Rocker Rick Nielsen helps bring up the lights on Hard Rock’s new landmark guitar in Rockford

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Before the sun rose Thursday morning, there were two checkerboard guitars out in front of the new Hard Rock Casino Rockford.

One was a nearly 63-foot-tall landmark that stands at the entrance to the casino at 7801 E. State St. The other was in the hands of Rock & Roll hall-of-famer Rick Nielsen.

“I’ve had guitars all over the world, but I’ve never had anything in Rockford,” Nielsen said after playing a few licks in front of the giant replica guitar to mark its first official lighting. “It’s wonderful. Now I’ve got to get some bigger picks.”

Related: Teddy Swims to rock Rockford’s Hard Rock Casino, and hometown talent will be featured on drums

Hard Rock lit the massive showpiece guitar shortly after 5 a.m. on Thursday in a short celebration that featured Nielsen — with a checkerboard guitar and a small amp — playing a countdown to the official lighting.

The guitar, which was made by Baltimore-based signs and visual communications company Gable, features guitar strings and a perimeter outline that are achieved using faux neon white LED tube lighting. It’s modeled after one of Nielsen’s guitars and he provided input to Gable on the design.

“With every project that we work on we want to make sure that we’re celebrating local,” said Giovanni Taliaferro, vice president of memorabilia and design for Hard Rock International. “Here in Rockford it needed to be Rick. It needed to be Cheap Trick. We needed to make certain that we were celebrating that legacy.”

The ceremony comes one week before the casino opens around 3 p.m. Aug. 29. Nielsen will be performing again that night in an invite-only show as part of the Nielsen Trust, a band that includes his sons Daxx and Miles and daughter-in-law Kelly Steward.

Inside the casino is even more Nielsen and Cheap Trick memorabilia, but there is also a representation of all genres of music on display. Truckloads of memorabilia arrived with a police escort last week for its installment inside.

“You’ll see some representation of Chicago jazz and blues, you’ll see representation of rock and hip hop, you’ll see representation of R&B and soul, it’s all of the above,” Taliaferro said. “Everyone connects within the industry, and every artist that’s on display in here — in some shape, way or form — has ties to Rick Nielsen and Cheap Trick and Rockford.”

There’s another Nielsen-based guitar design just inside the main entryway to the casino: a chandelier stretches from the doors to a featured memorabilia case.

“Rick is such an iconic figure,” said Geno Iafrate, president of Hard Rock Casino Rockford. “There was no other option. Rick’s importance to the city of Rockford, and the legacy of Rick and Cheap Trick and the uniqueness of his guitar and the uniqueness of the Hard Rock brand fit together so perfectly.”

The 62-foot, 10-inch tall guitar stretches 38-feet and 6 inches wide. It weighs approximately 7 tons, including its steel support structure.

Its installation and lighting is among the finishing touches to the two-year construction process of the nearly 180,000-square-foot casino and entertainment venue, which kicked off in September 2022.

The casino will include nearly 1,300 slot machines, a sportsbook, 50 live table games including a poker room, six restaurants and a Rock Shop with Hard Rock merchandise and other gifts. The Hard Rock Live entertainment venue has seating for up to 1,600 and doubles as a banquet hall with setups that can be rearranged for different uses.

Iafrate said Nielsen has been at the Hard Rock nearly every day when he’s not on tour or recording in the studio. That included his impromptu appearance last week when the guitar arrived at Hard Rock on four separate semitrucks after being shipped across the country from Baltimore.

On Thursday, the 75-year-old still touring rocker said he was only up at 5 a.m. because he hadn’t yet gone to bed.

He was dressed in his signature look, a black sportcoat with picks and patches emblazoned on both sides, a cap and a checkerboard guitar strap fitted to the checkerboard electric guitar.

“I’m a lucky guy. I get to do what I want. I always wanted to play in a band and write songs, duh,” Nielsen said. “And I’m too dumb to quit.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas