Chicago Brings Feel-Good Musicianship to Dubuque

Chicago needs no introduction; neither the city or the band. The latter brought the house down at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, IA last night, in a show defined by class, feel-good vibes, nostalgia, and exquisite musicianship.

A bit of background: Chicago's roots as a band started all the way back in 1967 in, of course, Chicago, IL. They began as "The Big Thing," then changed their name to the "Chicago Transit Authority," before shortening their brand simply to "Chicago." The original group consisted of the great Peter Cetera (bass), the late Terry Kath (guitar), Robert Lamm (keyboards), Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone), Walter Parazaider (woodwinds), and Danny Seraphine (drums).

Impressively, Chicago still harbors three founding members (Lamm, Loughnane, and Pankow), which explains why the instrumentation in their many amazing hits sounds as great as it ever did. It's so rare to see saxophones, trombones, and trumpets so prominently used in modern music. When you get the opportunity to experience it organically, in an arena setting, you swear you can feel it.

If you go to concerts with any regularity, like Catherine and I do, you've grown accustomed to slightly later starts; one, two, sometimes three openers before the main act; and excessive downtime between acts.

Now imagine, if you will, a concert that starts right on time (7pm), and it's not the opener taking the stage. It's the headlining band. Chicago wasn't out to waste anyone's time. They played for nearly two-and-a-half-hours, taking only a 20 minute intermission roughly 50 minutes into their first set. Their show continued until around 9:20pm. That's adoration and respect for fans who have kept them relevant and in this position, if I've ever seen it.

Having sold more than 100 million records, Chicago is one of the best-selling bands of all-time. Their style of music is described as "rock and roll with horns," as they homogenized a variety of sounds that evolved with the decades. Their 70s music is appropriately jangly, with a lot of forward guitar. Their 80s output matched the sort of aggressively romantic, passionate love songs ala Air Supply, though I'd argue they had more dynamic instrumentation than their contemporaries.

The large ensemble was positioned before a gigantic videoboard that played a montage of archival concert footage, clips from American pop culture, colorful visualizers that matched the themes of songs, and a wide variety of their trademark band logo.

"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" was complemented by a visualizer prominently featuring spinning and disintegrating clocks. "Just You 'n' Me" had some archival clippings of courtship and bonding. "You're My Inspiration" had a colorful montage of flickering stars, appropriately setting the mood. "Saturday in the Park" (shockingly not the encore) had clips of New York's Central Park as the crowd belted every lyric.

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The encore was "25 or 6 to 4," one of the most misunderstood song lyrics of its time. Some have said the song's title is a reference to drugs, or even code for a famous person. In reality, Lamm, who wrote the song, said the song is about trying to write a song in the middle of the night. The phrase "25 or 6 to 4" is a reference to time itself (meaning: 25 or 26 minutes before 4am).

So, for all intents and purposes, the song is either set at 3:35am or 3:34am. Who can say? The song still bangs, and Chicago can still reach the rafters and beyond.

Tip of the cap to the Five Flags Center staff and security for putting on another seamless, highly entertaining show. For future shows this summer and beyond, stay posted on Five Flags Center's website. For more about Chicago, visit their official website.