FEATURE:
CHICAGO:
On Tour With
EARTH, WIND & FIRE…
by Tom
Lounges
 It’s a
pairing made in heaven for fans of horn-driven rock music to
think about Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire joining forces
together on one stage.
But that is
just the situation that those fans will find happening this
summer’s concert season as the two powerhouse groups rip
across America for a string of nearly 40 shows –– lasting in
excess of three hours each –– between June and September.
All the
credit for this heavenly team-up goes to Chicago’s longtime
manager, Peter Schivarelli, according to Chicago’s
trumpeter and co-founder, Lee Loughnane, an Elmwood
Park native.
“Peter had
the idea about four years ago and had been trying to
implement it, but this is the first year that it’s actually
been able to come together,” he continued. “Right now we are
in musical rehearsals with Earth, Wind & Fire and let me
tell you, it’s sounding really good!”
Unlike most
tour packages where one group plays and if followed by
another, this tour will find both groups on stage together
at times, ripping through a mixed bag of hits from both
their songbooks.
“What we’re
gonna do is open up the show doing three songs together as
one big ensemble. Then EW&F will stay on stage as we leave
and do about an hour on their own. Then Chicago will come
on and do about an hour on our own. To conclude the show,
both groups will come back to the stage and we’ll play
together on another five or six songs,” he explained.
“It’s a co-headline tour, so it’s fitting that both bands
will be out there to close the show every night in every
city. It’s going to be a remarkable show that know the fans
are going to love. We haven’t even started yet and we’re
already having a blast together! We just stand there
playing music and smiling at each other.”
The stage
is set up for both bands, to keep the change over time
remarkably short as one band replaces the other.
“Because
there are so many people on stage at the same time, you have
to watch what is being played by whom,” he cautioned.
“Jimmy (Pankow), myself, and EW&F’s horn arranger Ray
Jones, are doing new horn arrangements on the songs
we’re playing together.”
That said,
Loughnane notes that the famous songs the two groups will be
performing live together, will sound remarkably different
from the versions that fans know.
“There’s so
many players guesting on these songs, that we had to
experiment a bit and add some things,” he said. “They sound
different, but they sound great!”
Loughnane
has been taking his personal camcorder with him to
rehearsals to gather some casual and candid footage behind
the scenes for what he expects will be a forthcoming DVD of
the summer tour event.
“There’s
talk going on right now between our camp and theirs about
filming the shows for possible DVD release,” he shared.
“They better hurry up and get done with the talking, because
we’re hitting the road!”
Though most
of the key principles, including Philip Bailey will
be funking out this summer, missing in action will be
Maurice White. The ailing EW&F band leader and
founder’s failing health will prevent him from being part of
the entourage.
“[Maurice]
is just not up to it,” sighed Loughnane. “But the people who
are there, would please him. They are very capable
musicians. We are impressed ourselves and how tremendously
this whole idea of the two groups playing together is
working out. And let me tell you, after all the years that
we’ve been at this, it takes some doing to impress us these
days!”
Though they
have 37 years under their belt as a band, Loughnane said
there is no talk about retiring the group any time soon.
“We’re just having too damn much fun,” he laughed. “That is
why we’ve kept going this long!”
The trumpet player said that this tour will keep the band
busy for the rest of this year and hopefully into the next,
if foreign offers start coming in to take the tour
overseas. But he knows another album will be forthcoming
once the group comes in from the road for a long enough
spell.
“We’re
always writing,” he said. “There’s never a time we’re not
writing songs. But it’s down to finding the time to record,
finding the right producer and recording budget.”
Though
their concert DVD would obviously hit the retail market
first, Loughnane expects Chicago will have a new record in
the can and ready to release in time for the group’s 40th
Anniversary in early 2007.
Until then,
the group’s fans can keep themselves busy by snatching up
the steady stream of enhanced catalog titles from the band
that are slowly being reissued by Rhino Records.
After years
with Columbia Records and a few with Warner Bros., the band
formed their own imprint, Chicago Records, and began
reissuing their old titles.
“Two years
ago, Rhino came in a bought Chicago Records, and then they
themselves were bought by Warner Bros. so we’re back in the
Warner family again,” he laughed. “Rhino has completely
remastered and repackaged the old albums, along with adding
new or modified liner notes and bonus tracks.”
CHICAGO and
EARTH, WIND & FIRE will perform
together at
Tinley Park’s Tweeter Center on JUNE 19th |
