The Songs - Surrender

This is the the 4th entry in my ongoing “songs that visited me and decided they wanted to stay” series. I hope you like these enough to become a paid subscriber, because I really need you.

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Surrender - Cheap Trick

Now I had heard the WACS were either
old maids, dykes, or whores

—Original line in the song

My first concert. I was in 8th grade and my older brother took me and my twin to the Kingston Armory. We stood in the balcony and watched Rick Nielson stepping on and off a foot stool on the edge of the stage as he played his solos and tossed his endless supply of guitar picks to the crowd. I’d never heard anything that loud in my life. And the only time I ever smelled that peculiar smell was when my Aunt took us to see wrestling at the CYC. Welcome to the world of rock and roll, and weed. Forever linked.

For some reason I remember the name of the opening act, a band called “Off Broadway”. Their singer did gymnastic flips on the stage, and had 80s hair even though the year was 1979 (I think). I don’t remember much else about the concert, other than the feeling of being overwhelmed by it all. The place seemed HUGE, like an airplane hanger. The sound was surely atrocious. For sure Cheap Trick played “Surrender” and Nielson donned his multi-neck guitar and frisbee-d the Kiss record jackets into the crowd, but that’s all lost in a haze of 45 year old pot smoke and 13 year old hormones. My ears rang for a week.