If I were up on my semiotics I’d be able to fully explore the layers of sign and symbol I experienced last night at the Hollywood Bowl.
1. 41st Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s
2. Sgt. Pepper’s performed live at the Hollywood Bowl
(2a. Although the Beatles twice performed at the Hollywood Bowl, both shows were before Sgt. Pepper’s)
3. Sgt. Pepper’s performed by Cheap Trick with the LA Philharmonic
(3a The Beatles broke up in 1970. Cheap Trick formed in 1971).
4. Guest vocalists joining Cheak Trick: Ian Ball (Gomez), Simone (daughter of Nina) and Billy Corgan (despite all his rage, he’s still a Smashing Pumpkin).
(4a – where to begin? I’m overwhelmed.)
Cheap Trick and Ian Ball and Billy Corgan seemed driven by a true love of the original music. Ball’s performances were incredibly winning, combining a personal spin with a respect for the originals. Corgan was good, too, if nasally/whiny in that classic Corgan way. But Rick Nielsen made the night, with occasional admonishments to the audience and general onstage enthusiasm.
The thing is, as much as seeing Cheap Trick fulfilled some latent schoolgirl dream, there’s nothing that wonderful about seeing Cheap Trick cover the Beatles. It’s kind of a (forgive me) cheap trick. If I’m going to see them live — and believe me, part of me is ashamed to admit this — I want to hear Surrender. I want to hear I Want You To Want Me. The only Cheap Trick song they played last night was an old buried track that wasn’t even a B-side — which is fine, in the midst of a show when the goods are delivered, but here they stuck to being the Beatles. But there’s no changing the fact that they’re Cheap Trick — if they were just a group of aging musicians doing Beatles covers, they wouldn’t be on stage at the Hollywood Bowl.
What’s more, in a Beatles cover show — and I am a lesser person for having been to one, let’s agree on that — there’s something unseemly about having the same guy sing both the Paul McCartney and John Lennon parts. Their two individual personalities brought an electric tension to the band, especially circa Sgt. Pepper’s in 1967. Not that Robin Zander didn’t make a valiant attempt — he hit the notes, generally — but his bombastic style flattened almost all the songs into a high gloss rock, lacking the nuance of either original Beatle (let alone them both).
As for how the George Harrison songs were handled, let’s just skip the guy best known for his performance in Beatlemania, and the sitar group who are probably great musicians but looked like extras from that new Mike Meyers’ movie. As for Simone — she’s a performer. That’s as nice as I can be.
The Hollywood Bowl is a wonderful place to see and hear music — outdoors, most everyone carrying in their own bottles of wine and delicious snacks — and last night, not too hot or cold, was almost sold out. Apparently Cheap Trick did Sgt. Pepper’s last year, for the 40th anniversary, and it went over so well they brought it back for this year. Do people love the Beatlesness of it? It’s only Beatles-ness — no Ringo in the house, and no Sir Paul. Are people so mad for the Beatles, so many years later, that even a simulacrum brings them joy?
If so, why am I such a spoilsport. Above, the Hollywood Bowl with excellent Ian Ball singing, although too teeny for you to tell; below, same thing, with Billy Corgan.
I remember reading an article about Cheap Trick years ago, and the interviewer mentioned some younger band, at which point Rick Nielsen jokingly blurted out something like “Hey, that lousy band ripped off one of our songs! They did Day Tripper!”
Funny comment, Pete. I could hear Rick saying something like that.
Pinky- thanks for an entertaining post about the show.
I have some disagreements with some of your comments, however. If you know Cheap Trick well- and it seems like you do- then you know that, when they do a cover version of a song, they find a way to both do a respectful cover but still make it their own song.
Look at their recorded versions of Ain’t That a Shame, Don’t Be Cruel, California Man and even Magical Mystery Tour and Day Tripper.
The LA Philharmonic could have gotten the Fab Faux, Strawberry Fields, Rain or one of the other note-for-note cover bands. Instead, they got Cheap Trick. For my money- a much better option! In so many of their original songs, you can hear the Beatles influence, particularly in the use of harmony.
As for Robin singing both John and Paul’s parts, Robin is still the “man of 1000 voices” and I thought he had no trouble at all doing both parts.
Billy Corgan- whether you love him or hate him- was used perfectly Saturday night. He was spot on for the two songs he sung. The Gomez guy, Ian Ball, seemed uptight the first song he sung but was much better after that.
And, having seen Cheap Trick 6 times previously, I loved seeing Rick at the keyboards and singing a little lead vocals on the start of “World’s Greatest Lover”- that was a first- and a very pleasant surprise!
Not sure if you knew this, but that song was the only Cheap Trick song that George Martin included on his large compilation CD collection of works he produced (he chose it over “Stop This Game”). So there was relevance for including it in the show.
And I thought Rob Laufer (the “Beatlemania guy”) was excellent.
I love Surrender, too, but I will catch them doing that later this summer, with Heart and Journey.