Photo By BOB ROCHE
Members of the band Chicago, Robert Lamm, left, and Lee Loughnane, share the stage at the Lynn Auditorium on Friday night.
By ERIK LAWLESS
LYNN — En route to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in April, Chicago made a pit stop, after a stint in Asia, at the Lynn Auditorium on Friday night. Throughout their nearly two hour and forty-minute show, the nonet delivered, as expected, to a packed crowd with their rock, jazz and Latin inspired hits that covered some five plus decades.
The show opened with a few of their classics, including the soulful vocal, horn driven “Questions 67 & 68” and “Dialogue Part 1 & 2,” with lyrics calling for the need for change in the ‘70s and featured images of protests of police brutality , the Vietnam War and political icons of that era on the backdrop.
As the crowd settled back into the journey, trombonist James Pankow flexed his showmanship muscle by taunting the crowd and invoking the usual recognition of “Massachusetts, how we doing…?” After assuring the crowd they were in the right place to hear hit after hit, he let loose his stage antics and energy, menacing other band members with the arm of his trombone, as if a bull charging a matador throughout the night.
The rest of the nearly one hour and fifteen-minute first half saw the band playing plenty of their love songs, including acoustic-driven, “If You Leave Me Now.’’ They also played several upbeat songs, including “Now” from their most recent album, “Now Chicago XXXVI”, which featured a tight groove by bassist Jason Scheff, along with strong vocal performances by him, guitarist Keith Howland and keyboardists’ Robert Lamma and Lou Pardini.
Perhaps the most exciting moment of this half, which helped break up a building monotonous trend, was a wild, Latin-inspired jam, morphing from “I’ve Been Searching So Long”. Pankow climbed up to the percussion rig and whaled on timbales, leaving saxophonist Walter Parazaider and trumpeter Lee Loughnane to steer the melody. Loughnane also featured a screaming trumpet solo, channeling his inner Arturo Sandoval.
Following their progressive, tempo shifting “Make Me Smile” and rock-waltz “Color my World,” the first set of the show ended.
After a 15 minute intermission, the second half began with the band remembering their roots by playing their “Old Days,” where pictures of current and former members appeared in the background. Following that was one of their longest tenured songs, the jazzy, big band-sounding “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”
The band also sprinkled in some of their rocking treasures, which got people on their feet cheering and singing, such as “Saturday in the Park” and “I’m a Man”. This featured, under dancing strobe lights, an electrifying Latin-inspired drum break by percussionist Walfredo Reyes, Jr. and drummer Tris Imboden.
Chicago concluded the carnival of hit parade songs with “25 to 6 to 4”, arguably their heaviest guitar driven song. But, be it up against curfew or the sound man pulling the plug to begin breaking down equipment, the heavy intro of guitar was barely audible. Additionally, the percussion sound seemed to collapse, as well. Only when the horn section joined in, did the sound seem to return to a balance, even though the guitar remained muffled throughout.
Make no mistake, this is a horn-driven band—at least that was the presentation, and they continue to do it very well. Finally, for a band that has long shared a bill with contemporaries Earth,Wind and Fire, one could be left to wonder why there was no memorable mention or tribute to the recent passing of EWFs founder, Maurice White.
