There are those certain artists that I look forward to seeing every time they come through Chicago. Artists like Ray Charles, James Brown and BB King are some of those legends that I know have been a gift to see so many times in the past decade. One more to add to the list is the R&B soul singer, the Reverend Al Green. Al Green in recent years has resurfaced to reclaim his 70’s sound and is back to prove he still has a few things left to say and of course sing.
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Al Green
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 Entertainment
Art
House of Blues
Chicago, Ill.
October 19, 2007
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Al Green came out with roses in his hands to start things off fast with his 2003’s title track “I Just Can’t Stop,” that proved to be a theme for the evening. Al Green these days seems much more comfortable in his skin and understands and acknowledges his songs have been the instigator for steaming up so many car windows through the years.
There was a time where Al Green ran away from it all to serve the church and has only appeared sporadically in the last few decades. That is until in 2003 when he once again collaborated with Willie Mitchell, the man who produced all those delicious tunes of Green’s back in the 70’s, and have recently recorded two wonderful albums and hopefully with more to come. Al Green, the soul legend is back on the stage where he belongs.
As Al Green tears off his suit coat to deliver the final verse to his gospel-laced rendition of “Amazing Grace,” he point up to the balcony to acknowledge the man upstairs. Or, as it turns out, to give props to another reverend hiding in the shadows in the balcony, Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The Gatorade supply tonight was almost as plentiful as the long stem red roses as “Stay Together” kicked into high gear and brought out the male dancers. Yes you read that right, male dancers. I’ve seen him 3 or 4 times now and he’s always had these male dancers come out every once in a while to (I guess) get the crowd pumping. Yet, they just seem (to me) to be oddly out of place. The reality is Al is such a strong presence you don’t need them and the fact that they are guys just makes it a bit weird for my taste.
Tonight instead of just concentrating on his hits he attacked a medley of Motown, Four Tops and Sam Cooke oldies like “Super Pie Honeybunch”/”My Girl”/ “Bring me Some Lovin’” among others for the middle of his set. They sounded great and no argument they are classics but Al Green has so many great songs old and new that I would have much rather have heard live. Al leave that to the wedding singers I want to hear your wealth of material. At least if you are going to play a cover do something like your great Bee Gee’s cover of “How to Mend a Broken Heart.”
Regardless, Al knows how to deliver on a live show and he never disappoints me with a nice collection of his hits including “Here I am,” “I’m Still In Love” and “So Tired of Being Alone” to name just a few. As I’ve seen him close his show in the past he ended with the masterpiece, “Love and Happiness.” Probably pure heaven from my perspective and always a great way to end the night or perhaps just the beginning if you’ve brought with you a special friend, thanks Al!
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