DIDL: 2017-4 Chicago
The first time I saw Chicago in concert I was a PFC, stationed at Ft. Bragg. It was just after they had released their third album. Their count now is 31, including a bunch of double albums.
Our seats back in 1971 were up in the rafters and behind the band at about 10 o’clock in a 10,000+ seat building in Charlotte with gymnasium acoustics. That building is long gone….and so are some of the data points from that night. (It has been awhile. I was a tad toasted that night.)
Forty-six years later, four original members are still in the band, including the 3 guys who blow horns and woodwinds. Those 3 make a LOT of music, as do the 2 drummers, 2 keyboardists, and 2 guitarists.
That NC show was the first of several during my Army days. Prior to that nite in early 1971, I had only seen a few concerts and only one person (that I’m aware of) who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: James Brown.
The stage presence of “the hardest working man in show business” compared to these rockers and horn players was no comparison. My eyes enjoyed James Brown; my ears preferred Chicago. Anybody who ever saw and heard the late Terry Kath play guitar knew they were in the presence of greatness.
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The number of albums they have released is also the number of songs that we heard on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at the 2,200 seat Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts here in Springfield, MO. Our seats in the first row of the balcony and the acoustics of the hall were awesome.
I was never a huge fan of Chicago. I only own 2 albums on vinyl and 1 CD…and it’s a double album of greatest hits. Some of their lyrics were just too sappy for me. But they are on my road trip flashdrive.
For years they were on one of two lists: (1) “Why the fuck aren’t they in the Rock & Roll hall of fame” artists; and (2) “Who the hell voted to induct them?”
The former is a fairly long list. Come on now….how the hell is Warren Zevon not in?
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Time to DIDL.
I. Eight songs (the maximum per the rules) and some lyrics.
Another Rainy Day in New York City
Dialogue 1 and 2
Does anybody really know what time it is
Hard habit to break
Questions 67 and 68
Saturday in the park
Make me smile
25 or 6 to 4
II. Lyrics from only one of the thirty-one that Shelly and I heard 4/2/17. From a song (Alive again) that didn’t make the list above. But one that describes my life these days. Things are much different than they were for me 6 years ago.
The lines from my favorite TTB song nails how I was feeling in 2011: “…I was running from the past, My heart was bleeding, And it hurt my bones to laugh…”
As Chicago the band started their 4th song the other night, I gazed at Shelly. She was leaning forward and didn’t see me smiling as I watched her. She didn’t see the tears of joy welling up in my eyes. The lines from Chicago’s fourth song of the night describe the last four+ years of my life. I never expected to live in Missouri again. I didn’t expect to be in love again.
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Yesterday I would not have believed
That tomorrow the sun would shine
Then one day you came into my life
I am alive again I am alive again
All the empty yesterdays have disappeared
Now that you have filled my life with love
No one else could ever mean so much to me
Every day my high lasts longer
As our love grows ever stronger
Yesterday I would not have believed
That tomorrow the sun would shine
Then one day you came into my life
I am alive again I am alive again
When you gave your love to me you changed my life
Dreams that once seemed hopeless come with ease
Thank you girl for being just the way you are
I would never try to change you
All I live for is to love you **
I’m feeling alive again
I’m feeling alive again
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**Sorry, but the one line is pushing it. These days I have a lot to live for….
Be. Just BE.