Hailed as one of the "most important bands in music since the dawn of the rock and roll era.”
New York (March 20, 2024) – The theatrical release of Chicago & Friends in Concert will premiere on April 18 and April 21, in select theatres via Iconic Events Releasing, Mercury Studios and FanTracks.
“This concert film is a unique approach to any of our previous live performances,” said Chicago founding member Lee Loughnane. “We very rarely play with guest artists, much less seven of them. It was very interesting to work with each guest and experience their interpretations of our music.”
Chicago, the legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band with more than 100 million albums sold worldwide, bring their iconic sound to moviegoers across North America in this 2½ hour cinematic event. Recorded this past November at Ovation Hall at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ in front of a live audience of 10,000 fans over two nights, the band was joined by special guests Robin Thicke, Chris Daughtry, Steve Vai, VoicePlay, Judith Hill, Robert Randolph and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. Each performance is visualized in vibrant video and animation.
This once-in-a-lifetime event showcases Chicago’s greatest hits and celebrates their 55th Anniversary of their groundbreaking Double-Platinum debut album, CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY. The film also captures the “unplugged” a capella arrangements and re-imagined Chicago's hits in an emotionally moving centerpiece.
Chicago & Friends In Concert’s Executive Producer Barry Summers worked directly with co-producer, Chicago’s Lee Loughnane, and each special guest on song selections. Loughnane also acted as music director and managed the post-production audio mix.
Barry Summers, Award Winning Producer & Creator of the Decades Rock LIve series of which this film is the latest, exclaims “We are very excited to be presenting "Chicago & Friends in Concert" 4K UHD Dolby 5.1 at cinemas in North America.
Ty Roberts, CEO, FanTracks added “We are thrilled to showcase the Decades Rock Live series in theatres which brings multiple generations together to celebrate iconic music.”
The Decades Rock Live Chicago & Friends production was filmed on a custom-built LED stage set with nine 4K cameras. This film premiere contains Chicago’s greatest hits and classics with each visualized in all original full length animations shown against an amazing custom LED backdrop.
Visit HTTPS://CHICAGOANDFRIENDSINTHEATRES.COM for theaters and showtimes near you.
ABOUT CHICAGO
The legendary rock and roll band with horns, Chicago, came in as the highest charting American band in Billboard Magazine's Top 125 Artists of All Time. Chicago recently received The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the GRAMMYS and was previously inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2014. Band members Robert Lamm and James Pankow have been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017. Further to that, the band has 21 Top 10 singles, five consecutive Number One albums, 11 #1 singles and five Gold singles, with a total of 48 Gold and Platinum awards. 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 Ray Herrmann on woodwinds, Walfredo Reyes Jr. on drums, Neil Donell on vocals, Ramon "Ray" Yslas on percussion, Tony Obrohta on guitar, Loren Gold on keyboards and vocals, and Eric Baines on bass and vocals.
ABOUT FANTRACKS
FanTracks Digital LLC is a live streaming company with fan engagement at its core, connecting fans, bands and venues. The company provides subscription and pay-per-view streaming live music events, studio grade video production, short form original contenand digital merchandise. FanTracks operates its own B2B and B2C platforms focused around music genres for artists and brands. The platform provides fans high-quality, carefully curated, and professionally produced live shows. In August 2022 FanTracks acquired jazzed, the immersive live-streaming app uniquely curated from the best in jazz, soul and blues to jazz-inspired superstars, thereby adding experienced management in music, entertainment and technology to its leadership team, who are trailblazers in creating new experiences with artists.
Fantracks Live STORE – Fantracks Shop for merchandise for Chicago & Friends.
About Iconic Events Releasing:
Iconic Events Releasing is reinventing event cinema - focusing on bringing fans closer to the content that they love. Offering a variety of one-of-a-kind live and captured entertainment events in movie theaters nationwide, Iconic Events Releasing creates unique experiences by taking audiences behind the scenes and offering intriguing extras, audience Q&As, backstage footage, and interviews with cast and crew creating the ultimate VIP experience. Theatrical releases range from live sports (UFC Live) to classic anime (AX Cinema Nights) to music (David Bryne, David Bowie, Chicago & Friends in Concert), documentaries (The Lost Weekend), horror films (Terrifier Franchise), and faith-focused features (God of Heaven and Earth). The Iconic Events Releasing’s team is comprised of industry experts with over 80+ years of content acquisition, distribution and marketing, publicity, and sponsorship experience. To learn more visit https://iconicreleasing.com/about-us/
About Mercury Studios:
Mercury Studios is a full-service production studio originating, producing, selling, distributing, and investing in scripted, unscripted, and live content. Editorially independent Mercury Studios is powered by Universal Music Group and represents the world’s leading catalogue of music-related content. Current and recent projects include If These Walls Could Sing, the untold story of the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, directed by celebrated British photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney for Disney+; This Town, a six-part series for the BBC from writer, creator and executive producer Steven Knight; Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, a feature documentary from Oscar-winning director/producer Joseph Patel (Summer of Soul), adapted from Vikki Tobak’s best-selling book; “My Life as a Rolling Stone,” a four-part docuseries of intimate portraits of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts; Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl, a career documentary about the superstar that is available on Netflix; and Mars, a short film based on an original universe and characters created by Yungblud, starring Yasmin Finney, that premiered at the London Film Festival. Mercury Studios’ Miles Davis: Birth of The Cool was recently honored with two Emmys for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary and Outstanding Sound. ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas also received a 2021 Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Film. The feature documentaries are part of the Mercury Studios library, consisting of over 5,000 hours of programming. Visit Mercurystudios.co for more information.
