Man I grew up with those guys back in the 60's-70's era of some great bands that a rare few are
STILL touring around today.
25 or 6 to 4 a classic along with Saturday In The Park just few of the many hits I remember.

On CNN tonight there's a documentary about the band called:
NOW MORE THAN EVER: The History of Chicago
Looks like it might be pretty good.
As a side note,many years ago I went to elementary school with the bands current and
longtime drummer,Tris Imboden.
A cool dude who had a little 3 piece surf band and we used to run track together.
We mostly did the high jump into a hard ass sawdust pit......good times back in old HB!!
Fun to see someone you once knew have a pretty remarkable career!

One of the first bands I saw.
FIllmore East
We went to see The Mothers Of Invention.
Chicago opened for them.
Chicago...?, who the hell is Chicago.

This was a take no prisoners band.
Horns, a call to battle. Terry Kath,wired jaw, a guitar machine gunner.
Holy crap, these guys are amazing.
They played their first album as I found out after I bought it the next day.

In retrospect quite the juxtaposition hearing them and Zappa's band.
Both horn bands with world class guitarists with a completely different musical approach.

rob

Some lazy Summer evenings paired with tunes from The Chicago are nice !

I thought the CCN show was very interesting and showed some of the darker sides
of a touring band.....at one era in their careers they were doing so much coke,
there was an old phone both on stage called the SNORTATORIUM! O)<
It's a wonder some of the original members are still alive,let alone playing gigs nightly!

    darpar

    Terry Kath (guitar) impaired from who knows what grabbed a pistol and in a joking mood put it too his head, spun the cylinder and said Russian Roulette.
    Sad thing is that while appearing empty, a bullet was lodged in the gun.
    One wrong spin, one wrong pull of the trigger a great guitarist dead.

    If you follow Chicago's discography you will understand how important he was to their musical direction.
    The soul, the grit was gone

    rob

      I went to a concert that Chicago played 2 years ago in Kansas City. I thought they went thru the motions and reading the above it kind of puts it in perspective.

      The Doobie Brothers opened that concert and had a lot of energy and 'rocked it'. Then the Doobies came back on stage at the end of Chicago's last set and juiced the closing with them.

      All in all, it was still a great experience. I had to laugh when I commented to my wife - "in case you ever wondered where the hippies and stoners are now - look around".

        mikeintopeka

        Mike, so ironic that you mentioned the Doobie's.
        I was thinking of them while writing my post.
        They, like Chicago first appeared as a rocking, "don't bother knocking..." band.
        Enter Michael McDonald - a great soul style singer, wonderful voice, an easy listening composer who changed their sound.
        While they made tons of money during his reign, the bands sound changed.

        Patrick Simmons (guitar/original member) rode the changes but always yearned for their early sound . McDonald left and he moved the band back to the Simmons/Tom Johnson sound.
        Chicago completely forgot about their Fillmore sound...too bad

        rob

          Driving around today "I'm A Man" came up on my car Sirius.
          I smiled thinking about this thread.

          It reinforced my previous thoughts.
          Terry Kath, wha wah, feedback, tones from Cream, Led., Yardbirds..
          Volume went up to 8
          My wife gave me the "look"... lol

          rob

          I liked the Terry Kath era of CTA much better than the love song era that mostly featured Pete Cetera. The early version had the edge to it.....they rocked. RIP Terry Kath.

          One of the most interesting parts of the story is they were all considered equals and had equal says and equal pay. Those that wanted more or did not equally contribute were soon out of the band. I have been meaning to check out how many were original and/or add ons as time went by.

          Does anyone remember they were originally called The Chicago Transit Authority but later by Chicago only.

          I lived in Chicago and remember them well but for you Chicagoans, I also fondly recall Aliotta Haynes and Jeremiah representing Chicago more with their Lake Shore Drive (LSD) song.

          https://www.bing.com/search?q=aliotta+haynes+jeremiah+lake+shore+drive&form=PRUSEN&pc=EUPP_&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=f1cd1b0524f2413ca790e44d77439240&sp=5&qs=SC&pq=aliota+hanes&sk=SC4&sc=8-12&cvid=f1cd1b0524f2413ca790e44d77439240

          I had the pleasure to see Chicago at the Schwan's company celebration in Marshall, MN (Schwan's HQ) several years back (2002). They were celebrating their 50th anniversary and had several nights of concerts as part of it. Chicago was the headliner and the last night's band. They were great! Most of the concerts were held at SW MN State University in their football stadium. There was a world class fireworks display immediately after the Chicago concert. Handling the display was the same company that does the 4th of July fireworks at the New York harbor.
          Two nights before the Chicago concert was another concert with the Little River Band. They also had a couple of concerts featuring national Country acts. It was all free for their employees but if you wanted to go you pretty much could as everyone in the area knew an employee who could obtain the tickets.