More Than This: At Ravinia, Bryan Ferry Impresses with Range of Music, Roxy and Otherwise -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Bryan Ferry
w/ opening act LP (Laura Pergolizzi)
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
August 6, 2016
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Give or take a few, I had seen 688 rock concerts, dating back 35 years, before I saw Bryan Ferry for the first time Saturday night at Ravinia.

Ferry, who first came to attention as the vocalist for Roxy Music on their self-titled 1972 debut, and whose name I've known since at least the mid-'80s and whose music I've liked most of the time since--at least on a greatest hits level, with Roxy and solo--is now 70 years old.

A glance at his Chicago area shows over the years suggests that I hadn't let that many opportunities go by unconverted, yet for whatever reasons, Ferry remained one of the few rock legends I had an inkling of wanting to see but never had.

But with recent months having included similar first-time forays--at least as headlining solo artists--to see David Gilmour, Peter Wolf and Michael McDonald, and the fairly recent past initially getting me to Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Jackson Browne and other classic rock acts long missing from my concert database, I'm glad opportunity (and a pavilion seat bargain through GoldCoastTickets.com) coalesced to Ferry me to Ravinia.

I'd had heard pretty good things about shows of his in the not too distant past, but couldn't help but
wonder if first seeing an artist at the age of 70, roughly 45 years into his career, would make enjoyment--let alone assessment--somewhat challenged, even impaired and comparatively unfair.

Yet although the Englishman's face is a bit weathered, his voice still sounds strong and he remains the quintessence of a suave rock singer.

And as he surveyed his entire career--opening with a pair of strong songs from his 2014 solo album Avonmore (the title track and "Driving Me Wild") and including a quartet from Roxy Music's debut--Ferry seemed energized by his youthful 9-piece backing band.

With a guitarist from Denmark, saxophonist from Australia and other players & singers from varied locales--many seeming young enough to be Bryan Ferry's grandchildren--the wide-ranging set was delivered with energy, aplomb and vigor.

While a good bit of Spotifamiliarization led up to the concert, I was particularly impressed at Ravinia by how Ferry and his band made songs I hadn't previously known--and some that I wasn't even that dazzled by in having listened on Spotify--come across as highlights.

Following the two new songs that began the concert, Ferry's "Slave to Love" and "Don't Stop to Dance," sounded great, but a few songs later it was Roxy Music's "Oh Yeah"--which I now know as one of the band's best--that really got the pavilion crowd going. (See Bryan Ferry's full Ravinia setlist here.)

With the singer accompanied by just a pianist, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," was positively luminous, while the trio of backing vocalists shined on the Latin-tinged solo songs "Bête Noire" and "Zamba" before a string of lesser-known (at least to me) Roxy Music tracks came off far more impressive than I had anticipated: "Stronger Through the Years," the fine instrumental "Tara," "Take a Chance with Me," "Remake/Remodel," "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" and "If There Is Something."

Occasionally playing keyboards throughout the evening, Ferry delivered beguiling renditions of early-'80s Roxy ballads "More Than This" and "Avalon" followed by a show-closing rush of more danceable Roxy Music--"Love Is the Drug," "Virginia Plain," "Let's Stick Together," "Do the Strand" and "Both Ends Burning"--broken up only by his age-old cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy."

So although this was a latent live encounter with Bryan Ferry, I was not only impressed that he still sings well and can deliver an enjoyable show, in the way that great concerts should this one gave me a considerable richer appreciation of the artist's oeuvre.

Perhaps in keeping with the truth that Roxy Music doesn't rank with my very favorite bands--they didn't make my Top 125 in a list drafted last year, although I do believe they (and/or Ferry solo) belong in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame--the show didn't quite provide the emotional embrace that David Gilmour or Robert Plant did in performing their old material, but it was entirely satisfying.

Opening the show was a fine female singer who goes by the moniker LP. Looking something like a young Bob Dylan but sounding akin to Florence and the Machine, she belted out several good songs with a fine band, including (as best I could tell) "Death Valley" and "Up Against Me."

I happened to be sitting next to a chatty couple including a man who works for Warner Bros. Records. He was familiar with LP--i.e. Laura Pergolizzi--and spoke highly of her.

After her performance, I could see why.

He also noted that after years of primarily going to concerts for free thanks to his employer, Bryan Ferry was a rare act he specifically wanted to see enough to have bought a ticket.

And after his performance, following years of my own elusion, I could also quite readily see why.

High Notes Make For an Enjoyable, If Imperfect, Evening with Idina Menzel at Ravinia -- Concert Review

Concert Review

Idina Menzel
accompanied by Marvin Hamlisch
and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
July 8, 2012
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
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Following a week where 100 degree temperatures made being outdoors, day or night, rather uncomfortable, Sunday evening at Ravinia the weather was picture perfect.

