BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
If Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire had unlimited stage time, they might be there for a week trying to push through their collective songbook.
As it is, fans will receive a heaping dose of silky pop-soul and sinewy funk when they bring their 25-date “Heart and Soul” tour to Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood on Tuesday.
The co-headliners open and close the concert together, while EWF handles the first solo set, followed by Chicago’s run through 15 or so of their hits, including “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” and “Saturday in the Park.”
Aren’t you already salivating at the thought of hearing “September” and “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” performed by their collective horn sections?
In separate phone interviews recently, EWF percussionist and 40-plus-year band member Ralph Johnson — calling from Los Angeles — and Chicago trumpeter/founding member Lee Loughnane — calling from a tour stop in Boise, Idaho – chatted about the bands’ mutual admiration society, playing Bonnaroo (EWF) and young artists they admire (hello, Janelle Monae).
Q: Your bands have toured together several times the past few years. You must really like each other.
Johnson: It's one great big musical lovefest. The amount of respect both bands have for each other is over the top. We're each other's biggest cheerleaders. This is the most requested (tour) package that we've ever done. We're very conscious of giving people the best value for their concert dollar, and we have found that when we get through the show, people are thoroughly satisfied.
Loughnane: Every time we have played with Earth, Wind & Fire, it's been a great experience for both bands. We've played many, many shows on our own, but when both bands get together, it's like one and one makes three. I always loved the (EWF) song "In the Stone" and I never imagined I'd ever be able to play it with them, live.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Q: Earth, Wind & Fire recently played Bonnaroo. How do you think you fit in with the younger artists who populate that festival?
Johnson: It was an incredible experience. It started out that they were gonna put us in a little tent somewhere and word got out and social media demanded they put us on the main stage. We had Kendrick (Lamar) and Chance the Rapper come out and hang with us. We totally killed it. We get excited when the younger generation wants to be part of it. Based on what I heard, the crowd loved us. A lot of those kids there had been turned on to Earth, Wind & Fire by their parents, so now they had a chance to put faces with the music.
Q: Lee, do you feel there are any bands out there doing the kind of jazz-pop-big band thing that Chicago has made classic?
Loughnane: Justin Timberlake is a pretty well-rounded artist in many, many ways — genres, the types of music that he's able to play and use all of the elements of what he has learned in his songs. Bruno Mars is excellent. He's come out of the clubs, too, and did a lot of R&B stuff. He also puts in all of the elements that he's grown up with in his music. For us to be around 47 years is a modern miracle because of the attention span of young people — they move right on to the next band. Even when you're popular, you become old news.
Q: Ralph, who do you think is carrying the EWF torch?
Johnson: I get excited about Janelle Monae. We love her. Last year, we did the NBA All-Star game in New Orleans and she was onstage with us and Trombone Shorty. We love her energy, and any time we can get a chance to do something with her, it would be exciting. The respect is there.
Q: Lee, you’ve been with EWF a lot and Chicago has toured with REO Speedwagon and the Doobie Brothers and America. Are there any bands out there you’d still like to join forces with onstage?
Loughnane: We're pretty much able to play with anyone who is out there. It's a lot of fun for both bands and for both fan bases because this is something they have never seen before — the act that they love, playing something a little different than something they've seen over and over. I would love to play with Elton John, but I don't know if he'd want to do that. (Paul) McCartney would be great, too.
