Cheap Trick
7 PM
Sunday, September 3rd
Ravinia Pavilion
200 Ravinia Park Road
$45, $15 (lawn)

Led by guitarist Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick was formed in Rockford, IL in 1975. Their career spans 19 albums you may remember their hits “I Want You to Want Me,” and “Dream Police.” Those were early hits, but Cheap Trick is still going and continues to rock arenas all over the country. Check out 1979’s “Live at the Budokan.”

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Amazon.com essential recording:
Originally released as a 10-track live album in the late 1970s when live albums were all the rage, At Budokan neatly summed up this oddball power-pop/hard rock band with the added ferocity a live show brings. Tracks such as “Hello There,” “Surrender,” “I Want You to Want Me,” and Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame” were infused with a power their studio versions only hint at. Twenty years after the original concert in April 1978, the classic live album has been expanded to include nine additional tracks that make this a must-have for fans of the original. –Rob O’Connor

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Kraft Kids Concerts
Ralph’s World
11 AM
Saturday, September 2nd
Ravinia Pavilion
200 Ravinia Park Road
$10, $3 (lawn)

“Forget sickeningly sweet ditties. Ralph Covert makes indie rock for music fans who still hold their parents’ hands. It is possible that Mr. Covert will turn out to be (the) genre’s Elvis Presley, or at the very least its Elvis Costello.” David Edelstein, The New York Times

Technorati Tags: Ravinia Festival, Ralph’s World, Kraft Kids Concerts

Amazon.com:
Ralph Covert may have sunk to the bottom of the sea for his second release, but he swished the sophomore slump aside in his wake. Here’s a world as unwatered-down as its predecessor, Ralph’s World, complete with psychic cats, caffeine-addicted parents, and heapin’ helpings of b-b-bean soup and rice instead. In other words, the impossibly clever songwriting is back, and so is the catchy vibe and effortless-sounding folky delivery, something that extends to the cover tunes. Nobody, not even kids too young to be cartoon connoisseurs, tires of tra-la-laaing along with the Banana Splits theme, and why hasn’t anybody thought to capture Sinatra’s swingin’ yet suitable “Fly Me to the Moon” for kids before? As on the first record, the closing tune simultaneously conks you over the head with sentimentality and suffuses you with a sense of connectedness. Somewhere, clans of fulfilled yet fantastically kooky families thrive, and if they had to choose a champion, it’d be Ralph Covert. –Tammy La Gorce

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Amy Grant
8 PM
Thursday, August 31st
Ravinia Pavilion
200 Ravinia Park Road
$50, $15 (lawn)

Ravinia.org: ” Grammy Award-winner Amy Grant has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. The crossover hit-maker behind “The Next Time I Fall in Love, “Baby Baby,” and “That’s What Love Is For,” was recently host of NBC’s Three Wishes.” She will be accompanied by the Ravinia Festival Orchestra.

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Album Description:
She needs no introduction. Widely known as pop megastar, gospel’s stunning-yet-relatable girl next door, selfless humanitarian, wife and mother-Amy Grant has been positively affecting culture with her love of song for nearly 30 years.

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