the interesting thing about this show is it's billed as
Sgt. Pepper Live
featuring Cheap Trick
notice that it's not cheap trick first ...
i saw cheap trick live once, a dark and fateful day for them when they were opening for kansas at (the now 'ploded) mcnichols arena in denver. it just so happened that the denver broncos lost their first of several superbowls that day and the crowd wasn't in the mood for a band that was suspiciously punk and/or new wave and/or homo. they were booed off the stage with abandon.
cheap trick have run the gamut since then, with huge hits and a strange ability to have hits that don't sound like each other. as the 80's broke melted into decades with better hair, but worse fashion sense, they trundled on.
when i told my brother that cheap trick were doing "sgt. pepper," he immediately said that he'd far rather see cheap trick do it than the beatles. assuming he's not referring to half the beatles being dead (or 3/5ths if you count billy preston), the idea is that they will juice nearly anything they do.
the beauty and terror of CT is that they're essentially the original line-up. the four founding members from 1974 are still grinding it out up there today ... or looking at it another way, they've been together three times as long as the entire lifespan of the band they're covering.
this is tempered with the fact that, in recent years, CT have had a reputation of phoning in their performances.
CT have made it a point to say that they are covering sgt. pepper, not trying to do a beatles knock-off of it. i welcome that attitude -- especially given that sgt. pepper is far from my favorite beatles album.
part of the reason i'm here in vegas is to see this show and for 1/3 discount, i'm more than happy. anything could happen tonight.
all seats have a glossy 4-page program.
to review the show i'll use the headings as shown in the program:
opening symphony medley
i want to hold your hand * she loves you
love me do * please please me
*** the stage layout is about a dozen piece orchestra above the stage and a five man chorus on the upper left. on the stage there is a drummer, two guitarists and a keyboard.
starting with i want to hold your hand (along with everything else) is completely the wrong idea for a starter. it's not symphonic and doesn't pretend to be ... so we're starting on a lame and down note ... and that's ignoring the fact that there's an insipid announcer saying crazy-dumb things like "and now, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for sean o'loughlin."
have a show start with this is like finding a dead fly in your soup at the start of a long meal. only the clinically dull would say, "no, no, it's fine ... it adds flavor." unforutnately there seem to be plenty of people with that mind type here.
fortunately my seats are fairly far back so i have lots of options here .... i can walk out, i can throw things, i can yell obscenities, i could set something on fire and block the exit on the way out ...
and who knows? we're setting the bar low enough that clearing it on the next jump/stumble won't be that hard.
***
can't buy me love joan osborne
*** jesus christ on a stick.
what if joan osborne were one of us?
this is the woman that had a hit and then went insane, actually becoming part of the post-jerry garcia grateful dead. she looks fine here in her 1982 prom dress, but i don't want to hear her talking about buying anything and i don't want to hear her singing a boy-group song.
never forget -- for the first years of their existence, the beatles were the n-sync of the early 60's. they were a boy band. period. that, in and of itself, makes john lennon uncool forever (and yes, you could argue, conceivably worth shooting). what? you're shocked? consider justin timberlake and then think again.
here's some math for you:
paul mccartney + ringo starr (is greater than) george harrison + john lennon
why? because paul and ringo were never stupid enough to actually act like they were anything significantly greater than their boy band roots. george and john both had the potential to be self-serving penes.
let's get back to the show ... but hope is rapidly dwindling.
and that announcer really needs to shut up.
***
long and winding road joan osborne
*** this is a song i've always liked, and for personal reasons i've always found incredibly sad. i don't care the phil spector had his hands on the original, i like phil spector.
and this is the first shining moment of the show. the symphony belongs here, joan's voice and style is right. i like it.
i extinguish the paper cup i had set on fire and wait.
***
elenor rigby orchestra
*** interesting selection, done as a complete instrumental by the orchestra. not only does this work, it works very well.
the woman behind me that has been belting out every song to this point has now fallen asleep.
things are getting ever-better.
***
across the universe rob laufer & the clark county children's choir
*** rob is goofy. the children aren't loud enough relative to everything else. ***
something bill lloyd
*** no, it's almost something.***
drive my car ian ball, joan osborne & rob laufer
*** ian ball is one of the guys in gomez and interesting, more interesting than, say, rob laufer. but this song isn't workin'.
yes, i want to drive your car, but i'll put the seat belt on first. and i'll drive really fast. on a street that has lots of walls.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHERE ARE CHEAP TRICK?
i can't tell you how happy i am that i didn't pay full price.
