It only took a little over two years for Gilbert O'Sullivan to make good on his scheduled appearance at the Chicago City Winery (thanks to Covid delays and rescheduling) ...
And just under fifty years for him to FINALLY appear at ANY Chicagoland venue since he first hit the charts in 1972 with his #1 smash "Alone Again (Naturally)" ...
But after having these tickets posted to our calendar since the day they first went on sale in late 2019 / early 2020, we were finally able to enjoy an up close and personal evening with one of our favorite early '70's artists ... and it was well worth the wait. (Truth is, we were literally close enough to reach up and touch him ... provided we could have climbed over the only two people blocking us from the stage which, in a brief moment of clarity, we decided not to do! lol) Regardless, it was a VERY enjoyable and intimate show to say the least.
And this is one of those that I feel I can accurately describe as almost a "living room concert" ... Gilbert was totally relaxed and comfortable up there, accompanied only by guitarist Bill Shanley (and the occasional prerecorded backing track) ... and in this intimate a setting, you were literally able to digest every word of every lyric in a way that might not have presented itself under different circumstances.
O'Sullivan has never been one to follow the typically strict rule of meter in a song ... he tends to stretch well beyond the usual limits, getting in more words and syllables than one might expect within the context of any given musical line ... and then modifies the melody accordingly as necessary to make sure that everything still fits. In some cases, this makes some of the lyrics seem a bit nonsensical ... but always in a sincere and endearing way.
He told a few fun stories along the way ... such as the one about his ill-fated first US tour that was aborted shortly after take-off when the crowds just weren't there to fill the huge venues in which he had been booked. (Gilbert explained that he was first offered the opportunity to tour The States as the opening act for The Moody Blues, further acknowledging the fact that this is the way most recording artists build an audience ... you start out opening up for a major act until you've earned enough of a following of your own to become an headliner yourself.) But, in that his manager at the time was Gordon Mills, who also handled the careers of mega stars Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, Mills booked Gilbert into the same venues that his superstars were filling ... achieving nowhere near the same results.
His US debut at Carnegie Hall, backed by a band and a full orchestra, was a huge success ... but they were not able to duplicate those results once the show hit the road, eventually deciding to throw in the towel after a few more scarcely attended performances ... and O'Sullivan never ventured back to tour The States again.
Although Gilbert O'Sullivan wracked up six US Top 40 Hits inside of two years, only his first four albums saw release here in The States. (I bought all four of them ... and quite enjoyed them, in fact, at the time. Truth be told, I played the heck out of them in '72 and '73 but honestly haven't listened to them since.) However, hearing him perform a number of these tunes again in concert at The City Winery brought the familiarity rushing back ... there was some really good material contained on those first four LP's ... and it was great to relive that joyful experience again!
O'Sullivan performed two full 45-minute sets ... and the only genuine US hit in the first one was "Clair," a #2 record in 1972, which just happens to be Frannie's favorite. ("It gets me in the heart" - FK) The song was written for his manager's daughter ... and that's young Clair giggling there at the end of the record. Listening to him sing it again in 2022, I couldn't help but smile to myself at the thought that Clair herself in now a woman in her mid-50's, perhaps with grandchildren of her own!
When he flubbed the lines to one of MY personal favorites, "Out Of The
Question" during the second set, he stopped the song, had a bit of a laugh, and then started
it over in order to give it a proper presentation. While nearly all of
his key tracks were present in the set list line-up, including material
he has recorded over the past ten years that never saw the light of day
here in America, a couple of what I would consider to be key tracks were also missing in action ...
"Ooh Baby" (#11, 1973 / #25 in Billboard), "Happiness Is Me And You"
(#34, 1974 / #62 Billboard) and the album track "Who Was It" (a minor
hit for Hurricane Smith in 1973) were expected and, as such, noticeably
missing.
O'Sullivan talked a bit about what an honor it is, as a songwriter, to have other artists want to record your songs. One in particular that he singled out was Andy Williams, who recorded Gilbert's song "We Will" after Gilbert allowed him to make a slight lyric change that Andy felt was perhaps a "bit too British" to connect with an American audience. (The original line read "On Sunday next if the weather holds we'll have that game, but I bagsy-being-in-goal not because I'm good or because I think I should") ... yeah ... I get that!
