It was January 26, 2020. I was watching John Cale perform a concert at Chicago’s Art Institute. Who knew that would be the last live performance of music that I would see for more than eighteen months?

The pandemic changed everything about the way we lived our lives over the last year. The live music industry was affected just like the rest of us. Almost every tour that was scheduled was 2020 either had to be rescheduled or was completely canceled. For people who make their living that way, especially the lower paid behind the scenes folks, it was a devastating year.

Lately we’ve slowly seen the return of concerts. In the last few weeks, there have been shows at Ravinia, the James Taylor-Jackson Browne show at the United Center and last weeks Lollapalooza four day event in downtown Grant Park.

Thursday saw the start of a four day festival at suburban Evanston’s Canal Shore golf course. The first day featured Emmylou Harris as the headliner with Los Lobos as the opening act. Nothing like a little Tex-Mex music followed by some Alternative/Country to get those live music juices flowing after a year and a half industry shutdown.

It really was more about the evening itself than either of the performers. An upper seventies degree temperature with a nice breeze is the type of night you dream of when you plan to attend an outdoor concert.

Los Lobos rocked the house for an hour; highlighted by their version of Santana’s “Oye Como Va” and closing with “La Bamba.” Emmylou was next. She showed why so many of us are still captivated by her lovely and still powerful singing voice after more fifty years of performing and recording. It’s amazing that it still is as strong as it is at age seventy-four.

Hopefully, this is the first, at least for me, of many shows over the next few months, provided we can keep the Covid-19 virus somewhat under control. It was a great new beginning.

Related Post: Homeward Bound-Paul Simon’s final tour

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