It would also be fair to say, no matter how much dignity the trio exhibit in Carlos’s company at the Hall of Fame show, they are not much looking forward to seeing him. Nielsen Jr is Cheap Trick’s actual drummer, both live and on their new album, Bang, Zoom, Crazy … Hello. Though Carlos remains an official member of the group, a quarter-owner of its name, he does not tour or record with them. They are accompanied not by Carlos, but by Nielsen’s son Daxx. Two days before the ceremony, at a chic, old-money hotel in Manhattan, Nielsen, Zander and Petersson are displaying that perversity. It was due recognition, at last, for one of America’s most peculiar groups: on the face of it, a conventional rock’n’roll band, all crunchy guitars and sweet harmonies, but beneath the surface a group more interested in chronicling the perversities and oddness of America than their only US No 1, The Flame, would suggest. Guitarist Rick Nielsen, singer Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson performed with their original drummer Bun E Carlos for the first time in six years, rattling through hits including I Want You to Want Me, Dream Police and Surrender. On Friday 8 April, Cheap Trick took to the stage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