He also expressed the opinion (something that we have been touting for the past 23 years now) that when an artist is fortunate enough to actually HAVE a hit record, that song should be presented exactly the way it was recorded when it's performed in concert so that the fans can enjoy it the way they first heard it and fell in love with it.
He said that an artist can usually have a little more leeway with a non-hit or album track, working up a new arrangement (which he did on his song "Why, Oh Why, Oh Why," done up in what he described as a somewhat reggae send-up) ... but also noted that after one concert he did in Europe a few years ago, a fan came up to him after the show and said "You played my favorite song tonight ... and ruined it" ... driving home the point of staying faithful to the original even further. (He also used the example of Mick Jagger singing a 25-minute version of "Satisfaction" at a recent concert event ... basically alluding to the fact that, even after 57 years, poor Mick STILL isn't satisfied!)
One of the folks sharing our table (as that's the way it's done at City Winery) was a man name Stuart, who was such a big, life-long Gilbert O'Sullivan fan that he even flew to Ireland to see him perform three shows there a few years ago. He, along with several others in attendance that night, could only be classified as true, die-hard fans, knowing and singing along with nearly every song that Gilbert performed. (Even Gilbert was impressed ... he couldn't help but giggle out loud a few times, at one point remarking "Oh, so you know this one, too!") He then invited the whole audience to sing along with the gospel-like ending to his song "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" from his "I'm A Writer Not A Fighter" album (my personal favorite), which we all did happily.
He closed the show (as part of a two song encore) with another one of my favorites, "Get Down," a #4 smash (#7 in Billboard) from 1973 that went all the way to #1 here in Chicago, a rousing rocker to close out the night. (kk)
Kent:
I saw Gilbert at the City Winery in NYC before the pandemic. He was outstanding. Gilbert sang ALL the hits and so much more! Comedian Gilbert Gottfried turns out to be a huge fan and attended the show.
Tom Cuddy
This may just be a case of "the Gilberts" sticking together! (lol)
We were blown away by just how many die-hard Gilbert O'Sullivan fans were at the Chicago show ... these folks knew every word to every song ... even the ones that were never released here in The States. And his niece (and her boyfriend) were in attendance the night we saw him, too. In fact, he dedicated "Alone Again (Naturally)" to them ... which I thought was rather an odd choice ... almost one of those "I hope you like it ... please don't jump off a building later tonight" kind of moments!!! (kk)
After we got home from the show, we found this awesome video of Gilbert O'Sullivan performing his hit "Get Down" with Elton John from British television ... check it out! It is not to be missed!!!
A couple of great recent Gilbert O'Sullivan interviews we think you'll enjoy ...
https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/gilbert-osullivan-interview-u-s-tour-dates-2022/
https://www.goldminemag.com/features/10-questions-for-gilbert-osullivan
Gilbert has been doing the full City Winery gamut on this 2022 tour, with just a few dates left ... then it's a couple of appearances at The Mint in LA before heading off across the pond for a series of shows in The UK, Japan, Ireland and The Netherlands. Check him out if you can!
March 14th - The City Winery - Nashville, TN
March 15th - The City Winery - Atlanta, GA
March 17th and 18th - The Mint - Los Angeles, CA
March 20th - The City Winery - Washington, DC
April 5th - Baths Hall - Scunthorpe, UK
April 8th - City Varities Music Hall - Leeds, UK
April 12th - Town Hall - Birmingham, UK
April 23rd and 24th - Sinjuku Cultural Center - Tokyo, Japan
September 2nd - Lime Tree Theatre - Limerick, Ireland
September 3rd - Royal Theatre - Castlebar, Ireland
September 6th - Watergate Theatre - Kikenny, Ireland
September 9th - Cork Opera House - Cork, Ireland
September 11th - Bord Gais Energy Theatre - Dublin, Ireland
November 5th - Carre Theatre - Amsterdam, Netherlands
