No one-trick pony

Cheap Trick wants you to want them, and they're still mighty desirable. Thursday night at the Allstate Arena, the band blasted through a 75-minute set that featured four powerful songs from their 2009 studio album, "The Latest," alongside timeless gems like "Surrender," "Dream Police" and "I Want You to Want Me."

Thirty years after their commercial peak, the ageless wonders from Rockford are making some of the best music of their career. While most of their peers are either fat, dead, disbanded or no longer composing great songs, Cheap Trick has discovered a fountain of youth in the form of Beatlesque power pop, which is the same elixir that allowed them to sell millions of albums in the '70s and '80s.

At the Allstate, the new songs "Miracle" and "These Days" showcased the limber vocals of lead singer Robin Zander, who, at 56, is the band's youngest member.

Guitarist Rick Nielsen crafted catchy riffs and tightly focused solos, drummer Bun E. Carlos slapped the skins with admirable precision and Tom Petersson offered melodic runs on a glittery, 12-string bass. The quartet, which still consists of its original members, was joined by keyboardist Phil "Magic" Cristian, who added a bouncy, melodic motif to "She's Tight."

Nielsen expertly played a wide array of guitars (including a five-neck model) and did his typical stage routine of flicking guitar picks into the crowd, mugging for the video cameras and shrugging with a delightful "Who? Me?" facial expression.

Midway through the show, Nielsen boasted, "For the past 12 weeks, Cheap Trick has had the No. 1-selling 8-track in the world." He said this while hoisting overhead an 8-track version of "The Latest," which actually is available in that format, selling for $30 at the band's Web site.

The show's peak was a masterful rendition of "Heaven Tonight," the atmospheric title track from Cheap Trick's 1978 studio album. The band has played this tune thousands of times, but that didn't prevent them from turning it into a dreamy bit of engaging songcraft, as Zander crooned the haunting lyrics and Nielsen sculpted his fierce guitar notes into a sonic volcano.

The new song "Sick Man of Europe" was delivered with punkish energy, and its title is a wink to the group's origins. (Sick Man of Europe was an early name for the band before the group changed it to Cheap Trick.)

Nielsen wore his love for the Fab Four on his sleeve, literally, as he sported a black shirt and bow tie that were adorned with the words "The Beatles." At one point, he played a guitar that was decorated with images of the Beatles' faces, and the lyrics to the catchy, Lennonesque "Miss Tomorrow" referenced the Beatles. All these nods made it slightly surprising that Cheap Trick did not play anything from their other release of 2009, "Sgt. Pepper Live," a meticulous concert disc devoted to covering the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Although the group often has been saddled with the moniker "The American Beatles," Cheap Trick's incredible duration as a functioning, vibrant band has placed them far outside the shadow of their Liverpudlian heroes.

Bobby Reed is a Chicago-based free-lance writer.

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Cheap Trick's set list at the Allstate:

1. "Way of the World"

2. "Come On, Come On"

3. "Miracle"

4. "I Want You to Want Me"

5. "These Days"

6. "She's Tight"

7. "Heaven Tonight"

8. "Miss Tomorrow"

9. "Don't Be Cruel"

10. "Voices"

11. "Sick Man of Europe"

12. "The Flame"

13. "Surrender"

Color Photo: Jon Gitchoff for the Sun-Times / Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick rock out the Allstate Arena Thursday night with classics and new material.