It was the last day of the fair, autumn was creeping into every seat, every eave and crevice; from the manure-steamed stables down to the last deep fryer. Narrowly navigating the huddled masses crowding outside the free show at the Budweiser Pavilion, I took a seat, hoping “Cheap Trick: Live at Bakersfield” was going to be the show of a lifetime.
Even the mobs of sheriff’s deputies and fair security guards couldn’t keep back the throngs of fans clinging to the metal barriers hoping for a look. Their performance mirrored their popularity as a band, slow starting but progressing to familiar pop stars evanescing honorably their place in the annals of rock and in the hearts of all present.
Their opening found them all in a casual mode sporting a lineup that hadn’t been touched in alsmost 30 years.
Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson nurtured the audience with several upbeat acoustic numbers before Trick fever caught a fan yelling to “bring out the real guitars.”
And that they did. Nielsen warmed up his guitar with lightning fretboard accuracy much to the crowd’s elation. They played “If You Want My Love,” off the “Joe Dirt” soundtrack and the theme song to “That ’70s Show.” They captured a crowd expecting another slower song, but received a wall of Nielsen’s signature guitar screaming in their faces. Throughout the show, Nielsen’s customary frequent guitar changes scoped the spectrum of the rainbow and almost every design fathomable.
Delving into material off their new album “Specical One,” the band caught a laid-back attitude off the tune, “Too Much.” Nielsen didn’t even break a sweat until its end. They also played other hits off “Special One,” including “Best Friend” and the title track. On “Words,” Trick didn’t cheat for cheap. The song was an intimate portrayal of the expression of sincere emotion in a relationship. The very personal song saw the band in rising unison chorus as a light fall breeze swept throught the pavilion.
Then without caution, they shout the opening lines to quite possibly the catchiest and most well-known of their songs, “I Want You to Want Me.” Immediately, female screams and rhythmic thumping came from every direction. It was as if I were transported to Budokan Theatre 1976. The megahit’s catchy hook was as popular as it was 23 years ago, catching the gill of every fan swimming the sea of rock from Nugent to new wave.
After a pick-throwing frenzy ending in another’s fortune on eBay, Nielsen introduced the band and talked politics while teasing the deputies.
“How many of you out there have been Schwarzeneggered?”
The mainly pro-Schwarzengger audience yelled support. Nielsen then joked about Arnold’s recent groping allegations.
“That’s what I wanted to do after I dropped my pick down her top, ” Nielsen said, referring to the saucer-eyed fans upfront.
For their anti-climax, Nielsen brought out a five-necked guitar for the sing-along hit “Surrender.” It seemed a chore, but he played the checkered sonic mutant with the skill of an adept, but only bothering to play three of the necks.
However, I felt disappointment at the fact that people were leaving before the encore and they still hadn’t played “Dream Police.” But its transition after “The One” is really what caught me offguard. Though released in ’79, it had the progressive feel of a style imitated throughout the ’80s. Its warnings that my dreams would never be safe worried me, but I knew I would wake up alive to hear “the dream police that live inside my head” indelibly marked as the best last day of the fair I’ve ever had.