Chicago - Live by Request

Starring:Chicago
Studio: Rhino / Wea
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Chicago hasn't generated much in the way of headlines or controversy in the course of its decades-long existence. But what they have produced is an extraordinary number of hits--many more, in fact, than even this 92-minute, televised performance can accommodate. It's a track record that even those who dismiss Chicago's music as slick MOR pop can't ignore, and one that's underlined in this 2002 installment of A&E's Live by Request program. Celebrating their 35th anniversary (with four original members still on hand), the eight-piece band gives spirited performances of "Beginnings," "If You Leave Me Now," "Colour My World," and 13 others (including bonus tunes), inspired by a live audience and fans' phoned-in requests. Long-departed bassist Peter Cetera may be missed, but his lead vocals are ably replaced by guitarist Keith Howland and especially bassist Jason Scheff (an outstanding player whose dad, Jerry, played with Elvis Presley). All in all, a quality show by a band whose consistency and longevity deserve respect. --Sam Graham

Chicago - Live by Request
Average customer rating:

"THEY DONT MAKE BANDS LIKE CHICAGO ANYMORE"

Good but could be better

well pleased with purchase

A Great Chicago Live Performance

Entertaining

Chicago - Live by Request
Starring: Chicago
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000CEB61
Release Date: 2003-10-14

Amazon.com

Chicago hasn't generated much in the way of headlines or controversy in the course of its decades-long existence. But what they have produced is an extraordinary number of hits--many more, in fact, than even this 92-minute, televised performance can accommodate. It's a track record that even those who dismiss Chicago's music as slick MOR pop can't ignore, and one that's underlined in this 2002 installment of A&E's Live by Request program. Celebrating their 35th anniversary (with four original members still on hand), the eight-piece band gives spirited performances of "Beginnings," "If You Leave Me Now," "Colour My World," and 13 others (including bonus tunes), inspired by a live audience and fans' phoned-in requests. Long-departed bassist Peter Cetera may be missed, but his lead vocals are ably replaced by guitarist Keith Howland and especially bassist Jason Scheff (an outstanding player whose dad, Jerry, played with Elvis Presley). All in all, a quality show by a band whose consistency and longevity deserve respect. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews:

"THEY DONT MAKE BANDS LIKE CHICAGO ANYMORE".......2006-12-07

Chicago performs beautifully at this concert in NYC. I admit the requests were at times annoying and of course the tributes by Dick Clark and Jay Leno, David Letterman, Sopranos and of course the annoying MCing by Marc McEwen. Besides the negatives Chicago performs nicely and really show why they lasted all these years. Jason Scheff does an adequate job singing Peter Cetera songs, I wish reviews about Scheffs singing performance on this dvd were'nt so harsh. Chicago did thier best to replace Peter Cetera, but it is hard to replace a legend like Peter Cetera. Jim Pankow and Walter Parazaider do not even mention Peter Cetera or Danny Seraphine during thier interviews with McEwen. I guess Cetera and Seraphine have bad blood with Chicago. I wish they would work out thier differences and perform together or make a new cd, wishful thinking. Terry Kath was mentioned an that was a beautiful thing , especially when Walter Parazaider talks about the story of meeting Jimi Hendrix and how Hendrix said Kath was a better gutarist than he was. This dvd watched on your regular tv will sound like Chicago performing in a fish tank. You need to watch it with a theatre system, this dvd was ment to be heard on a 5.1 theatre system, that is why Chicagos performance sounds like it is enclosed in a fish tank when watching it on a regular tv. The list of songs is great at 92 minutes long, In the immortal words of Dick Clark " They dont make bands like Chicago anymore."

Good but could be better.......2006-09-03

As someone who was born about four months after Terry Kath died, I didn't get into Chicago until I found the Australian-only compilation "25 Years Of Gold" in a second-hand shop in Perth and it quickly became one of my all time favourite CDs. I now own seven Chicago albums, but none from after 1985 - just couldn't get into the later stuff at all.

So I was excited to see this DVD spanning some of their classics. I must admit that for me the band isn't complete without some of the people that made that experience complete for me when I discovered the band. However, the band is what the band is - Jason and Keith manage very well in my opinion in this performance - I think if you're reading the reviews here, there is far too much criticism of them. Jason is never going to be Peter, but he does a good performance in his own right, especially on Questions.

On looking on here I can see the three reasons I wasn't entirely happy with it are generally shared - the sound quality isn't great and the mix understates the horns, Bill Champlin's vocals on a few songs sound forced and the commentary that forms part of A&E gets annoying and it would be nice to be able to skip it.

For those complaining about the request issues - as a musician I know that recalling lyrics of tunes and exact sequences I wrote 3 or 4 years ago and haven't played in intervening years can be difficult, I couldn't even imagine 30, or coordinating that with an entire band with the same issues. In addition, there may have been emotional factors as well with it being a Kath song. I think trying to keep the fan happy by playing at least the alternative was a great way to handle the situation and is probably what I would have done as well.

well pleased with purchase.......2005-08-19

Amazon.com provided quality product at a good price.Excellent communication & mailing.

A Great Chicago Live Performance.......2005-08-05

Chicago, in addition to being one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever, are also known for very dynamic live performances. Up until 2002, the only documents of them in concert were the classic but somewhat dated 1972 recording "At Carnegie Hall" and their 1999 live album, which was woefully lacking. But for a concise and enjoyable concert of the band performing all their hits spanning their whole career, this 2002 A&E special is near perfect. Here you have Chicago perfoming five decades worth of hit songs, including "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is", "Beginnings", "25 Or 6 To 4", "Saturday In The Park", "You're The Inspiration", "Look Away" and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry". There's not much in the way of diversity as most of these are the songs you'd hear in a standard Chicago concert, but the performances sound lively and fresh, the same way they did 30 years ago. If there's anything about the show that I didn't like, it was host Mark McEwen. He really was annoying, and I was irked when one caller requested either "Heart In Pieces" or "If You Leave Me Now", and McEwen made him choose "If You Leave Me Now. Having the group perform "Heart In Pieces" or better yet the song the caller initially requested, Terry Kath's "In Terms Of Two, (which they wouldn't have played anyway because they feel uncomfortable about playing Kath material since his untimely 1978 death) would have added some variety to the otherwise standard setlist. But other than that, this is an energetic and highly enjoyable concert, and the tributes by Jay Leno, Dick Clark and others were nice to watch. This is a dvd I would recommend to any Chicago fan.

Entertaining.......2005-08-02

A great Chicago TV request show. The band and the music is great. I would give this 5 stars if it were a straight through concert without the in between requests etc. The visual is great , although I found the audio mix not at its very best probably due to the TV studio set up, and Peter Cetera is most definitely missed.

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