The big show on the rock agenda last weekend was the White Stripes’ arrival at the Orpheum to support their new Elephant (V2) with a stripped-down set of bass-less, blooze-drenched Zeppelin-esque riff rock on Sunday. Lost in the hype was a sold-out performance by rock-pop vets Cheap Trick at the Somerville Theatre the following night. On the surface, the two acts have little in common. The White Stripes are riding the crest of a garage-rock revival that has journalists prematurely proclaiming a rock-and-roll rebirth and radio programmers doing their damnedest to fit hook-challenged fare on the airwaves. Cheap Trick are simply eking out a living as a legendary band who once ruled arenas and who can still push crucial nostalgia buttons with AOR staples like " Surrender " and " I Want You (To Want Me). "

In fact, both bands rely on novelty, the Stripes with their matching red, white, and black stage get-ups, their lack of bass guitar, and their female drummer (singer/guitarist Jack White’s ex-wife, Meg), Cheap Trick with Rick Nielsen’s outrageous guitar collection (which includes a sweet ’59 Les Paul Standard flametop and the five-neck Hamer he always pulls out for " Surrender " ), Tom Petersson’s 12-string bass, and a stage show in which Nielsen showers the crowd with guitar picks. The difference is that whereas White Stripes aim to capture an alternative audience they don’t seem all that amiable toward with spotty performances that could use a bassist (not to mention a drummer who can swing a little harder than Meg, à la John Bonham), Cheap Trick are just happy to be playing in front of a full house. And Cheap Trick come prepared to deliver an action-packed set that’s designed to leave each member of the audience professionally rocked.

At the Somerville, they started off with their ready-made opening salvo, " Hello There " (a/k/a " Are you ready to rock? " ), and closed with the song’s short analog, the similarly styled " Goodnight. " Despite the Spinal Tap-ian overkill, a Cheap Trick show is almost as stripped down as drummer Bun E. Carlos’s tiny trap kit, with short and sweet guitar solos, little in the way of extravagant drum fills, and enough overdriven hooks to hang all Nielsen’s guitars on. Even the requisite new tunes — a trio of mid-tempo rockers aimed at giving fans a taste of an as-yet-untitled new CD (the band’s 29th by Nielsen’s count) — came across, thanks to Robin Zander’s spot-on vocals, Carlos’s unwavering backbeats, and the fact that none of them ran past the three-minute mark.

But it was the hits — from " Surrender " to " I Want You (To Want Me) " to " Dream Police " — that the crowd came for. And it was the hits that Cheap Trick delivered with a refreshing sense of professionalism. That may have subverted the myth that great rock and roll is the work of inspired amateurs like the White Stripes, but it did nothing to undercut the power of the performance.