My wife is a ridiculous Chicago fan going back to when she was a teenybopper growing up in Elmhurst, Queens. I have seen Chicago in concert with her every year since sometime in the 1980’s including a show at Westbury Music Fair with Peter Cetera still in the band. The concert at Caesars in Atlantic City is one of my favorites as we stayed overnight and the venue had Vegas style table seating with waitress service. I do not think the Caesars venue is set up the same way any longer but at the time (could it be seventeen years ago?) it was a great place to see the band and a lot of fun.

The band has changed personnel numerous times through the years and is in the midst of yet another transition with the long time drummer and the latest bass player/vocalist leaving and a lounge singer type who does not play bass stepping in. Fortunately Robert  Lamm is still a mainstay on one of the keyboards, and two thirds of the road warrior horn section are hanging in there for this upcoming tour, but it is starting to feel like the end may be near on this fifty year anniversary tour. At some point I expect that the Chicago brand name will continue on tour indefinitely with entirely replacement players and a video montage of the glory years. As for now,  Chicago definitely gives you your money’s worth and their endurance and energy is amazing.

Happy wife; Happy life.

Happy Man

Rock on!

GQ

Sirius Satellite Radio hooked me up with tickets for Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats st the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem last night. I walked past the tourists taking selfies in front of the iconic Apollo frontage and entered to collect my complimentary Sirius Satellite Radio tickets. The Apollo Theater seemed narrow and the hallway leading up to the second level wa lined with framed pictures of performers who had played the venue in the past (no, I did not see any photos of Metallica but it does not mean that it could not have been there somewhere). The theater smelled a little like a short stay motel adding to a throwback ambience from a bygone era.  The theater was clean, the restrooms were immaculate and the comfortable red seats were in fine shape. The venue itself seemed much smaller and more intimate then I had imagined with the upper balcony way up in true nosebleed land. My seat in the second level were four rows back dead center-a perfect vantage point for what was to come.

The opening act was very good but the singer said their name so fast no one around me heard what it was. Banjo, bass, guitar and some mostly high energy tunes was a nice table setter for the evening.

I had seen Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats last year opening for Chris Stapleton at Jones Beach and the small crowd in the pit got a taste of a band on the rise. This year Nathaniel and The Night Sweats are headlining at Forest Hills Stadium soon in support of a just released new album so a “big” show was snticipated.

If Van Morrison and Levon Helm had a baby boy they would name him Nate. The man is a rock and soul powerhouse. This is not a museum piece on the road like some of the veteran road warriors filling arenas these days. This is a band kicking ass, raising roofs and causing people to shimmy in the aisles. The sky is the limit for Rateliff and The Night Sweats as they travel the world in a soulful quest to save the music industry from greatest hits summer tours.

Tearing at the Seams

Rock on!

GQ

My son and I went to City Winery this past Thursday and he was definitely the youngest person in the room by a long shot, if you do not include the staff. I was pleasantly surprised with the opening set by singer songwriter Dan DiLego who wa accompanied by a pedal steel/multi-instrumentalist and,  for his last song, a musician friend on background vocals. Mr. DiLego has some really good songs andhis between  song banter, including a rap about his mother telling him to ask The Zombies to help him do construction on a bar he owns,was entertaining. 

The Zombies hit the stage and they looked as old as the audience but I should not have been surprised as they began as a group somewhere around 1967. I wa strapping myself in for what I thought wa going to be a rough night but as the band got rolling and performing their numerous hit recordings, I realized that this band was still really, really good. Their longtime bassist of eighteen years recently passed away and his replacement did not miss a beat. The drummer was Chris Farleyesqe and the excellent lead guitar was Garth straight out of Wayne’s World. 

The Zombies regaled the adoring AARP members with a mix of old hits, newer tunes and a couple of great Argent songs including “Hold Your Head Up”.

This was a show that I mistakingly had low expectations for but we left the venue smiling and sonically satisfied; the big sound in the intimate room proved to be perfect. The Zombies three night stint at City Winery New York was a rousing success.

God Gave Rock and Roll to You

Rock on

GQ