Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT CHICAGO CONCERT!!!!
Review: I SAW THIS PROGRAM ON A&E AND I WAS HOPING THAT IT WOULD ONE DAY MAKE IT'S WAY TO DVD!!
THESE GUYS HAVE BEEN MAKING GREAT MUSIC FOR MANY YEARS NOW AND THIS DVD WILL BE A CHANCE FOR THE FANS TO ENJOY A CHICAGO PERFORMANCE FROM THEIR OWN LIVING ROOMS!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Awsome Band, Great Show, Great Performance...Bad DVD
Review: I'll keep this short and sweet...
Chicago has written (in my book, anyway) some of the greatest songs of all time. They are an incredible band made up of outstanding musicians, songwriters and vocalists. A&E has a great thing going with it's "Live By Request" shows, and the Chicago performance on the program was good - but this DVD is just not up to par. As an audio engineer, I know that things go wrong during a live performance. I also know that, if recorded correctly, there is no excuse for the audio on this DVD to sound as bad as it does. I own the DVD, I like the DVD...it's still a great band performing a great set. I am extremely disappointed with the quality of the audio program.
Rating:
Summary: Why Can't You Give "A Happy Man" His Due Credit?
Review: I've been listening to Chicago since their inception in 1967. Let me say, first and foremost, that I am a HUGE fan of Peter Cetera's. Not only did they NEGLECT to even mention his name, but they let that "idiot" who thinks he is P.C. ,Jason----(WHATEVER HIS NAME IS),ATTEMPT, and I do mean ATTEMPT, to sing the songs that Peter's ANGELIC vocals were a majority of their enormous popularity, in the first place. Now, don't get me wrong, P.C. did leave the group, so, what were they to do? How about letting the electric guitarist sing ALL of the songs in which P.C. would have been the lead vocalist HAD THEY BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH IF HE HAD REMAINED with them? He's a fabulous, very unassuming musician, who, by the way, did an excellent job singing, what would have been , P.C.'s vocals in one of the first songs that was requested, I believe it was "YOU'RE THE INSPIRATION", ONE OF MANY THAT THEY PERFORMED THAT HE PENNED. Ithink what DEEPLY HURT, SHOCKED, AND DISAPPOINTED me was that no member of the group bothered to breathe the first consonant of PETER CETERA'S name! They gave the late Terry Kath his due. DO THEY HAVE TO WAIT TO GIVE PETER HIS DUE POSTHUMOUSLY? IN THIS REVIEWER'S OPINION, HOWEVER, BIASED, TO NOT MENTION THIS"HAPPY MAN", IS TO MENTION THE DOOBIE BROS. WITHOUT MENTIONING MICHAEL MCDONALD. In addition, Bill Champlin's performance, not only sounded strained, but he appeared extremely drugged and in pain. The rest of the band is AMAZING,AND, SHOULD, DEFINITELY, BE GIVEN CREDIT, AND,I, MIGHT ADD, THE VERY SAME CREDIT THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE GIVEN PETER, AT THEIR AGE,FOR HAVING THE STAMINA AND LONGEVITY FOR STILL PERFORMING WITH THE SAME VIGOR AND TENACITY THAT THEY EXHIBITED WHEN I SAW THEM IN CONCERT IN 1967!
PETER, I ADORE AND LOVE YOU! YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT EVER SEE THIS REVIEW, BUT, IF BY SOME STROKE OF LUCK ON MY PART THAT YOU DO, PLEASE KNOW THAT "WHAT GOES AROUND TRULY DOES COME AROUND", and I do BELIEVE that there will be a STRANGE TWIST OF FATE, and "YOU'RE MY NO1 HAPPY MAN" FOR MAKING THIS REVIEWER SO HAPPY ALL THESE YEARS VIA YOUR PURELY ANGELIC VOICE, A QUALITY TO YOUR VOCALS THAT MANY HOPE TO ATTAIN ,BUT ONLY YOU CAN DO!
Rating: 
Summary: Definitve: Live
Review: It is just so amazing to know that when so many performers come on stage in the music industry, they always seem to fake it. Nevertheless, when it comes to some performers, they don't fake it at all, and Chicago is truly one of them. For over 35 years, they've made so many songs that absolutely spoke the minds of all kinds of people. It is just amazing to see them on stage, that you have to taste it, and see it for yourself. You can see anywhere they perform, or on video.Chicago: Live By Request, was a live performance the band showcased on stage in 2002, a few days before the first anniversary of 9/11. The band celebrated the triumph of Chicago's Only The Beginning. No matter what the promotion, the band still continued to make it happen. Ironically, Live By Request was the A&E performance show that Chicago performed on. In fact, they were the most requested performers for the show. They performed so many unbelieveable hit songs like Free, You're The Inspiration, and Old Days. The mood was absolutely unbelieveable that night. Ironically, A&E had technical problems when it came up, they actually had to put an extra set of songs after the telecast, to make-up the loss. Although they don't highlight any of the three new tracks from The Box, they highlight a lot of great songs like Beginnings, Saturday In The Park, and Look Away. I just can't believe that they still've made it happen after all these years. Still, people don't seem to give the the actual credit they deserve. I just hope the band can keep the music coming for many more years to come. Especially, for the first 35 years, they seem to have plenty more energy like that to go. I suggest you get this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Great band. OK DVD.
