Displaying items by tag: ravinia festival

With back-to-back sold out performances, Steely Dan triumphantly returned to Ravinia Festival in Highland Park where their smooth, jazzy and blues influenced rock echoed through the park, causing even the farthest picnickers from the stage to get up and sway to the music. Fronted now by just Donald Fagen (keys and vocals) and Walter Becker (guitar), the two co-founders who met at Bard College and put Steely Dan into action in 1972, the "the perfect musicalantiheroesfor the Seventies", as Rolling Stone Magazine once called them, rolled through each song with expected precision and the same good time feel that fans have become ever familiar with over the years.

Accompanied by what Becker proudly hailed as his “all-time favorite Steely Dan forever band”, the ensemble included a complete horn section, additional keys and guitar, a trio of background singers who impressed more and more with each number, drummer Keith Carlock and Freddie Washington (no, not the one from Welcome Back, Kotter) on bass. The highly talented Carlock and Washington kept the rhythm flowing at a perfect pace allowing the other members to effortlessly glide in and out over their rock-solid foundation. Becker and Fagen allowed band members to highlight their skills, not only during a full on introduction but also in many of the songs. For example, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, amongst others, would occasionally walk from their designated area to front center stage and rip out some amazing riffs.  

The band started the night out with the Oliver Nelson cover “Teenie’s Blues” before Becker and Fagen walked onto the stage to the loud cheers of the pavilion audience and joined in for their first crowd pleaser “Black Cow”. As the show progressed, Steely Dan went on to play many of their classics including “Hey Nineteen”, “Godwhacker” “Babylon Sisters”, the Joe Tex cover “I Want To (Do Everything for You)” and “Peg”. Fagen’s vocals and keys were as sharp as ever – even his occasional piano flute thingy playing was entertaining. The band also played a very inspired version of “Dirty Work” with backup singer Carolyn Leonhart taking over on leads vocals on the track made famous by former member David Palmer.

Trying to enhance the mood of the evening even more so, Becker interrupted the music to address the crowd for several minutes, rambling on about this and that and encouraging everyone to grab their partners on the way home and pull over in the woods for some after show romancing.  

Closing out the set, Steely Dan went into what might be considered the band’s biggest hit “Reelin’ in the Years” where Carlock added to the song by going into a blazing drum solo. After a two minute absence the band returned to the stage to finish the night off with “Kid Charlemagne” with Fagen and Becker walking off immediately afterward, Fagen waving and Becker in an exaggerated strut, where the remainder of the musicians provided exit music to the tune of Nelson Riddle’s “The Untouchables”.

With the night was a clear and balmy seventy-eight or so degrees and the music sending fans on a mellow journey down memory lane, Steely Dan provided a night of memorable entertainment that fans can only hope will return next season.    

For upcoming Ravinia show information, visit www.ravinia.org. 

Martinis are best served chilled. Perhaps that is why the Chicago weather decided to turn on the chill for the July 1^st arrival of Pink Martini to Ravinia. As the sun set and the temperature dropped, the musical group from Oregon heated up the stage with their signature worldly sound.

Pink Martini is a ten-piece globe-trotting ensemble from Portland, Oregon that plays a kind of world cocktail music, often accompanying full symphony orchestras, playing latin, jazz, and classical pop. It’s the kind of music you’d hear in a 1950’s style bar or a French or Spanish café. Ravinia provided the perfect background for the musical group though the cold summer night brought out a small, but enthusiastic, crowd. Guests on the lawn danced, sang, and toasted to the group as lead vocalist China Forbes belted out some of their most well-known hits including “Sympathique,” “Amado Mio,” “Donde Estas Yolanda?” and “Ich Dich Liebe.” Pink Martini would have had a larger audience were it not for the exceedingly long opener and headliner.

The Von Trapps opened for Aimee Mann and Pink Martini. While the opener was a perfect pairing to Pink Martini the other headliner was more like a bitter shot to swallow before a sweet chaser. The Von Trapps is a musical quartet that are direct descendants of the Trapp Family Singers (made famous by The Sound of Music). They hold true to their family legacy offering up sweet harmonies and a similar worldly sound to their touring partner. Songs like “Storm,” and “Kuroneko No Tango” have calming and catchy tones everyone can enjoy. Aimee Mann, however, played a tediously long set that did nothing to warm the chilly crowd. Her songs blended together like a sad, bland drink. At one point, lawn guests packed up their bags and left in droves as the set dragged on for nearly an hour. No song was particularly memorable or enjoyable to listen to. The remainder of the tour should really cut out the middle “Mann” and stick to the coupling of The Von Trapps and Pink Martini.

Under normal circumstances, Ravinia would have been the perfect venue for the Portland musical group. But the evening proved too cold and the musical roadblocks too long for audiences to truly enjoy Pink Martini and the evening. Hopefully the next time the musical group comes to Chicago they can serve up their signature sound to enthusiastic, and warm, audiences. Audiences can still see amazing acts this summer at Ravinia; for tickets, show schedules, and more information visit www.ravinia.org.

