Cheap Trick’s At Budokan served role similar to The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East and Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison in that it was a live album which served as a jumping off point in their career. The album received heavy airplay following its release in 1978, transforming Cheap Trick from a marginally successful rock band operating around the periphery of mainstream American into a power pop powerhouse that would cement their place in history alongside bands like The Cars and The Knack. It was recorded in front of 12,000 fans at Nippon Budokan Arena in Japan, a country where Cheap Trick had seen a lot of success in their early career. It’s almost apropos that this was the location for a live album that turned them into stars back home across the Pacific.
At Budokan features some of Cheap Trick’s most beloved material– “Surrender”, “Lookout”, and of course the incomparable “I Want You To Want Me”. The live version off this album has become the definitive version for me when compared to its slower yacht rock version off their studio album In Colors. It has the right blend of urgency and energy that mesh perfectly alongside the song’s subject matter.
Standout Songs: “Surrender”, “I Want You To Want Me”, “Lookout”, “Come On, Come On”