***
i am the walrus ian ball
***
and right here we hit the first truly great song of the night. the beatles never did this song in a concert setting because it's too damn hard ( not to mention that they'd quit touring by then). but this song not only works, it really works.
my only complaint is they didn't read king lear over the top of the ending -- they definitely had the people here to do it and it would be a super-cool handshake for the people who know.
1/3 of my ticket price was worth seeing this.
***
sgt. peppers lonely hearts club band cheap trick
*** for goddamn sure they could have come out sooner, but here is just fine too. everyone's dressed up in glitter, except for the legendary bun e. carlos, who today doesn't look like an accountant but maybe more of a newspaper vendor (i believe he considers that to be his costume).
robin zander is wearing a pearlescent white jacket with an over-sized white specials hat. they are not wearing sgt. pepper garb, which i find comforting (because it's both the obvious, and stupid, thing to do).
they rip through. they're fine, but unremarkable.
and just as importantly, they get the announcer to shut the hell up.
***
with a little help from my friends cheap trick
***
the first CT miss. they begin by indicating the orchestra leader as billy shears and then robin zander goes ahead and sings the part that originally was done by ringo. what would have been great would have been to take a risk and have bun e. sing the part (maybe even rap it). but no.
come on. there's a lot of money and time here. you guys can do better than this.
***
lucy in the sky with diamonds
getting better
fixing a hole cheap trick
***
we've dropped into what are more-or-less straight covers. i was hoping for something a little more dream police than this, but it's certainly acceptable, if unremarkable.
***
she's leaving home cheap trick & ian ball
***
bingo.
for the first time zander grabs a song by the horns and wrestles it to the ground. his cover isn't good, it isn't great, it's amazing. fully and completely emotive, he's actually bringing people to tears in the audience.
paul (along with all the rest of the beatles whose names didn't rhyme with "dingo") was a significant musical force and talent, but an emotion that none of the beatles could covey through vocal was grief or sadness. rage, humor, patience, greed, angst and condescension, yes. true anguish, no. they could write it, but they couldn't sing it.
and zander is right there, directly on top of the spot that is so very painful for just being human, for just trying to get by and slowly-but-surely missing. you can hear a pin drop during the performance and when he's finished the audience pauses and then erupts into a standing ovation lasting more than a minute.
absolutely spectacular and completely unexpected. this is not a famous beatles song, but right this second it doesn't need to be.
this, right here, makes the whole trip to vegas worthwhile.
***
being for the benefit of mr. kite! cheap trick
*** very unfortunate segue due to the original album sequencing. if feels sappy and stupid. ***
within you without you rob laufer & indian ensemble
*** this is that spaced out indian song that's on sgt. pepper. i always liked george's additions from rubber soul on, but this might be my favorite ... and live it is dead spot-on. it probably helps that one of the ensemble is a shankar, but exactly like the record, it's spacey, loopy-goopy and carries a spectacular beat.
full marks.
the show has now completely made up for its shortcomings.
***
when i'm sixty-four
lovely rita
good morning good morning
sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band (reprise) cheap trick
*** we've fallen into straight-ahead beatles covers, which is fine, but like is said before, could be better. at least everyone is paying attention to what they're doing and not sleeping through the performance.
***
a day in the life cheap trick
*** this was the song i was most eager to see done with an orchestra. would they actually try for the full dissonance at the two breaks? it seems obvious, but not trivial. the original is an atonal crescendo across 24 bars, starting at the lowest instrument note and ending at E major. they certainly can do it, but will they?
the song plows along, and sure enough, they nail both crescendos. it's so cool to hear live.
and they have one more insider chance here ... they could add the jibberish (it sounds sort of like "assonseeyouonlyway") followed by the dog whistle ... this is the very very end of the inner groove at the end of sgt. pepper.
but ...
they don't.
so someone, somewhere, didn't pay quite enough attention ... which has been true for the show all along.
my grade for the show: solid B. pull out she's leaving and the song here, and the show would be a D.
but wait, we're not finished ...
***
golden slumbers
carry that weight
the end cheap trick
***
interesting choices. these are the penultimate songs on abbey road, but the average audience member is probably too blurred and/or uncaring to care.
again, it's a little too much straight-ahead coverage and a little too little ownership by CT.
***
all you need is love cheap trick, joan osborne, ian ball & rob laufer
***
no. what i need is for cheap trick to do a couple of their own songs for an encore, which they don't do.
shoot the confetti canons, go away.
the end.
***
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