Twenty years after they released their eponymous debut album, Cheap Trick are still at the top of their game.

Over the course of four nights in Chicago, Cheap Trick -- Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson -- took fans on a retrospective of their fantabulous career.

Kicking things off on April 30, the band revisited shows they recorded two decades earlier: At Budokan. This live collection launched the foursome from Rockford, Ill., into the spotlight. Now, they are going to take this string of recent performances and release another live album, a spokesman for the band told JAMTV after Saturday night's return to 1977's In Color. In fact, not long after leaving the stage, members of Cheap Trick were already on their way to listen to the tapes of the show in order to start picking and choosing the best material for the album.

As previously reported, Cheap Trick scheduled four consecutive shows at Chicago's Metro, where each night they played a different album in its entirety. All four shows were sold out well in advance of the weekend and the band rocked the crowd just as they did back in the late '70s and early '80s.

During the four shows, Cheap Trick welcomed some special guests to join them onstage. On Saturday, both D'Arcy and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins lent their talents to a band who they cite as a major influence upon their music. The Pumpkins, who graciously thanked Cheap Trick for inviting them to open up Saturday night's show, were not the only special guests. Triplefastaction, Local H and the Smoking Popes all opened at least one of the four shows.

Toward the end of Saturday night's show, Nielsen introduced Corgan -- dressed in a skull-emblazoned, black shirt and baseball cap with a turned-up brim -- as "the bastard son I never had." The lead singer of the Pumpkins walked onstage to play guitar on "Mandocello" (from Cheap Trick) and "Just Got Back" (from All Shook Up). He also joined in on vocals on the latter, then jumped upon a lighted case and threw dozens of guitar picks to the crowd, a la Nielsen.

Before Cheap Trick sang an acoustic version of their 1988 No. 1 hit, "The Flame," they welcomed D'Arcy -- who celebrated a birthday the night before-- to sing backup on "If You Want My Love." Earlier in the show, Nielsen led the crowd in a round of "Happy Birthday" in honor of the Pumpkins bassist.

To end the show, Cheap Trick decided they were "Gonna Raise Hell" (Dream Police) and sent the crowd home after a true wall of sound blasted them out of the venue.

(Ari Bendersky)