When first looking at the Ravinia double bill of Blondie and Melissa Ethridge, one might have asked, “What are they thinking?” “How can those two so very different genres of music be paired together?” Well, they were - and it was somehow perfect. Each playing somewhere in the neighborhood of a ninety-minute set, the two bands each provided their own energetic performance not to be soon forgotten.

Melissa Ethridge took to the stage first with her raspy vocals and guitar driven rock to the tune of “If I Wanted To” followed without pause into “No Souvenirs”. Ethridge’s energy matched her immense talent leaving little doubt her place in the world of pop-based folk-rock. The two-time Grammy Award winner (she received fifteen nominations) worked the crowd with a band behind her that was nothing short of amazing. Never a dull moment, Ethridge made her way from one end of the stage to the other with much charisma and command, effortlessly strumming her guitar and being the consummate professional she always has been. Nearing her set's end’ Ethridge dove into to “I’m the Only One”, a fan favorite and staple anthem in her career before “ending” with “Bring Some Water” and then coming back for an encore with “Like the Way I Do”. Ethridge is a hard working performer who certainly gains a lot more respect after seeing her live.

After a thirty or so minute intermission, a drastic stage transformation had taken place. Whereas Melissa Ethridge relied solely on her band, house lighting and a large dark curtain as a backdrop, the stage had soon become equipped with a large projection screen as a background, futuristic props scattered about and rotating laser lights. Soon after, the lights drop and Blondie confidently walks from side stage to their marked positions. Debbie Harry, wearing dark wayfarer sunglasses and a hot pink ensemble nods to the screaming crowd and just like that the new wave punkers kick into “One Way of Another”. Harry, now seventy-years-old, is as cool as ever, still wielding the voice that made the band an influential giant in the music industry.

Harry joined by original members Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Blondie went on to knock out one hit after another including “Atomic”, “Heart of Glass” “Maria”, “Call Me”, “Dreaming”, “Hanging on the Telephone” and threw in a few more recent songs, “Euphoria”, for one. Projections in the background displayed classic Blondie videos and swirling imagery that seemed to go perfectly with each song. Tapping into their reggae side, the band played an inspired version of “The Tide is High” before igniting into one of the first ever songs featuring rapping,  “Rapture”. Blondie also threw the crowd a curveball with a raging rendition of The Beastie Boys “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)”.

Harry and company performed brilliantly, proving Blondie still can put on one hell of a show. There is little doubt that Blondie would be highly entertaining no matter where the venue, but watching them play at Ravinia surrounded by the stars accompanied by a gentle outdoor breeze (even if it was 63 degrees on a July evening) was simply magical. Here’s hoping they make their way back to the Chicagoland area very soon.

Be sure to visit www.ravinia.org for upcoming summer events.

There’s something magical about Ravinia. It’s a sprawling open-air venue with lush green lawn nestled amidst tall shady trees. As the sun goes down, dozens of candles flicker to life as the audience members settle into their blankets and lawn chairs to be serenaded by their favorite musical artists under a (sometimes) starry Chicagoland sky.

To North Shore folks, Ravinia is synonymous with summertime. It is the oldest outdoor music festival in the US holding concerts from June to September. For traditional concert goers there are pavilion seats with rows of covered seats sloping back from the main stage. The preferred seats are the lawn seats that allow you to sit anywhere you can see grass. The most experienced Ravinia patron will lay out dozens of blankets, or create a lawn-chair circle, break out picnic baskets filled with three course meals and plenty of wine (not the mention their own wine glasses). The venue is indeed a BYOB and you’re allowed to bring your own food, but this is not a concert venue to get drunk and rage. This is a recline-sip-your-drink-enjoy-the-music kind of venue. Because no matter where you sit on the lawn you are treated to amazing sound quality of the band or concert you are seeing.

Ravinia offers some of the best line ups over the course of each summer and this year is no different. This past week brought the iconic 1970’s band The Doobie Brothers back to Chicago. The band brought baby boomers, Gen Xers, and aspiring teenage hipsters to the venue, it was a multi-generation engagement. But truthfully, none of those guests seemed overly impressed with the performance. The opening set, performed by Lara Johnston, was lackluster. Her voice hardly carried across the lawn despite the speakers. Now perhaps it was the chilly June weather, or perhaps people didn’t need a relatively unknown opener to open for one of their favorite bands, but there was some heat missing from this summer show. Johnston did nothing to warm up the crowd. It took her entire set and nearly four songs into the headliner’s set for the crowd to show any sign of life. It wasn’t until “Black Water” that people finally got up to dance, sing along, and really start to enjoy the show. The Doobie Brothers played all of their classics “Listen to the Music,” “What a Fool Believes,” “Black Water,” “Give Me the Beat Boys,” and “China Grove,” but the night was a far cry from the carefree summer days of their youth.

The Doobie Brothers provide the ideal soundtrack for long road trips and summer nights and on most occasions Ravinia would be the perfect venue for them to perform. This time around, however, the audience was asking the band to give them a beat but unfortunately it didn’t free our souls, just our nostalgia. For Ravinia tickets, remaining summer schedule, and more information visit: www.ravinia.org