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Brian Kramer and his daughter Danielle Burdick, 13, wearing clothes with the checkered pattern Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick is fond of sporting

Kramer’s 13-year-old daughter, Danielle Burdick of South Beloit, said the show was an eight on a scale of 10. Burdick said seeing and hearing the orchestra perform with Cheap Trick makes her want to become a better clarinet player. “But it started off a little slow,” she said. At the beginning, guest musicians played a medley of Beatles songs.

Cheap Trick performs a total of nine Sgt. Pepper shows this month at the Hilton. There may be talks to make the gig a longer-standing one if the shows sell well, a company spokesman has said.

Meanwhile, Cheap Trick said last week that it will play another 20 or so shows opening for Def Leppard.

Vegas paper notes lots of Cheap Trick ties to Beatles

1 comment September 14th, 2009

On Friday, before Cheap Trick’s Sunday opening at the Las Vegas Hilton of “Sgt. Pepper Live,” Cheap Trick members outline their connections to The Beatles in this Las Vegas Review-Journal story.

Nielsen jams with Les Paul in this photo

2 comments August 13th, 2009

Rick Nielsen, guitarist for Cheap Trick and a Rockford resident, jams with Les Paul in this undated (and provided) photo taken at Iridium Jazz Club in New York City.

Nielsen (left) e-mailed me this photo this afternoon. Guitar legend Les Paul died today.

Colbert’s face on new Nielsen guitar

Add comment July 28th, 2009

Wonder how long it’ll take for Stephen Colbert to book Rick Nielsen to play on “The Colbert Report” again?

Not long, I’ll bet, seeing as how Nielsen’s new DiPinto guitar has Colbert’s face and upper body plastered all over it.

(photo at dipintocustomshop.com)

The last time Cheap Trick guitarist Nielsen and vocalist Robin Zander played on the show was June 29. Colbert was impressed with the Rockford-based power poppers’ release on 8-track of its new CD, “The Latest.”

Cheap Trick to play on Conan in midst of career second-wind

1 comment July 27th, 2009

On the inaugural show of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” on June 1, O’Brien “ran” from New York City, where his former late-night show broadcast from, to Los Angeles, his new base city, while Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” hit played in its entirety.

On Sept. 1, the 35-year-old, Rockford-based power popsters who are in the midst of a busy second wind in their career, will play a song off their latest album,  “The Latest,” on O’Brien’s show, according to the quartet’s Web site. The song, “Sick Man of Europe,” rocks more than pops, thank you very much.

Cheap Trick will be winding down in California that week from a summer tour with Def Leppard. Then it’s on to Las Vegas. At the Las Vegas Hilton, band members will “take on one of the most ambitious projects of their career - performing what is perhaps rock’s most iconic album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, according to glidemagazine.com.

The show runs for nine nights Sept. 13-15, 17-19 and 21-23. Tickets cost $65 to $95.

Cheap Tricksters on Colbert show Monday

Add comment June 26th, 2009

Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Rockford-based Cheap Trick will appear Monday night on “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central (Comcast 45). The theme song for the Stephen Colbert program is “Baby Muggles,” a Cheap Trick piece. Nielsen has appeared before on the show.

(Stephen Colbert)

Cheap Trick gets big, maybe bigger, Vegas gig

Add comment June 12th, 2009

Tickets go on sale Saturday for the  three sets of Cheap Trick performances at the Las Vegas Hilton, the band’s Web site says.  The Rockford-based band will perform Beatles music, “Sgt. Pepper Live,” for nine nights Sept. 13-15, 17-19 and 21-23.

(Photo provided. Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos)

If negotiations are successful, “Sgt. Pepper Live” will be performed on a recurring basis in the future, perhaps alternating with resident headliner Barry Manilow, this Las Vegas Sun story says.

Rick Nielsen featured in new Premier Guitar magazine, and another Rockfordian on its Web site

Add comment May 20th, 2009

Rick Nielsen tells Premier Guitar magazine in the June issue that hits newsstands in Guitar Center, Borders and other stores next week that he’ll use about 50 guitars on Cheap Trick’s summer tour with Def Leppard and Poison. The story also will be posted on the magazine’s Web site later this week.

Nielsen, who has 17 of his guitars again on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., also says in the story that “even the crappiest guitar in your collection might be good for something.”

One more Cheap Trick tidbit: Its new album to be released this summer, maybe in June, has been named. It’s “The Latest.”

There’s also another Rockfordian featured this month on Premier Guitar’s Web site here.  Ron Johnson, who plays with TRaSH 80s , talks about his Cheap Trick connections, along with his bass guitar collection. His first major show was in 1994 when he was with The Rodeo Clowns with Rick’s son, Miles. The band opened for Cheap Trick in Decatur.

“Rick grabbed me and smiled and said, ‘Hey, Ron. Don’t suck.’ ” The Rodeo Clowns didn’t, but that was one of the last shows the Rodeo Clowns performed.