As I mentioned in a previous post, it was my birthday recently. While I originally had nothing exciting planned to commemorate this extraordinary event, something serendipitously fell into my lap that very day. The president of my company sent out an email saying that he had two extra tickets for a Cheap Trick/Alice Cooper concert. Stop blinking in disbelief ... that's right THE Alice Cooper and THE Cheap Trick.

Ok, so maybe I'm not gigantic fans of either of those bands. I mean, I don't any of their CD's and besides his cameo in the first Wayne's World movie, I'm not to familiar with Alice Cooper. I've heard Cheap Trick's music before and think I even saw them performing at the Taste of Chicago festival one summer a couple of years ago. But nothing about it stuck particularly in my mind.

Anyway, I was actually just going to let these free tickets pass because I didn't know anyone else who I thought would actually want to go to the concert with me. Again, rather luckily, a friend who works on the other side of the building came by asking me if I'd seen the tickets that were being given away. I told him not to worry, I wasn't going to try for them because I didn't really have anyone who would want to see the show. That's when he told me that he'd already claimed them and was planning on taking his girlfriend but she turned down the show so he was trying to find someone to go. That's when I stepped up and said I'd go with him.

So that day we left a little early from work, headed over to Wolf Trap Theater. We had to meet the president at the front of the theater and get the tickets and then the show was starting at 7 PM. We got there and waited around a bit for him and eventually got the tickets. They were quite good seats. Towards the middle and in row U. I'd assume they count up so that'd be like row 22.

We got in just as Cheap Trick was starting to play. First, let me say that Cheap Trick is getting a little old. These guys, who I am told are from Rockford, IL, certainly have a longevity that is enviable. They were also very good live. The main guitarist played some excellent solos almost effortlessly as he walked around the stage throwing numerous picks to fans in the front rows. The bassist and backup guitarist, bassist, and drummer were all quite good as well. The only negative of the show is that they were still an opening act. While there were certainly a number of fans there to see them, it wasn't nearly the energy level of hate Alice Cooper fans that were cheering later. Also, the equipment for Alice Cooper's show was taking up about half of the stage so they didn't have a whole lot of room to work with. Still, a good performance.

The real heart of the show though, was Alice Cooper. While I'm not too familiar with his songs, I don't think you have to be to enjoy the show. It's a tight set and has lots of theatrics. I was told by the president of my company (who was sitting next to me) that the scantily clad woman who came on stage a few times was actually Alice Cooper's daughter. It's a family show I guess. Anyway, the highlights of the show would be what seemed like a 5 minute drum solo and everyone's favorite Alice Cooper song, School's Out (perhaps ironic because my birthday always seemed to be on or around the first day of school). Anyway, an encore later. We were out of the show and partially deaf. In all, one of the more pleasantly exciting birthdays of recent memory.
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