Chicago At The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/71) (Limited) (LP4) (180g)

LPA

1. Tune Up & Band Introduction
2. Dialogue
3. Loneliness Is Just A Word
4. In The Country

LPB

1. Poem For The People
2. A Hit By Varèse
3. A Song For Richard And His Friends

LPC

1. Lowdown
2. Goodbye
3. Beginnings

LPD BALLET FOR A GIRL IN BUCHANNON

1. Make Me Smile
2. So Much To Say, So Much To Give
3. Anxiety’s Moment
4. West Virginia Fantasies
5. Colour My World
6. To Be Free
7. Now More Than Ever

LPE

1. Fancy Colours
2. Saturday In The Park
3. Mother

LPF

1. It Better End Soon
2. 1st Movement
3. 2nd Movement (Flute Solo)
4. 3rd Movement (Guitar Solo)
5. 4th Movement (Preach)
6. 5th Movement

LPG

1. I’m A Man
2. Free

LPH

1. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Free Form Intro)
2. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
3. 25 Or 6 To 4

Chicago was one of the first groups to perform at the Kennedy Center after it opened in September 1971. Today, 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, debuting in a new collection, Chicago At The John. F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971).

Available from Rhino as 4LP, 3CD, and digital configurations.

This 26-track live collection was recorded on September 16, 1971, about a week after the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 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 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), Lee Loughnane (trumpet, vocals), James Pankow (trombone), and Walt Parazaider (woodwinds, vocals).

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”), 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 Kennedy Center performance. Released in July 1972, the album marked a significant evolution in the band’s sound and would become Chicago’s first No. 1 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.” Listen to that first-ever live performance of “Saturday In The Park”.

Chicago will continue touring through 2024, with stops in Hawaii on September 27 and 29, as well as throughout the US and Canada in October and November.