Bun E. Carlos - drums
Rick Nielsen - guitar, vocals
Tom Petersson - bass, vocals
Robin Zander - vocals
A funny thing happened to American rockers Cheap Trick on the way to stardom in the U.S.: they went to Japan. In much the same way The Beatles were surprised by the overwhelming response of Beatlemania when they stepped off their British Airways plane at JFK airport in 1964, Cheap Trick received the same pleasant surprise when they landed in the Land of the Rising Sun to play the Budokan Arena in 1978. The result was a brilliant live album that documented just how big this band could become if American fans got it the same way the Japanese did. Live At The Budokan was a smash worldwide, led by their massive hit, "I Want You To Want Me" (originally a track on the band’s 1977 studio album, In Color).
This short but energetic set from Cheap Trick was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour while they were promoting the Budakon album. At the time, the band was still performing essentially the same set as they had been playing since 1977, and by now, it was tight as a drum. They would emerge later the same year with one of their most successful studio albums, Dream Police.
Guitarist Rick Nielsen was the Harpo Marx of this band; usually silent, but incredibly funny and enormously talented. He was Pete Townshend to lead singer Robin Zander’s Roger Daltrey. But the band would never have seen the success they did, however, without the monster rhythm section of drummer Bun E. Carlos and bassist Tom Petersson.
The material at this show comes mostly from the band’s In Color and Heaven Tonight studio albums, and includes their classic re-make of "California Man," which was originally cut in the early 1970s by Jeff Lynne’s old band, the Move. This line-up of Cheap Trick has remained together for nearly twenty years, and still tours.
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