"Where the legends play" boasts the motto of Toad's Place in New Haven and Tuesday night June 3rd was no exception. Cheap Trick, on their second stop of their summer 97 tour, rocked the house by opening up with "I Want You To Want Me", followed by several vintage classics including "California Man". The band proceeded to get down to business by showcasing material from their just-released second self-titled album (on Red Ant Records): "Anytime", and "You Let A Lotta People Down", two hard edged tunes featured some blistering vocals from Robin Zander. This is one singer who hasn't lost his range over the years. Next up was "Say Goodbye", the latest cut which is getting a lot of airplay. This album is arguably the band's best studio effort since 1982's One On One. Rounding out the new record's other songs performed were the upbeat "Yeah Yeah", "Baby No More", "Wrong All Along", and "It All Comes Back To You".

The Trick then reached back into their extensive catalog and pulled out 1978's "Heaven Tonight" and then surprisingly, the rarely performed "Ghost Town". As always, the highlight of any Cheap Trick show is the guitar wizardry and showmanship of Rick Nielsen and this night was no exception. Guitar picks were flying left and right from the stage and as usual, Rick had what seemed like his entire guitar collection onstage at his disposal. He even strolled into the crowd and jammed for a minute or two. Let's face it, anyone who has ever seen Rick Nielsen play live and up close cannot deny the fact that he is truly a guitar legend. In music today where there are few guitar heroes left, let's all be thankful that this guy is still up there rocking and doing it with authority.

I won't give away the rest of the show for those who haven't seen Cheap Trick on this tour but don't arrive expecting to hear a greatest hits retrospective. This tour is to promote the new album and any one hoping otherwise might get disappointed. My suggestion is to go out and buy the CD first. A lot of these songs are destined to be staples of future Trick shows to come. OK, OK I lied just one more song performed to make a note of for those of you who can't make it to see the show was "Shelter". This ballad was performed solo by Robin and is eerily reminiscent of John Lennon's "Mother" and was a little less syrupy live than in the studio.

If you get a chance, I would highly recommend plunking down the double sawbuck and put this show on your summer's list of must see concerts.

Review by Alan Haesche

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