Unfortunately the star attraction, Idina Menzel, was feeling a bit under it, as she conveyed early in her performance.

Menzel, most famous for starring in the original Broadway productions of Rent and Wicked, explained that she had been rather ill the night before in Minneapolis, but didn't want to cancel her Ravinia gig given her great regard for the storied venue at which she was making her first appearance.

Had she not provided that disclaimer, I doubt that I would've observed that she was sick--especially from my vantage point out on the lawn, though I did sneak some peeks from alongside the pavilion--as she was onstage for nearly two hours, accompanied by legendary composer Marvin Hamlisch conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

However, given her soldiering on, as well as the quite reasonable $10 lawn ticket price, the beautiful weather, pleasant company and a 'loverly' opening set from Hamlisch and the CSO--including "One" and other snippets from his Chorus Line score, as well as a sizable chunk of My Fair Lady--I'll be a tad less critical than I might have otherwise been of Menzel's own performance.

Yes, her stage patter was a bit excessive, making for subpar pacing, her renditions of pop tunes such as Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" were less compelling than selections from her Broadway catalogue, and even the best of those--"Defying Gravity" from Wicked, "No Day But Today" from Rent--weren't quite as full-throated and spectacular as they might have been on another night. 

Had I paid $90 for a pavilion seat or endured a steamy 100 degree evening, it's likely I would've been a bit more disappointed. But Menzel, who I had the pleasure of seeing in Wicked on Broadway, showed why she was capable of drawing a large crowd to Ravinia without, conceivably, having that high a Q rating among the general public.

She did a nice enough job with "The Wizard and I" from Wicked, as well as in channeling Barbra Streisand on "Don't Rain on My Parade."

On Rent's "Take Me or Leave Me," she elicited some vocally impressive audience members to accompany her, making for a cute moment. Based on setlists from prior tour dates, this was seemingly a pre-planned gimmick, but when she brought a woman and daughter from the audience--perhaps friends of hers--to help hit the high notes on "Defying Gravity," it was clear we weren't getting Idina at her very best.

So my @@@@ (out of 5) rating may be a tad generous, but in factoring in several impressive moments--including the stellar CSO set with the affable Hamlisch--and a surprisingly long show, it sufficiently reflects my overall enjoyment of the evening, especially for the price I paid, if not all that precisely Menzel's technical merits on this particular night.

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A few weeks ago, Menzel's Wicked co-star Kristin Chenoweth postponed a Chicago concert due to illness, and made it up a couple weeks later. I didn't go to it, but this begs the question: Would you rather have performers--particularly vocalists--reschedule or even cancel if they're not 100%? In other words, can you easier forgive the inconvenience of postponement than accept that on some nights singers may not be at their very best?

A Reverent Evening With Al Green At Ravinia -- Concert Review

Concert Review

Al Green
with the Chicago Children's Choir
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
June 15, 2012
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On a picture perfect evening at Ravinia, for less money than some dupes paid to see That's My Boy--the latest Adam Sandler debacle--with a couple refreshments, I heard (and occasionally saw, as I was on the lawn) one of the most legendary living soul singers sing some of the best songs ever written.

It was my first time "seeing" the Reverend Al Green, and although it will doubtfully wind up being among the very best shows I see in 2012, I couldn't have wanted it to be much better.

Although an encore of "Take Me to the River" would've been nice.

But following an enjoyable performance by the Chicago Children's Choir--including a Michael Jackson medley and "Seasons of Love" from Rent--Al Green delivered an engaging 75-minute showcase of his own hits ("Let's Stay Together," "Tired of Being Alone," "I'm Still In Love With You," "Love and Happiness" and others) as well as (often quick) takes on other classics such as "Oh Pretty Woman," "I Can't Help Myself," "My Girl," "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" and "What A Wonderful World It Could Be."

Although at 66, Al no longer looks as lithe as he did on the cover of his 1975 Greatest Hits album--ranked #52 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All-Time" and from which his cover of the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was another Ravinia highlight--Green's voice is still an amazing instrument.

Though my glimpses of stage were fleeting, Green--constantly clutching and/or handing out roses--seems to still very much love what he does. And as evidenced by their grooving together and singing along, those within the large, quite racially-mixed crowd apparently felt likewise.

Along with a solid band, Green was well-augmented by a choir (I assume it was, at least in part, the same Chicago Children's Choir that opened the show), most noticeably on "Let's Stay Together."

