It was standing ovations aplenty for Eric Burdon on his second show of a two-night run in the Windy City.

The City Winery in Chicago is not the usual venue you would expect to see iconic rockers, Eric Burdon and the Animals. However, it helped create a cozy living room, type of intimacy. It may have been a more intimate affair, but Burdon was every bit the rock star you could hope for – donning his sunglasses throughout. At 74 years old, Burdon is showing no signs of slowing down, rolling back the years and putting on a show that the audience were thrilled to see.

The night was filled to the brim with rock and blues classics. A noteworthy performance goes to Billy Watts, who played with the feel akin to some of the classic Chicago blues players, whilst also impressively ripping over some of the more upbeat Animal’s numbers.

It was also an emotional night for the band, who shared a touching moment with the audience, declaring that it was Red Young’s last show on the keys with Burdon, after playing together for the last 25 years. It was clearly a poignant moment for the pair, and they took more than one opportunity to embrace each other at the end of the show. After listening to Red’s playing, you can understand why the band will be sorry to see him go, and it’s fair to say that, whoever steps into his shoes certainly has some big boots to fill.

Fans were on their feet applauding at the end of every song, and dancing in the aisles throughout the set. As mentioned above, it was a strange sight for the venue, which usually is home to smaller singer-songwriter setups, rather than a full six-piece band.

Of course, one of the highlights of the evening was the unquestionable Animals’ anthem, “House of The Rising Sun,” which luckily was not kept until the final encore. The fans were at the peak of their excitement for this track along with “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “It’s My Life.”

The show as a whole was perfectly balanced with some great bluesy tracks such as “Boom Boom” and “Trying To Get To You” along with the Animals classics giving all of the top class musicians on the stage the chance to show off their talents.

This was a great show and, hopefully, Eric Burdon returns to Chicago in the near future for more of the same. There is no question that there is a room full of people that would be back to see him and his band for an encore!

Photography by Marianna Burdon.

 

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About The Author

Kirstine moved from the UK to Chicago in 2011, and has fallen in love with the city and its music scene. She enjoys combining her two biggest passions – music and photography. If there is a band with a guitar playing, chances are she’ll be there…camera in hand. Kirstine went to her first live concert at 7 years old, and hasn’t looked back since!