RED BANK: TRICK, CHICK, FLECK, AND JOSH
The 2015 edition of Cheap Trick (above) takes the Count Basie Theatre stage this Wednesday — and keyboard wiz Chick Corea teams with banjo master Béla Fleck (below) on Saturday — during a week’s worth of classic rock, country and jazz.
The two-show Red Bank return of Jackson Browne has long since sold out all available seating for this night and the next — but the well-trod stage of the Count Basie Theatre doesn’t lack for musical heavyweights in the coming evenings; an early-autumn interlude that clicks into place this Wednesday, September 23 with an encore appearance by Midwest-bred powerpopsters Cheap Trick.
The core trio of Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Robin Zander — working these days without (still technically a member) founding drummer Bun E. Carlos — have kept themselves busy on the touring circuit since their last Red Bank retrospective of hits and deep-album cuts (a scheduled solo gig by Zander a few seasons back was scrubbed and relocated to the cozier confines of Long Branch’s Brighton Bar). And, when the Tricksters roll into town with Nielsen’s son Daxx on skins, they’ll be playing selections from their latest (2009) studio album The Latest — an effort that was released on CD, vinyl and 8-track tape — as well as highlights from a 40-year career that’s spanned radio-rock perennials (“Surrender,” “I Want You to Want Me,” “Dream Police”), power ballads (“The Flame”), Elvis/ Beatles covers, and the themes from such long-running TV series as That 70s Show and The Colbert Report. Take it here for tickets to the 7:30 pm concert, which range from $49 to a VIP Tour Package ($150) and exclusive Meet and Greet ($250). Then flip the record over for more from the Count.