Chicago has dipped into its archives to issue a brilliant, previously unreleased 1971 performance in Washington, D.C. “Chicago At The John. F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971) arrived from Rhino, on 4-LPs and 3-CDs.
Chicago was one of the first groups to perform at the Kennedy Center. That historic concert has been newly re-mixed from the original multi-track tapes by Chicago founding member and trumpeter Lee Loughnane and engineer Tim Jessup. The Kennedy Center performance includes more than two hours of live music by Robert Lamm (keyboard, vocals), Terry Kath (guitar, vocals), Peter Cetera (vocals, bass), Danny Seraphine (drums), Loughnane (trumpet, vocals), James Pankow (trombone), and Walt Parazaider (woodwinds, vocals).
This 26-track live collection was recorded on September 16th, 1971, about a week after the venue opened in the nation’s capital. For more than 50 years, the concert has remained unreleased except for the performance of “Goodbye,” which debuted in 2018 on “Chicago: VI Decades Live“.
The show explores all three studio albums that Chicago released since their 1969 debut. The songs span a range of styles, underscoring the band’s ability to blend genres seamlessly. There are rockers (“25 or 6 to 4” and “I’m A Man”), The ballads (“Colour My World” and “Beginnings”), jazz-influenced tracks (“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”), and extended song suites (“Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon” and “It Better End Soon”).
The band would begin recording “Chicago V” a few days after the performance. Released in July 1972, the album marked a significant evolution in the band’s sound and would become Chicago’s first No1 album. To get ready for the studio, Loughnane says the band road-tested some new songs in D.C. “Case in point: we did ‘Saturday In The Park’ for the first time at the Kennedy Center show. You’ll notice that we hadn’t yet decided on who would sing the lead vocal. Also, Robert hadn’t written Part 2 of ‘Dialogue’ yet.”
The Fat Angel Sings 