Not surprisingly, given how relatively little I know of his vast output, Al sang a few songs I didn't recognize, but pretty much everything sounded good. And while "Take Me to the River" would seemingly have made an ideal encore and show closer, in terms of its quality and sensibility how can I argue with "Love and Happiness" wrapping up a great, and deservedly reverent, night out on Ravinia's green.

Ravinia's 'Annie' Gets Gun, Hits Mark and Doesn't Skip Out Before Sunset

Theater Review

Annie Get Your Gun
Starring Patti LuPone, Patrick Cassidy & George Hearn
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
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I'd been intending to see Ravinia's semi-staged production of Annie Get Your Gun ever since it was announced, probably sometime in late 2009. I am an avid fan of musical theater and the show's announced star, Patti LuPone, is about as good a practitioner of the art form as any performer active today.

But then, a few semi-funny things happened on the way to mid-August. First, back in March, I saw LuPone in a concert-type performance with Mandy Patinkin. Although her singing was sublime as always, I didn't find the show to be as good as it should have been. Then, at some point in the summer, it was announced that Brian Stokes Mitchell, a Tony-winning Broadway star slated to appear with LuPone in Annie Get Your Gun, would not be doing so; Patrick Cassidy, the lesser-known son of Shirley Jones and/or Jack Cassidy (Shaun is his brother; David his half-brother) was announced as his replacement. Finally, just two weeks ago, I went to see LuPone and other Broadway luminaries perform at Ravinia in a celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday. Although what they sang sounded fantastic, the night turned into a fiasco due to the performance lasting only 65 minutes on a night that doubled as a gala dinner for Ravinia benefactors and volunteers. (When an outdoor evening performance ends before it's dark out, you know you're being shortchanged.) 

Although seemingly no fault of LuPone's, the brevity of the concert made me question whether I'd be giving Ravinia any more of my time and money, at least this season for a theatrical-type performance. Although I found Ravinia's public response to less than stellar, they did offer 2-for-1 pavilion tickets to Annie Get Your Gun to all patrons of the Sondheim event. As they eventually extended the offer to everyone (at least those on Ravinia's email list), allowed half-price purchases for odd-number tickets and included lawn seats, I and other family members decided to go on Saturday night.

I sat in the pavilion for just $25 and appreciated the clear sightlines and good acoustics for a discounted price. Although the staging, backed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, didn't really include much in the way of scenery, the musical was being acted out to a certain extent, so actually seeing it was my preference. 

While LuPone is technically a bit too old to be playing Annie Oakley, it didn't matter and she sounded great while seemingly having lots of fun. I thought Cassidy sounded quite good, too, as Annie's love interest, Frank Butler. Venerable stage stars, George Hearn and Joseph Anthony Foronda, supplemented a fine supporting cast, and at a full 2-1/2 hours, everything about the evening was perfect.

Except the show itself. Although Annie Get Your Gun, composed by the legendary Irving Berlin, was a big success in its original 1946 run, a movie version and multiple revivals, like a number of other pre-1950 "classic musicals," I find it to be relatively flawed.

Yes, it contains wonderful songs like There's No Business Like Show Business, Doin' What Comes Natur'lly and Anything You Can Do, but there are several lesser ones, the book has narrative problems and Old West thinking about Indians and feminism wasn't all that updated by 1946.

I much preferred seeing LuPone in Ravinia's past staging of Sondheim works, like Gypsy and Sunday in the Park With George, but it was still a pleasure hearing her belt out the best of Berlin's classic showtunes. In sum, the evening featured an excellent rendition of a famous & fun musical, though in truth, one that's a bit shy of phenomenal. 

But if nothing else, as it was dark when I left after offering LuPone, et al, hearty applause, at least I got my money's worth.

A Little Too Little Sondheim Music

Theatrical Concert Review

Sondheim: 80
Celebrating the 80th Birthday of Stephen Sondheim
Starring Patti LuPone, George Hearn, Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris
Ravinia Festival
Saturday, July 31, 2010
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(@@@@@ for the quality of what was performed; @@ for the extreme brevity)

After seeing and enjoying Shrek: The Musical on Thursday and Bon Jovi with Kid Rock on Friday, on Saturday night I went to a performance that promised a selection of songs a bit more sophisticated. Unfortunately, while the quality of what I heard was sublime, my enjoyment was quite constrained by an astonishing lack of quantity. Let's just say that as an opening act, Kid Rock played just as long as four Broadway legends and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra did at Ravinia in paying tribute to the 80th birthday of Stephen Sondheim.

Throughout the last decade, I have come to greatly appreciate the genius of Sondheim, who I consider the best living Broadway composer and lyricist, and probably the best ever. I have seen all of his major musicals at least once, attended three of Ravinia's five concert stagings of his works and even paid just to hear him speak at the Harris Theatre this past March.

