Once again, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz hosts concerts at Coney Island. The line-up this year is incredible and it started with Cheap Trick last Friday. The last time they played Coney Island it was raining so hard that the band could only play five songs. Last Friday it was raining and windy and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through their set.

I got to the site first and tried to text rtb and my friend Rocky. The rain was falling so hard that it was messing with the keys so that it looked like a cat was walking across the keyboard. Finally I just called. I told rtb I’d meet her in Peggy O’Neils (a bar next to the Cyclones’ Stadium) and Rocky’s friend Billy met us there. A lot of people were leaving the site because it was raining too hard to just sit and wait it out.

rtb left and Billy and I walked over to the site for the show. It had stopped raining for a while but the rain continued on and off all night. Cheap Trick was already into their set by the time we got there.

Cheap Trick is Robin Zander on lead vocals and guitar, Rick Nielsen on lead guitar, Tom Petersson on bass, and Daxx Nielsen on drums. Former drummer Bun E. Carlos has not been officially let go; apparently he doesn’t even know his status with the band.

One of the reasons that rtb left is that the only song she knew was “I Want You to Want Me.” I also knew “Surrender” and “Dream Police” but couldn’t think of any other songs of theirs.

Despite that the show was a lot of fun. Zander wore an oversized police cap and Nielsen brought out many of unusual guitars. Rocky mentioned a song of theirs that he liked (“Baby Loves to Rock”) and just then they went right into it. The song reminded me of Led Zepplin. At the end they played the three songs that I knew one after another and left without an encore because it was just too wet. Nielsen mentioned the storm that was raging the last time they played Coney Island. A bunch of people behind us were dancing in the rain.

The band has been touring continuously since they formed in 1973. It certainly shows.

By Carene Lydia Lopez