Posted on 07/13/2005 5:46:04 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Already sick of '80s nostalgia? Too soon for '90s nostalgia? Don't get ahead of yourself, my groovy children. Tune in "MTV's the '70s House," plug a cord into your phone and get your polyester on. Several concerts looming in Chicago make it look as if this were really the summer of '78.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
He once danced sheepishly in the background of Dwight Twilley's band -- all skinny and hollow-eyed and insanely cool -- and now he's an elder statesman of the '70s guitar rock era. (Hey, kids, ask your dad what AOR means!) His hits, from "American Girl" and "Breakdown" to "Free Fallin' " and "Runnin' Down a Dream," still have teeth, even when they're overplayed by classic-rock radio -- which is ironic, given the thrashing he gave the corporate airwaves on his last album, a snippy sermon titled "The Last DJ." You can never go home again, but you can keep touring.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform with the Black Crowes at 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Tweeter Center, 19100 S. Ridgeland, Tinley Park. Tickets, $28-$59.50; Ticketmaster, (312) 559-1212.
Mark Knopfler
No longer leading Dire Straits, the sultan of swing doesn't exactly swing much these days. After success as that British band's front man -- and its big radio hits from "Sultans of Swing" to "Money for Nothing" -- Knopfler moved into his own esoteric niches. He scores films. He records bluegrass. He hangs out with Chet Atkins. His latest recording (last month's "One Take Radio Sessions") is a rehash of his previous one ("Shangri-La"), but it's also further evidence of his subtle guitar mastery. Live, he's, well -- just hope you get him in a good mood.
Mark Knopfler is scheduled at 8 p.m. Friday at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress. Tickets, $33.50-$108.50; Ticketmaster, (312) 559-1212.
Journey
Don't stop believin' ... that every single band you ever listened to in your youth will reunite and come begging again for your dollars. This summer's blast-from-the-Me-Decade comes to you with open arms and yet another single-word new album, "Generations." Alas, even though he showed up for the band's recent dedication of its star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (spit take! -- huh?), hits-era lead singer Steve Perry is not back on board the big bug. The post-hits lineup continues: Neal Schon (guitar), Ross Valory (bass), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Deen Castronovo (drums) and singer Steve Augeri. Don't worry, he can still make your eardrums bleed.
Journey plays at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island. Tickets $39.50-$49.50; Ticketmaster, (312) 559-1212.
Leon Russell
Once "The Master of Space and Time," yes, ol' Leon is still out there touring to make a buck. He fell off the "Tight Rope" long ago and -- though he continues to evidence truly great songwriting chops -- now fills his time making remarkably substandard records and playing shows in which he sits at the piano like Cousin It (hidden underneath a cone of ramrod-straight, heroin-white hair), wheezes through a set list of overly arranged hits and misses, and never once acknowledges that fact that you, the fans, are there.
Leon Russell is scheduled at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Buddy Guy's Legends, 754 S. Wabash. Tickets, $15; Ticketmaster, (312) 559-1212.
Foreigner
If you get "Double Vision" every time you feel "Cold as Ice," say to yourself, "I Want to Know What Love Is" and head to the House of Blues to see if this lumbering beast of a band ever determined an answer. Last seen on VH1 recording utterly unnecessary acoustic versions of its '70s and early '80s hits, Foreigner is back on the road with the same batch. But with the opening notes of "Waiting for a Girl Like You," we'll still see the lights of our junior-high mixers in the gymnasium.
Foreigner hits the House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn, at 9 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $32.50-$35, (312) 923-2000.
ABBA: The Music
When they were hot, they were greeted in this country with a mixture of rapture and revulsion -- on one side offering the most perfectly produced pop songs of a decade, and on the other representing everything that was killing American radio (and rock 'n' roll). The former version seems to have won out, with ABBA's music still showing up everywhere -- even propping up entire Australian films in the late '90s -- and sounding pretty infectious even now. The group, alas, has not reunited, but watching ABBA: The Music, a spot-on tribute band, you'd never know it. Can you still hear the drums, Fernando?
ABBA: The Music plays a sold-out show at 8 p.m. July 22 at Ravinia.
And Dire Straits' Money for Nothing was great but that was about it for them.
And Leon was more of a 60s hangover.
The *last* thing we need is a return to the 70s..
Mark Knopfler is ok, the rest suck.
Dire sTrait's "brothers in arms" was a good vinyl.
but what IS "AOR"??
People who can use eminent domain to take your house can afford them
I like their earlier stuff.
"Sultans of Swing" is a classic.
AOR = Album-Oriented Radio
Speaking of classic bands, I just saw Judas Priest at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Saturday night. They are looking pretty old, but they still rock hard - it was a very good performance by a band I loved in the early 80's but had kind of forgotten about since.
A dult
O riented
R ock
thanx to the both of youse. I was there and never heard the term before. mebbe too much beer?
A friend of mine talked me into going to see the Allman Brothers over the weekend. Not sure that they have done anything much in recent years, but sometimes it's fun to relive the past.
Saw Journey a couple of years ago -- not the same since Steve Perry got booted -- but Neal Schon is still a magnificent guitarist, in my opinion.
Foreigner? Ha! One guy from the band (the guitar player, who owns the rights to the name), and a bunch of side men.
I liked the '70s. But then again, I mostly listened to country and motown, and was too young to even know there was a sexual revolution going on...
You got that straight; although yesterday was the 26th anniversary of Disco Demolition Night which I wouldn't mind seeing again.
Sexual Revolution?
The joke at the time was "The love is free, it's the sex you have to pay for."
A lbum
O riented
R ock
Long live 'XRT
The only thing good about the seventies were that the women were much prettier then, and the hot pants and short shorts made women more sexier than today's bare midriff crap!
There's only one reason why MTV and BET are not different from one another...They are both owned by that Borderline Communist Conglomerate VIACOM!
I would love to see Foreigner, well at least when they were in thier prime. I saw Steve Miller Band in the early 90's (I think) and they were not impressive.
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