Chicago Live

[bucephylus]

I honestly don't get out to hear the big concert acts at all.

That said, my wife won a pair of tickets to hear Chicago last night here in the Phoenix area; and there were a number of interesting points to the performance.

First, they totally rocked. I suppose that some of the tunes, being upwards of 40 years old could be considered old and moldy, but honestly, the whole performance was as fresh and full of energy as when I heard them at Pine Knob in 1972. And, although I have never gone for the Cetera '80's ballad fare, even that material was presented in an "in your face" way. Bravo. I have always been a big fan of the high energy horn material. I wish there was more of it.

The bass player was a young cat taking Cetera's place; and did a fairly phenomenal job singing those parts and playing the bass parts. He seemed more rocker at heart, but really delivered. Wish I could sing with that kind of range.

Of course, the horn section is still the original guys, and they killed.

The gear side of things was pretty interesting. No backline at all. Everything was in-ears, stage mix and FOH. The only thing about that setup is it seems to me that it gets pretty far from some of the club music aspects, and far enough that it kind of changes the whole presentation, IMO. I understand the technology, think it works really well for such big acts; but kind of wonder if it isn't sort of decoupling from the club thing. I don't know, but that bothers me, a little. I guess if we all did that, we wouldn't need amps any more....

At one point, they mentioned that they have something like 100 dates on the calendar in the coming months, with several months in Europe. If you get a chance, I think most players would find these performances pretty great. They set a really high mark for musicianship, compositions and technical presentation. Good stuff all the way around.

[Gizmot]

I heard the original Chicago lineup when they were the opening act for Jimi Hendrix in the late 60s and twice again in the next two years. They were really great back then.
I've seen them a couple of times since then and they weren't nearly as impressive - so it's good to hear that they're still at it and doing well.

[JazznFunk]

Jason Scheff is a phenomenal bassist and singer. He's been with them longer now than even Cetera originally was. He joined in 1986 after Cetera went solo. Jason is a long-time friend and was a mentor of sorts when I first started playing bass. Chicago's music (and Jason's playing specifically) is what motivated me to start playing bass and I've been fortunate to have seen them many times over the last 14 years or so. Glad you got to see them!

[bucephylus]

Originally Posted by JazznFunk

Jason Scheff is a phenomenal bassist and singer. He's been with them longer now than even Cetera originally was. He joined in 1986 after Cetera went solo. Jason is a long-time friend and was a mentor of sorts when I first started playing bass. Chicago's music (and Jason's playing specifically) is what motivated me to start playing bass and I've been fortunate to have seen them many times over the last 14 years or so. Glad you got to see them!

Yup, +1; he's a cat.

Just for perspective, I believe the 2nd tune I learned to play on bass in 1971 was "Listen." How time flies.....

[cableguy]

I saw them with the wife a few years back with EW&F. It was a smokin show. Both bands had incredible bass players and horn sections. I'm more of a rocker at heart, but that was one of the best shows I have ever seen. The funny thing was I like the older Chicago but my wife liked the newer Cetera type stuff so we both had a great time.

[rosskratter]

Originally Posted by bucephylus

The gear side of things was pretty interesting. No backline at all. Everything was in-ears, stage mix and FOH. The only thing about that setup is it seems to me that it gets pretty far from some of the club music aspects, and far enough that it kind of changes the whole presentation, IMO. I understand the technology, think it works really well for such big acts; but kind of wonder if it isn't sort of decoupling from the club thing. I don't know, but that bothers me, a little. I guess if we all did that, we wouldn't need amps any more....

Keith Howland (guitarist) is using amps, the cabs are backstage. Jason Scheff (bassist) goes direct.

[pica]

Chicago is and always will be one of my favorite bands. Their songs are just as good today as they were 30-40 years ago. However I do miss the ORIGINAL Chicago line-up.

[Bard2dbone]

It's a shame I never got to do a steady thing with a horn line.

I have a lifetime total of ONE gig with horns playing my originals. And I frequently rank it as my coolest gig EVER.

We were playing a Childrens Miracle Network benefit at the coolest stage that this area used to have.(Bronco Bowl) It's not there anymore and I miss it. The opening act had a horn section who had recorded on the headlining acts first CD. We were the middle act of three. Everyone was psyched about the headliners because they were a great band by themselves. But had just done a CD with that horn section and a gospel choir backing them up and both the horns and several members of the choir were available for the benefit.

We were on after the openers. But when most of the band tore down their gear and made room for us, the horn players didn't move. They stayed standing in front of their mics. I was felling a little annoyed. We were setting up and they were still there. I got more annoyed. We were ready to start and they were STILL there. Now I was ticked. I decided "Fine. If they're just going to stand there looking stupid during someone else's set, then **** 'em.

We started playing like any normal show...and four bars in the horns joined us. The alto sax player had gone to school with my keyboardist. They'd gotten together and arranged horn parts for our songs without telling me. The stands they had in front of them with charts they hadn't looked at were not for the third band's parts like I had assumed. They were for ours.

It's the only time I've ever played with that lineup. And I recommend it as strongly as I can. For a pretty much perfect range of sounds you can't beat having guitar-bass-drums-keys-alto sax-tenor sax-flugelhorn-trombone-conga/bongos-vocals

The only way it could have possibly been cooler is if we had also had gorgeous identical twin backup singer babes. But as cool as that would be, I didn't miss them.

The horn guys stayed in place the whole time while the headliners got set up. They also had choir bleacher/riser things to accommodate about two dozen members of the church choir that had guested on their CD. But in stead of traditional choir robes, they wore bath robes. It was awesome.

[mrbell321]

Bronco bowl... ah, the memories. It made me feel old when I found out it was gone..

[Pilgrim]

Bard, FANTASTIC story. You're a lucky guy to have had that experience.

I miss the acts of the 70's with those incredibly tight brass sections. Every now and then you get to hear an act like Chicago and it reminds you just how great that sound is.

[Bard2dbone]

It IS the greatest sound. And that's the only time I ever got to personally have it. But at least I got that one time.