Chicago - Earth, Wind and Fire - Live at the Greek Theatre 2004 - 2 dvd discs

Earth, Wind & Fire. The recording was made at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California at the end of their joint tour in 2004. This DVD was certified platinum just two months after its 2005 release.

Although Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire both formed in Chicago during the late 60's, and each framed their sounds around a couple of mighty horn sections, this was not your obvious pairing for a co-headlining concert tour. Chicago's early sound was aggressive, jazz-influenced rock & roll, which was eventually transformed into a slick, adult-contemporary hit machine of the 80's, thanks to new producer and songwriter David Foster. EWF mixed funk, jazz, rock, and soul into a mystical concoction of songs that appealed to a broad range of music lovers throughout the world. When both bands take the stage together, however, their chemistry and commonalities become obvious, and the results are often amazing.
Live At The Greek Theatre was recorded in August of 2004 at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California during Chicago and EWF's co-headlining summer tour. Surprisingly, the bands took the stage together to open the show, and fittingly kicked off the proceedings with "Beginnings," which was a hit song for Chicago before many of these young bucks on stage were even born. The show began with too much of a glitzy Las Vegas extravaganza look and feel to it. The 20 combined band members strategically positioned themselves on multiple levels all over stage, high-fiving each other, and giving their shout-outs to friends and celebrities in the front rows.
You couldn't ask for a much better packaged and produced DVD than what you get with Live At The Greek Theatre. Where most producers would have edited this package down to a 90-minute highlights video, this one gives you the entire, nearly three-hour show. DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mixes both sound stellar. Each of the instruments and vocals could be heard clearly in the mix and never sounded cluttered. This was especially amazing when both bands took the stage together. The surrounds were utilized extensively to provide the perfect amount of crowd noise and instrumentation to make you feel like you were right in the middle of the theater. The widescreen video was shot in high definition and looked amazingly clear, sharp, and colorful. The camera angles dashed around too quickly for my liking, but the director captured the show well overall.