Cheap Trick to revisit 'At Budokan' at the El Rey on April 30

Cheap Trick to revisit ‘At Budokan’ at the El Rey on April 30

By Mikael Wood

April 4, 2013 12 AM PT

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How best to celebrate the 35th anniversary of a beloved live album? By re-creating it onstage, of course.

That’s the approach being taken by Cheap Trick, which announced Thursday that it plans to play “Cheap Trick at Budokan,” the power-pop veterans’ 1978 concert classic, at two shows this month.

On April 28, the band will play the John Varvatos boutique in New York, at the former address of the defunct punk club CBGB. Cheap Trick will then head west for a gig at L.A.’s El Rey Theatre on April 30.

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Both concerts are to re-create the show Cheap Trick played on April 28, 1978, at Tokyo’s Budokan. The live album recorded that night, with hits such as “I Want You to Want Me” and “Surrender,” has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Frontman Robin Zander’s introduction of the latter tune -- “This next one is the first song on our new album” -- found later fame when the Beastie Boys sampled it on 1992’s “Check Your Head.”

The “Budokan” shows will lead into a busy summer for Cheap Trick, which is to play a series of festivals in May before joining Pat Benatar for a U.S. tour scheduled to stop at the Greek Theatre on June 8 and the Santa Barbara Bowl on June 9.

Last month, guitarist Rick Nielsen joined Dave Grohl’s Sound City Players for a performance at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

Watch Cheap Trick’s 1978 performance of “Surrender” from Budokan below.