Concert review: Cheap Trick, Blondie offer an eclectic mix

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Blondie singer Debbie Harry performs during the final Live At the Garden concert at the Memphis Botanic Garden on Friday night.

Two very different kinds of bands and two very different kinds of performances were on display Friday night at the Memphis Botanic Garden, as Cheap Trick and Blondie teamed up for a double bill.

The show, which played to nearly 6,000 fans, served as both the closing night of the bands' co-headlining tour and the finale of the summer "Live in the Garden" concert season.

Given the setup at the Garden, with the wine-and-cheese crowd seated at tables near the foot of the stage making for a rather passive audience, it seemed an inhospitable atmosphere for Cheap Trick's brand of muscular power-pop and twisted hard rock.

It was a fact not lost guitarist Rick Nielsen, who surveyed the crowd: "This is like Woodstock, but with much better tablecloths," he deadpanned, "and you're much higher."

Perhaps it was because Cheap Trick was in the opening slot and closing the current tour, but the group clearly decided to forgo most of the expected "hits" and explore the width and breadth of its catalog instead. The group's 17-song set was light on familiar fare, heavy on little-played nuggets, and all the more satisfying for it.

Despite an early pass at the signature "I Want You to Want Me," the concert soon tilted toward deep cuts like the debut album burner "Ballad of TV Violence" and the epic heroin tale "Heaven Tonight."

While Nielsen and singer Robin Zander provided the bulk of the stage banter, it was bassist Tom Petersson, looking foppish in his scarf and crushed velvet coat, who emerged as the band's sonic key, as he offered up both a massive rhythmic foundation and airy melodic flourishes off his custom 12-string bass. Nielsen's son, Daxx -- filling in for longtime drummer Bun E. Carlos -- also proved his worth on heavier numbers like "The House is Rockin' (With Domestic Problems)" and "Baby Loves to Rock."

Energized performances of material off the band's most recent effort, The Latest (including a hurtling "Sick Man of Europe") slotted nicely alongside covers of The Move's "California Man" and a lurching, monstrous version of the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour."

But for the small contingent of hardcore Trick fans in attendance, it was brilliant renditions of decidedly obscure material, including "Borderline" from 1983's Next Position Please and "Didn't Know I Had It" off of 1994's Woke Up With a Monster, that served as the evening's highlights.

If Cheap Trick was eager to play the role of spoiler, Blondie was more than happy to deliver a straight-ahead set of its new wave favorites. The band -- led by original members, singer Debbie Harry, guitarist Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke -- worked up a mix of new and old hits from the early '80s smash "Tide is High" to the late-period gem "Maria."

Harry was in fine fettle, cracking jokes in her Jersey bark. She customized the skit leading into "Hanging on the Telephone" with a teasing Chuck Berry reference ("Is this long distance information Memphis, Tennessee?") and later joked about her voyeuristic roadies ("They always put these fans on stage so they blow up my skirt.")

While Harry's banter provided the entertainment, it was drummer Burke -- always a beacon of stylish playing -- who stood out musically, as the band worked its way through crowd pleasers like "Heart of Glass" and "Call Me," and even managed to preview a handful of promising songs off its forthcoming album, Panic of Girls.

--Bob Mehr: 529-2517

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