Review: It's a shame that a band as great as Chicago has had limited exposure on retail video and this "professional" production of a recent performance falls short due to no fault of the musicians. This is Chicago's first live concert DVD release, following VHS and laserdisc releases of in-concert performances in the early 90's. Those videos ("And the Band Played On" and "Live From the Greek") were worthy documents of this true American supergroup, both from a performance, as well as, a technical production perspective.
After waiting eagerly for a cutting-edge live performance on DVD, this "Live by Request" video is good, but could certainly have been better. As a musician and having seen Chicago live in concert dozens of times, and, as recently as last month, I have to say this is not their best-executed performance, although it is good one. The real problem, however, lies with the mixing and mastering of the sound.
Whoever mixed this recording (there's no credits on the packaging) failed Midrange 101 in Recording School. There seems to be an abundance of high end and low end sound in the mix leaving the high hat cymbal the loudest instrument in the band, often drowning out the horns. Hello! This is "Chicago". Horns. Remember these, Mr. sound engineer and Mr. video producer?
The list of technical faults goes on and on.
Overall, this is still a good DVD, worthy of purchase as Chicago is one of the great musical acts of the 20th (and now 21st) century, with timeless music and top-notch musicianship.
A much better DVD of Chicago in concert has also just become available based on their recently-aired "Soundstage" concert on PBS. Production and performance on this is is several notches above this "Live By Request" release and should be procured by all Chicago fans via the PBS website. The aforementioned concert videos should also be sought out, especially "Live from the Greek" which is an amazing live document of this legendary band, also recorded for PBS television in 1993. The people involved in the production of that video actually knew what they they doing and took the time and care into creating a video worthy of one of the greatest bands of our time.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet sweet music
Review: Like some others, I took a chance on buying this DVD after reading some of the other reviews. Thanks to those who recommended it. I had just seen Chicago in concert for the first time and this DVD was nearly as exciting for me. The host mentioned that Chicago was the most requested group in the history of the program. The play list was sweet. Sure, there was a strained note here and there, but that's the nature of live performances. Bill Champlin's vocals were also weak at the live performance I attended but he can still sing and play better than me, so I'm not complaining.
I'm not bothered by the celebrity comments either. I've seen several of the A&E Live by Request shows, and that's expected. There didn't appear to be any ignored song requests. The one caller that requested "In Terms of Two" was apparently familiar with live entertainment. He offered "If You Leave Me Now" as an alternate choice in the event they weren't prepared to do a number that they hadn't played live in 30 years.
As far as the DVD sound quality, it sounded almost as if it was really live and in person. No tin can effect. I didn't fiddle with the 5.1 settings- just popped it into the SONY player with the concert surround setting on my RCA home theater system. I guess my channels are set to the right volumes. The vocals were clear and perfectly balanced with bass, horns and high notes. I highly recommend this DVD. It's a nice stand-in if you can't catch Chicago live and in person.
Rating: 
Summary: Chicago live by request
Review: on 5.1 surround it sounds like your listening in a cave or tin can. Real disapointed in sound quality. Hard to hear vocals. Save your money and wait for the soundstage recording and hope it,s better
Rating:
Summary: Make Me Smile
Review: Someone downgraded this performance in another review. Having watched this band from the start, meeting them and having other videos they did, this is a darn good performance. I am a drummer of 45 yrs so I am well qualified to say this concert on A&E is as good as anything else they have done. I totally disagree with the person who gave them a bad review. Buy it if you like the group!
Rating:
Summary: GOOD SHOW, BUT MORE OPTIONS NEEDED
Review: THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS DVD IS THAT YOU CANT WATCH THE SHOW WITHOUT THE BETWEEN SONG TALKING FROM THE ORIGINAL A&E BROADCAST. IT'S FUN TO SEE ONCE, BUT AFTER THAT, I JUST WANT TO HEAR THE SONGS. THERE SHOULD BE THE OPTION TO JUST PLAY THE CONCERT. I HAVE OTHER DVD'S WITH THIS FEATURE. I ALSO DONT UNDERSTAND THE OTHER REVEIWERS PROBLEM WITH THE SOUND. IT SOUNDS GREAT ON MY SYSTEM. DID YOU TRY ALL THE AUDIO OPTIONS? ALL IN ALL, IT'S A GOOD SHOW.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD SHOW, BUT MORE OPTIONS NEEDED
Review: THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS DVD IS THAT YOU CANT WATCH THE SHOW WITHOUT THE BETWEEN SONG TALKING FROM THE ORIGINAL A&E BROADCAST. IT'S FUN TO SEE ONCE, BUT AFTER THAT, I JUST WANT TO HEAR THE SONGS. THERE SHOULD BE THE OPTION TO JUST PLAY THE CONCERT. I HAVE OTHER DVD'S WITH THIS FEATURE. I ALSO DONT UNDERSTAND THE OTHER REVEIWERS PROBLEM WITH THE SOUND. IT SOUNDS GREAT ON MY SYSTEM. DID YOU TRY ALL THE AUDIO OPTIONS? ALL IN ALL, IT'S A GOOD SHOW.
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