Cheap Trick at the Seaside Summer Concert

Rock band Cheap Trick opened up the Seaside Summer Concerts’ 2013 season, in a special Friday performance on the evening of July 12.

Despite the rain, a huge crowd was on hand – in ponchos or with umbrellas raised — to enjoy the group’s show, as well as opening numbers by The Cringe,  whose lead singer, John Cusimano is married to Food Network star Rachael Ray, who also took the stage during the evening.

The concert, like all of the series, was held in Coney Island, adjacent to the historic Child’s Restaurant building on the Boardwalk at West 21^st Street.

With the recently-gleaned approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and with $53 million in funding largely allocated by the series’ host, Borough President Marty Markowitz, the vintage structure will be transformed into an amphitheater that will be home to the Seaside Concerts and other events.

Among the impending changes that will allow for the building’s new role are the construction of a rooftop addition, and new lighting and signs, as well as changes to the west side of the structure. Overall, Landmarks Commission Chair Robert Tierney called the plan, which LPC approved on July 9, “a superb job of adaptive reuse, preservation and restoration.”