Chicago, the legendary rock & roll band with horns, will go on a North American summer amphitheater tour with Rick Springfield. The tour kicks off on June 12 in Concord, CA and ends August 1 in Rosemont, Illinois. In between, the tour comes to the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel on Wednesday, July 22 and the BB&T Pavilion in Camden on Friday, July 24.
Hailed as one of the "most important bands in music since the dawn of the rock and roll era," by former President Bill Clinton, the legendary rock and roll band with horns, Chicago, came in at #10, the highest charting American band in Billboard Magazine's Top 125 Artists Of All Time. And Chicago is the first American rock band to chart Top 40 albums in six consecutive decades. Chicago was inducted into the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This was their first nomination. They’ve been eligible since 1994. A long time coming!
Chicago's first album, Chicago Transit Authority, was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2014. Chicago managed to fuse pop, rock and jazz together perfectly in this double album.
Robert Lamm and James Pankow have become inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017. These legendary songwriters wrote mega-hits such as, "25 or 6 to 4," "Saturday In The Park," "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," "Make Me Smile," and many others. Chicago, will celebrate the holidays this year with a new Christmas album, CHICAGO CHRISTMAS, that spotlights the legendary group’s trademark sound on eight original songs, two yuletide favorites and one timeless classic that embraces the spirit of hope.
Produced by founding member Lee Loughnane, CHICAGO CHRISTMAS is the 37th album of the band’s career and its fourth holiday collection. Whereas its previous releases focused more on traditional Christmas songs, the new record spotlights holiday music the band wrote especially for the album, including “All Over The World,” “(Because) It’s Christmastime,” and “I’m Your Santa Claus.” The album also features R&B and ballad versions of “Merry Christmas, I Love You,” a song that Loughnane wrote with John Durrill of The Ventures, the best-selling instrumental band of all time.
Chicago have toured every year since the beginning -they’ve never missed a year. The original three band members are Robert Lamm on keyboards and vocals, Lee Loughnane on trumpet and vocals and James Pankow on trombone. The band line-up also includes Wally Reyes, Jr. on drums, Keith Howland on guitar and vocals, Lou Pardini on keyboards and vocals, Ray Herrmann on sax and flute, Neil Donell on vocals, Brett Simons on bass and Ramon "Ray" Yslas on percussion.
Although Rick Springfield’s music was frequently dismissed as vapid teen idol fare, his best moments have actually withstood the test of time far better than most critics would ever have imagined, emerging as some of the best-crafted mainstream power pop of the 1980s. A singer turned soap opera star turned singer, Springfield was born Richard Springthorpe on August 23, 1949, in Sydney, Australia, to a military man; the family moved around Australia and England a great deal during Rick’s childhood, and he sought his escape from the difficulty of making friends in books and music.
Over the past four decades, Rick Springfield has worn many hats as an entertainer and performer. The creator of some of the finest power-pop of the ’80s, a Grammy winning singer, songwriter, and musician who has sold 25 millionalbumsand scored 17 U.S. Top 40 hits, including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “An Affair of the Heart,” "I've Done Everything for You,” “Love Somebody,” and “Human Touch.”
He’s an accomplished actor who has starred opposite Meryl Streep in the feature film “Ricki and the Flash,” gave a chameleonic performance as the creepy Dr.Irving Pitlor in HBO’s prestige drama “True Detective,” earned great reviews for his portrayal of Lucifer on the CW hit “Supernatural” and most recently played the insane Pastor Charles on FX’s worldwide hit series“American Horror Story.” In 2014, Springfield was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located around the corner from the first apartment he lived in when he first arrived in the U.S. from Australia in 1971.
Springfield's latest album “Orchestrating My Life" was released in April 2019 to wide acclaim.
CHICAGO TOUR DATES WITH RICK SPRINGFIELD
Fri Jun 12 Concord, CA Concord Pavilion
Sat Jun 13 Inglewood, CA The Forum
Sun Jun 14 Irvine, CA Five Point Amphitheater
Tue Jun 16 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
Thu Jun 18 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Sat Jun 20 Phoenix, AZ Ak-Chin Pavilion
Tue Jun 23 Maryland Heights, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Wed Jun 24 Kansas City, MO Starlight Amphitheatre
Fri Jun 26 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion
Sat Jun 27 Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
Sun Jun 28 Rogers, AR Walmart AMP
Wed Jul 01 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
Thu Jul 02 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Fri Jul 03 Tampa, FL MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Fri Jul 17 Wantagh, NY Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
Sat Jul 18 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Sun Jul 19 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
Tue Jul 21 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Wed Jul 22 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Fri Jul 24 Camden, NJ BB&T Pavilion
Sat Jul 25 Burgettstown, PA KeyBank Pavilion
Sun Jul 26 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
Tue Jul 28 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
Wed Jul 29 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
Fri Jul 31 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
Sat Aug 01 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena