Iluvthe80s
1-22-04, 05:48 PM
*From Undercover Media:
Chicago Alive Again in 2004
Chicago are looking forward to playing the Melbourne Music and Blues Festival. They've haven't played a Festival in decades.
"We played a lot in the early 70s" original member Lee Loughnane tells Undercover News. We played the Dallas Pop Festival but we never played the most famous one, Woodstock. It's good to see that they are still happening in Australia".
While they didn't play Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix did. Chicago were once his support act. "He walked into a club one night and saw us and asked us to go out with him on the road" Lee says. "It was the last big concert he ever did".
Chicago have managed to stay together for 37 years and four of the seven original members are still in the band. Two line-up changes were high profile. Terry Kath died in 1978 from an accidental gunshot wound. "That was when we nearly broke up" Lee says. "We didn't think we could go on without Terry in the band". The other time was the departure of singer Peter Cetera. "Things changed for Chicago after MTV started. Suddenly it was about the video and the spotlight fell on Peter because he was the singer. We had never had one member stand out over the others before that. In the videos, the camera was always pointed at Peter. Eventually, he didn't want to tour anymore and wanted a solo career so he left".
Peter was replaced by Jason Scheff, the son of Jerry Scheff from Elvis Presley's band. "He's been with us for 19 years now. The newest member of the band has been with us eight years. That's longer than most bands stay together".
The legacy of Chicago is decades of hits including '25 or 6 to 4', 'Just You And Me', 'If You Leave Me Know', 'Alive Again', 'I've Been Searching So Long', 'Hard To Say I'm Sorry' and the list goes on. "We play them all" Lee says.
One song they don't play is their 1975 hit 'Harry Truman'. "He was the President who started the atomic age" says Lee. "After we recorded that song we couldn't tour Japan for 10 years". As for current politics, Lee doesn't know who to trust. "You just don't who to believe" he says.
The next project from Chicago will be the re-release of their mammoth Live At Carnegie Hall album. When it was first released in 1971, it was a 4LP set. Despite the massive amount of music on the release, the re-release will include bonus tracks. "Yes there were songs that we played that night that didn't make the live album" he says. "I've been listening to a CD of the extra tracks and they sound pretty good." Rhino has been re-releasing the Chicago catalogue with bonus tracks over the last few years.
Chicago will headline the Melbourne Music and Blues Festival February 8 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. It will be their only Australian show.
The Melbourne Music and Blues Festival also features Bryan Ferry, The Pretenders, Bonnie Raitt, The Wailers, Robert Cray, Tony Joe White, Jo Jo Zep, Xavier Rudd, Richard Clapton, Renee Geyer, Backsliders and Pete Murray.
by Paul Cashmere
Chicago Alive Again in 2004
Chicago are looking forward to playing the Melbourne Music and Blues Festival. They've haven't played a Festival in decades.
"We played a lot in the early 70s" original member Lee Loughnane tells Undercover News. We played the Dallas Pop Festival but we never played the most famous one, Woodstock. It's good to see that they are still happening in Australia".
While they didn't play Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix did. Chicago were once his support act. "He walked into a club one night and saw us and asked us to go out with him on the road" Lee says. "It was the last big concert he ever did".
Chicago have managed to stay together for 37 years and four of the seven original members are still in the band. Two line-up changes were high profile. Terry Kath died in 1978 from an accidental gunshot wound. "That was when we nearly broke up" Lee says. "We didn't think we could go on without Terry in the band". The other time was the departure of singer Peter Cetera. "Things changed for Chicago after MTV started. Suddenly it was about the video and the spotlight fell on Peter because he was the singer. We had never had one member stand out over the others before that. In the videos, the camera was always pointed at Peter. Eventually, he didn't want to tour anymore and wanted a solo career so he left".
Peter was replaced by Jason Scheff, the son of Jerry Scheff from Elvis Presley's band. "He's been with us for 19 years now. The newest member of the band has been with us eight years. That's longer than most bands stay together".
The legacy of Chicago is decades of hits including '25 or 6 to 4', 'Just You And Me', 'If You Leave Me Know', 'Alive Again', 'I've Been Searching So Long', 'Hard To Say I'm Sorry' and the list goes on. "We play them all" Lee says.
One song they don't play is their 1975 hit 'Harry Truman'. "He was the President who started the atomic age" says Lee. "After we recorded that song we couldn't tour Japan for 10 years". As for current politics, Lee doesn't know who to trust. "You just don't who to believe" he says.
The next project from Chicago will be the re-release of their mammoth Live At Carnegie Hall album. When it was first released in 1971, it was a 4LP set. Despite the massive amount of music on the release, the re-release will include bonus tracks. "Yes there were songs that we played that night that didn't make the live album" he says. "I've been listening to a CD of the extra tracks and they sound pretty good." Rhino has been re-releasing the Chicago catalogue with bonus tracks over the last few years.
Chicago will headline the Melbourne Music and Blues Festival February 8 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. It will be their only Australian show.
The Melbourne Music and Blues Festival also features Bryan Ferry, The Pretenders, Bonnie Raitt, The Wailers, Robert Cray, Tony Joe White, Jo Jo Zep, Xavier Rudd, Richard Clapton, Renee Geyer, Backsliders and Pete Murray.
by Paul Cashmere