Tame Chicago Reprises Old Melodies

It’s not surprising that Chicago, still hanging in there after nearly three decades in the performing trenches, was one of the few rock acts (with Rod Stewart, the Moody Blues and Steely Dan) selected to appear at the Hollywood Bowl this summer.

The band’s performance Sunday night, before a devoted crowd of 12,075, wasn’t likely to trigger anything that might have been viewed by the Bowl management as an unruly display.

In fact, after opening the show with a quick jaunt through such standards as “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Free,” Chicago dedicated its second set to a long lineup of tunes accompanied by John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Given the way the audio was handled, however, it’s difficult to understand why the group bothered to go to all the trouble and expense. Dwight Mikkelson’s arrangements of “Saturday in the Park,” “If You Leave Me Now,” “Colour My World,” etc., sounded like audio cottage cheese in the sound mix (which reportedly was controlled by Chicago’s technician). The rare orchestral passages that managed to sneak through were intriguing, but the band, sadly, seemed to have little confidence in anything other than the over-amplification of its own instruments.

To its credit, Chicago played with vigor and enthusiasm. Jason Scheff and Bill Champlin continued to provide dependable vocals, and the horn section, if anything, was sturdier than ever. A peculiar rendering of “In the Mood,” from the band’s “Night & Day: Big Band” album of swing era hits, was an unusual sidebar item in its program. But there was no denying the overall appeal--nostalgic though it now has become--of Chicago’s remarkable string of engagingly melodic hit tunes.