Live Entertainment Blog

If you enjoy symphony orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays outdoors often in the summer time. This is the time to talk about it: it’s the middle of winter and you have to think about the outdoors and the warmth now. Think about it. You get out of your car and take your picnic basket and a blanket out of the backseat. Or maybe you have a couple of chairs?  Either way, you and your best friend walk down the way, looking forward to hearing one of your favorite classical songs. Once you get in,  you stake out your spot on the nice warm grass. Then you look in your picnic basket, pull out a bottle of wine and some nice snacks. And you just sit there and enjoy. Oh wow. Look here for the full schedule to the Ravinia Festival!

There is a Tribute to Burt Bacharach playing in New York right now and it’s supposed to be very good. It’s hard to tell what it is that makes it good. For one thing, the music is great. Bacharach wrote several really well-known songs that people will easily recognize. And the performers are great too. Many of his songs were intended for female singers and they pull off these songs really well. We really like Bacharach’s music and he is back in the headlines. If I’m not mistaken, there’s some kind of compilation of his work out there now, but I’m not sure. Give it a Google and you’ll find out.

I finally found the complete review of the latest production of War of the Roses. The earlier reviews simply had the first installment, but this two part production can’t really be taken on its own. This is kind of a problem, because it has to be taken on its own, since each of the two parts are 4 hours long. It’s an entertaining show and the reviewer enjoyed it. But he also states that it’s hard for the production company to meet the material or the performance of one of its lead performers. Part 1 is a little hard to follow, and demanding on the audience, with the actors standing in formation a lot of the time, without much action. The second part is replete with slaying and lots of great artistic choices as well. Read the full review here.

Tomorrow, we’re going to see some of the most interesting live entertainment that we ever see. There an inauguration tomorrow where there is going to be several really impressive speeches, most notably by the newly sworn-in president. Then there will be a long parade that will last several hours. The audience will remain cold that whole time unless they decide to move inside and watch on tv. Political things aren’t usually considered entertainment, but back in the day, this was in fact the case. People would go and watch long political debates out on the village green and such. But tomorrow, you can watch from the warmth of your own house.

This is more of a blog entry for Allman Brothers fans on the east coast. Recently, the Allman Brothers Band has announced they will be playing a string of 10 shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York, New York. Throughout the month of March, Gregg and Duane Allman will take their Southern rock sound to the stage again and delight fans with classics like “Jessica,” “Ramblin’ Man” and “Hotlanta.” The Allman Brothers concert tickets are already on sale so you may want to get a set before they sell out.

In less than one month, the alleged “biggest night” in the music business is set to take place. On February 9th, the 51st annual Grammy Award Show will hand out awards to the best in the business. Or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to do. This year however, things won’t be as clear cut as it should be. One of the biggest bands, which also has several nominations, may have an asterisk placed by any awards they receive. Coldplay, up for at least 3 awards (I don’t care to count the actual number) is still mired in controversy with guitarist Joey Satriani, who has filed a lawsuit against Coldplay and accused them of stealing his riff from “If I Could Fly” and used it in their song “Viva la Vida.” If you’ve never heard of the lawsuit or the striking similarities between the two songs, have a listen and decide for yourself.

What is a good time to see a live show? The Winter of course! You know, there’s not that much else to get you out of the house. It is cold outside, at least around here, and then you feel like you need to get out. But going to a ball game is probably not likely. Baseball definitely not. Basketball, maybe. What about concerts? There are lots of concerts that you can see this time of year. Everything from your local pub’s live performer to a major performer at a large venue. Either way, it can completely spice up your winter season, especially now that the holidays have passed. If you there are many around, so you should just take a look around the net to see what there is going on these days.

The WWE truly has a little bit of something for everyone. Music for the music lovers, incredible athelticism for the sports lovers, strong characters and (not always so strong) acting skills for the thespians, dazzling light shows and fireworks for the soon to be pyrotechnics, beautiful women for men, and of course, beer for the alcoholics. Truthfully though, the world of pro wrestling has moved quite a far stones throw away from the old “this is real” format. There’s a reason it changed its name from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment (aside from the lawsuit with World Wildlife Federation). It has become somewhat of a soap opera for men. Even if you’ve never had WWE tickets and seen a live show, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy the whole atmosphere.