Unlike the other shows, this day it rained. Poured in fact and all the way down to the concert as we trolled from the trolley stop to the venue at the Budweiser Amphitheatre on the lake shore, I was trying to remember when Viv started quizzing whether I had bought tickets under the roof or not. I couldn't remember so kept my fingers crossed and tried to keep changing the subject.
I had also forgotten there were two bands that night: REO Speedwagon being the other. Now I'd never really had any opinion of them. They were just another 2nd or 3rd tier American rock band of the the 1970's when I was listening to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th tier rock bands in England, so I never heard any of their songs. Tonight though they may have played a lot of them because the audience was very responsive. And of course truth be told they were very, very professional and very, very accomplished. Like every other band from that era.
Listening to them actually made me feel a little guilty. How had I missed them? Why would I have missed them? They were good. Distance of course made that happen but I'd heard of a host of other American bands, some of whom were pretty obscure, so why not them? I think it was because they released a single that was cloyingly sickly and put me off from day 1. Don't ask me what that song was as I don't remember but they probably played it.
Blame singles then. But that would be unfair as the headliner was one that I'd 'discovered' as a result of a single they released back in 1968 or 1969 that was a total killer in England. The song was 'I'm a Man' and the band was either 'Chicago Transit Authority' or just plain 'Chicago', the name of their first album as well and confusingly in the liner notes they referred to this as well. Subsequently they became just Chicago so lets stay with them there.
I had watched a documentary/biopic on the band a few days earlier on You Tube (and don't you just love You Tube for stuff like this) and the band had said that their earliest singles had flopped until... and then they named something else (forget which tune). But that was wrong I thought for they were unheard of in England until their I'm a Man single went into the Top 10 in January 1970 (I thought it was earlier than this). Anyway on the basis of this single I, or rather my brother Jan and I, went out and bought their first album. He has it now regrettably but in my view this is their best album.
The show was a replicant of their second album, Chicago II, and was just great. They played their music and it wasn't just songs. It was their album. The second section was in their words "the songs you hear on the radio all the time". Their greatest hits collection in fact and my goodness it made me wonder just when they had become a ballad band. That wasn't what I heard on their first album and again to get clarity on this we must return to the biopic.
Basically it happened all of a sudden without them noticing either. The first inkling they had was when their bass player departed for a solo career. He was the cute one with the voice that sang all those ballads. However, they are stuck with an amazing back catalog and that is what the punters want to hear. Hence the greatest hits.
I so wanted to hear their first album greats again but I suppose they have released 20 or so later albums so shouldn't be surprised. But for those longing to hear them in their pomp go back to You Tube and listen to their concert at Tanglewood in 1970. Here it is!! Anyway the audience went wild and Viv sang along to their ballads.
And if you want to know what it was that took England by storm back in 1969 or 1970 well here that is too!!
They were really good.
And if you've made it this far in the blog and want to know whether I had actually bought tickets under cover or not, well I'll tell you. You know the bit of the roof when it comes to the edge and sort of turns down? Well when it rains the drips keep on coming because of that design.
Sadly our seats were directly underneath this....
No comments:
Post a Comment