So I had Saturday night's performance marked on my calendar for quite awhile. The four stars--Patti LuPone, George Hearn, Audra McDonald and Michael Cerveris--are all outstanding singers and actors, who I have seen & heard performing Sondheim and other shows at Ravinia and elsewhere. Although Ravinia's lawn ticket prices have risen quite a bit over the last few years, my sister and I considered the $25 well worth it (we even inquired about pavilion tickets, but weren't going to pony up $125, especially as we could see a good deal of the show from our spot on the lawn and by standing alongside the pavilion).

On the Ravinia website, it mentioned that Saturday's show was a "Gala Benefit Evening of the Women's Board" and those so inclined could have clicked around to buy benefactor tickets starting at $750 for inclusion in the Gala Dinner, but nowhere did it mention that the concert would be abbreviated. At the show, there were signs in the pavilion saying that there would be no intermission, but I still assumed there would be at least 90 minutes of music.

But not counting a rendition of the National Anthem that opened the evening--something I'd never heard at Ravinia--a total of 17 selections were performed, clocking in at 65 minutes. Appropriately, the Chicago Tribune's theater critic, Chris Jones, took Ravinia to task for the embarrassingly short show, followed-up by coverage of Ravinia's response, which I found to be piss-poor from a PR standpoint. The two pieces on Jones' blog have almost 300 combined comments from readers, including me, most of whom likewise slam Ravinia for not anyone their money's worth (whether one paid $25, $125, $750 or a whole lot more). 

The great shame of this is that what was performed sounded magnificent. From Cerveris doing "Finishing the Hat," (a great song from Sunday in the Park with George) to LuPone shining on Send in the Clowns and Everything's Coming Up Roses, and with wonderful work from McDonald and Hearn as well, I doubt many in the audience were disappointed with the quality of what they heard.

But never mind a second act--in which the selections derived from Ravinia's past Sondheim shows could have been augmented by many of his other phenomenal tunes, such as pieces from West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Into the Woods--there wasn't even an encore.

When I saw the evening's program book titled "A Little Sondheim Music" I had no idea I should take it so literally. Ravinia should be embarrassed for leaving so much good will on the table, even if it's a $50,000 table at their gala dinner. Send in the clowns, indeed.

(In case anyone's wondering, Sondheim himself was not there, even though he has attended past performances and even done pre-show talks.)

Old Hits Sound Just Fine Out on the Lawn

Concert Review

Cheap Trick and Squeeze
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
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Both Cheap Trick, from Rockford, Illinois, and Squeeze, from London, England, technically date back to 1974, and while Cheap Trick especially has remained consistently active and has released a pair of solid albums over the past 5 years, it's fair to say that both bands' classic periods were pretty much over by the early '80s.

And I feel pretty safe in assuming that it is the hits from 1977-82 that the folks who packed the pavilion and lawn at Ravinia on Saturday night came out to hear--and speaking as a lawngoer--most appreciated.

For while I respect the fact that both bands went a bit beyond their greatest hits, from the lawn the new and otherwise unrecognizable songs all kind of sound the same. Or more correctly, they get lost among the chattering, eating, drinking, Scrabble games, etc. That's how it is at Ravinia, and with due deference to the bands and the fans who ponied up for pavilion seats, the open air, non-sloped lawn environment--i.e. no stage visibility unless you stand at the outskirts of the pavilion, which I did for a few choice tunes from each act--isn't exactly the place where an adventurous set list goes over real well.

So while both Cheap Trick and Squeeze, by virtue of their careers and the 75-minute set each played, deserve to be judged individually, based on being one of the laissez-faire on lawn, I am awarding @@@@ as a sum review of the evening--a completely beautiful night--and the performances of both bands.

Though neither act sounded quite as they did in their prime, both Cheap Trick's Robin Zander and Squeeze's Glenn Tillbrook did nothing to embarrass themselves vocally. And while both bands played a number of songs that seemed to meander to those of us on the lawn, when it came to the hits both bands delivered in quantity and quality, with Up the Junction, Tempted and Pulling Mussels from a Shell highlighting the Squeeze set and I Want You To Want Me, Surrender and Dream Police being CT nuggets. I also savored Cheap Trick pulling out "Voices" (off the Dream Police album) as their first encore, before closing the show with Dream Police.

All in all, a quite enjoyable evening, with enough great music to more than justify my $22 Lawn admission. And to the two people who told me that longtime Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos didn't perform with them because he had died, happily you are wrong. According to Wikipedia and all other sources, Bun E. is still alive and still a member of the band; he's just been replaced on this tour by Daxx Nielsen (son of guitarist Rick) because of back problems.