Chicago, the self-styled rock band with horns, that throws a little bit of everything at their audience when they hit the stage—tapping into an extensive catalogue of ballads, hard-rockers, and jazz-tinged jams—are coming to Boston’s Orpheum Theatre on April 18. Songs like “If You Leave Me Now,” “Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?,” “Saturday in the Park,” and “Twenty-Five or Six to Four” remain timeless classics in the Chicago song canon and have made the band one of the best-selling American rock groups of all time. Other than The Beach Boys, no American rock band has created as many chart-topping hits as Chicago. Named for their hometown, the group’s concerts traverse decades and styles, as the musicians blaze through their audience favorites, such as “Beginnings” and “Questions 67 and 68.”
Chicago has toured for a long time without it’s famous singer, Peter Cetera, who left the band in the summer of 1985. Cetera had asked for hiatuses after tours in order to focus on his solo work (mirroring that of Phil Collins and Genesis), but the band declined.
Cetera soon topped the charts after leaving Chicago with the songs “Glory of Love” (which was the theme song of the Hollywood film The Karate Kid Part II) and “The Next Time I Fall” (a duet with Amy Grant). Two more Cetera songs reached the Top Ten: a 1998 solo hit called “One Good Woman” (Number 4) and a 1989 duet with Cher, “After All” (Number 6).
Chicago replaced Cetera with bassist and singer-songwriter Jason Scheff, who was not nearly as popular as Cetera, causing Chicago’s popularity to wane a bit in the late 1980s and early ’90s. In May 1990, more inner turmoil caused original drummer Danny Seraphine to be kicked out of the band, further separating the fans from the original Chicago they loved. Keyboardist and vocalist Robert Lamm and trombonist James Pankow continued to carry the weight for Chicago.
In 2015, Chicago was finally inducted into the rock n’ roll hall of fame and Peter Cetera briefly said he would rejoin the band to play during their induction. As the date of the ceremony approached, a disagreement arose between Cetera and Lamm about the how the horn section in “Twenty-Five or Six to Four” would be played. Cetera dropped out of playing at the ceremony, but once again Chicago carried on without him and put on a wonderful show, playing a blistering live version of “Twenty-Five or Six to Four,” full of loud horns and high-pitched electric guitar solos.
Cetera later criticized Chicago, saying in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock Magazine, “Every idea or suggestion I offered about how it could work musically was either rejected or changed by the show’s producers. While I sent those same emails to the group, the only reply I ever received back from them was a very snarky ‘Take a chill pill, dude!’ Whoa! Really?” Cetera also said that he had no regrets leaving the band after its bestselling album titled17. He has grown comfortable calling the shots in his own career and told the magazine, “At this point in my life I don’t care to reintroduce the same negativity, misplaced egos, and petty jealousies I left behind so many years ago.”
Now, Chicago, get ready to play Boston’s Orpheum. Everyone is waiting to hear those timeless hits played live!
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