Jim Peterik and Carl Giammarese - Songs & Stories at City Winery in Chicago

16 Aug, 2021 John Kosiewicz Concert Reviews, Pop, Rock

On Monday, August 16, 2021, two Chicago legends, Jim Peterik and Carl Giammarese brought Songs & Stories to City Winery in Chicago. If you don’t know them by name, you definitely know them by the vast musical work they have provided to the world over the past 50+ years.

Jim Peterik is a Grammy-Winning, Oscar-Nominated Singer-Songwriter who has written or co-written Platinum-selling songs beloved by all ages, like “The Eye Of The Tiger”, “Vehicle” and “Hold On Loosely”, to name but a few. His past work with .38 Special, Sammy Hagar, and Survivor again, to name but a few, is legendary; and for the past 55 years he has called Chicago’s own “Ides Of March” his musical home.

Carl Giammarese began his music career as a founding member of The Buckinghams, as lead guitarist and vocalist, in 1965. The Buckinghams were fundamental to creating the sounds of American rock music after the British invasion arrived and changed music forever. The Buckinghams charted 6 Top 10 hits over 5 years, including the #1 “Kind of a Drag.” In between national concert tours and numerous television appearances, they amassed 15 hit singles and 4 signature albums, most on Columbia Records.

Chicago’s City Winery was a beautiful setting for this event, along with great wine and food. Like most venues in Chicago, the safety of the staff, artist and audience was their first concern. Effective 8/2/21 all indoor guests of City Winery will need to provide proof of full vaccination or show a negative Covid test within 72 hours, and wear masks while moving through indoor spaces. With the safety of everyone set, it was time for some amazing music.

The evening’s performance was broken up into three sets. First, after a quick introduction by fellow Ides of March member, Bob Bergland (Bass, Sax, Vocals), was Jim Peterik along with his son Colin Peterik on keyboards and vocals. The set started out with a collection of platinum songs that Jim Peterik co-wrote with the southern-rock group, .38 Special. Next, they put a twist on Ides of March classic, “LA Goodbye”. The Peterik duo closed out their set with a more recent song called, “Train”. The song shined with harmonies and showing that the apple did not fall far from the tree in musical talent for this father / son duo.

With a knuckle tap between Jim Peterik and Carl Giammarese, next up was Carl Giammarese along with Bruce Soboroff, 35-year keyboard member of The Buckinghams. They played through some of the best know Buckinghams songs. Just to name a few: “I Don’t Care”, “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song)”, “Susan”. A surprise in the set was the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Bridge Under Troubled Water”.

The encore set was when both Jim Peterik and Carl Giammarese performed together. The first song was the last Buckinghams song for the night, “Mercy Mercy Mercy” which hit #5 on the charts. The night was full of stories about songs, bands, etc. Two final stores were around the songs, “Eye of the Tiger” and “Vehicle”. In all, it was a great night of stores and songs.

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