Cheap Trick to open Chicago museum, eatery, venue, shrine to wacky guitars
Zoinks!
Cheap Trick will open a multi-purpose space in a former Buick dealership in Chicago’s South Loop. Cheap Trick Chicago will be part museum, part radio station, and part eatery, because that’s just what Chicago has been waiting for, a rock ’n’ roll Vegas attraction for a band from Rockford, Illinois. The kitschy band chose the site to honor the tradition of influential R&B labels like Chess Records that once made their home along South Michigan Avenue. There’s speculation that a variety of other music-themed establishments will open on what’s currently a stretch of car dealerships, with a blues band in talks for a nearby space.
The band’s manager, David Frey, told the Sun-Times the timing is right. “The band won’t play temporary outdoor stages anymore after Ottawa,” referring to the stage collapse that happened earlier this year, as well as Chicago’s non-existent lack of permanent stages.
The band will choose the exhibits for the instrument museum, though Rick Nielsen’s signature collection also took a beating during the Ottawa stage collapse, with the rocker losing 47 of his 250 guitars in the accident—or 235 of his 1250 guitar necks.
