Cheap Trick Hits the Casino Circuit to Celebrate 50 Years Rocking

You loved them when they invaded your dreams, and when they took you to Japan. Now, this fall you’ll be able to see them as they celebrate 50 years of rock and roll. Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Cheap Trick have several casino concerts scheduled through the remainder of 2024, bringing their iconic show to an appreciative audience.

Tour to Last Through End of 2024

The next leg of Cheap Trick’s 2024 tour will be taking them to two casino venues, both in the sunny climes of Arizona. The first stop for the group will be at the Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in Chandler, AZ, on Oct. 3, with another stop two days later at the Bluewater Casino in Parker, AZ. The legendary rockers will then take a break during November before hammering several casino shows in December. 

Up first in December will be a stop at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, MI, on Dec. 6. The end of the month brings four different stops to close out the calendar year. First up on Dec. 17 is a trip to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, FL, with a quick swing the next night to their sister casino in Hollywood, FL. 

After a pause for Christmas, Cheap Trick will close out 2024 with two more stops, one at the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Riverside, IA, on Dec. 27, and getting an early start on the New Year with a date at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, OK. 

Tickets are already on sale at all these venues or through through Ticketmaster. For the Tampa show the tickets start at $110, with VIP packages available for $295, and can be found at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa website. 

Five Decades of Trickery

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2021, the Rockford, IL, band has gone from simple beginnings to legendary status. 

In 1967, guitarists Rick Neilsen and Tom Peterson founded a band called Fuse, but they weren’t satisfied with that band’s sound. They would soon recruit drummer Brad Carlson – better known as Bun E. Carlos – and would replace their original singer with Robin Zander to set what would become the iconic lineup.

The band’s name is a play on a comment by Peterson. After seeing a performance from the British rockers Slade, Peterson noted that they were using “every cheap trick in the book.” With that simple comment, the band had a namesake and Cheap Trick was born. 

It wasn’t without some travails, however. A few albums in the 1970s weren’t well received until Cheap Trick decided to take a tour of Japan in 1978. The recordings of those sessions became Live at Budokan, and it would bring the superstardom Cheap Trick sought. With tunes such as “I Want You to Want Me” and a thunderous cover of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame” (Carlos’ drum work particularly stood out), a fuse was lit and Cheap Trick’s rocket took off. 

Cheap Trick has sold 20 million albums and contributed several notable singles to rock and roll’s history. “Surrender,” “Dream Police,” “She’s Tight,” and “Tonight It’s You” were all precursors to Cheap Trick’s sole #1 song, “The Flame” from 1988. 

The group has continued to record and tour since its inception, with only Carlos’ departure in 2010 being a blemish on the band’s history. (Rick Nielsen’s son Daxx has handled drum duties ever since.) 

(Image: Daniel DeSlover / Zuma)