Click Above To Order Your CopyChicago & Friends Live At 55
Chicago and Various Artists
Label/Studio: Mercury Studios
Release Date: November 22, 2024
Review Date: November 20, 2024
I’m a huge Chicago fan. In fact, I can trace my fandom all the way back to 1973 when I borrowed my friend’s copy of the album, “Chicago Transit Authority.” The intricate melodies and instrumentation blew me away even though I was (and am) a musical novice when it comes to songwriting.
What grabbed me by the ears and wouldn’t let me go was “I’m A Man.” I still love that song and crank it up every time I listen to it.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing Chicago in concert three or four times and they NEVER disappointed me. To think that these guys are still knocking it out of the park over 55 years since originally becoming Chicago Transit Authority (then just plain “Chicago” the following year) is absolutely mind-boggling.
Think about it: These guys have written and recorded some of the most complex arrangements in rock and roll and can still perform them note-perfect! They did every time I saw them in concert, and they do on this amazing DVD/CD offering, “Chicago & Friends Live At 55.”
I’ve got all of the live works that Chicago has put out and, by far, this is the band’s absolute best on their own merits but it’s even “mo bettoh” (as my daughter used to say when she was a toddler) with guests such as Robin Thicke, Chris Daughtry, Steve Vai, VoicePlay, Judith Hill, Robert Randolph and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram performing with them at different points throughout the show.
To cap it all off is a tour de force with all the guests on stage performing my favorite Chicago tune, 25 or 6 to 4. You can only imagine what that sounds like with Judith Hill, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Steve Vai blazing their guitars along with the band’s Tony Obrohta.
Wow. Just wow.
Be sure and order your own copy of this amazing DVD as well as buy extras as gifts for your music loving folks on your gift list!
Also, look up the Boomerocity interviews with Robert Lamm, Jimmy Pankow, Lee Loughnane, and their friends, Steve Vai (here and here) and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (here). They’re all on there on Boomerocity!
