There’s nothing quite like a September night at the Hollywood Bowl. The hillside air is still balmy, the stars hanging low above Cahuenga Pass, and music spilling from one of America’s most iconic stages. For the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Fireworks Finale,” the honor of closing out the 2025 season went to a band just as iconic: Chicago, the horn-driven rock institution with over 100 million albums sold and nearly six decades of road-tested history.
The three-night stand (Friday through Sunday) was so much more than a nostalgia trip. It was a celebration of Chicago’s enduring place in American music—a group that’s lived through changing fashions, shifting band lineups, and cultural reinventions, but has always kept those brass-and-ballad vibes intact. Add in a fireworks show that painted the Bowl’s hillside in technicolor bursts, and the run felt like a soft-rock Fourth of July in September.
Before Chicago took the stage, Christopher Cross set the mood with a breezy set straight from the pages of Yacht Rock 101. He opened with “All Right” and soon had the crowd swaying along to “Sailing”, a song that remains as smooth and relaxing as a Malibu sunset. Between songs, he quipped about helping to produce HBO’s recent yacht rock documentary, dedicated “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” to Burt Bacharach, and reminisced about lost friends with “Think of Laura”.
The highlight of the set? A barnstorming “Ride Like the Wind”, wherein Cross, often pigeonholed as mellow, showed he could still rip on guitar. With Andy Suzuki blasting away on EWI (electronic wind instrument), the opener felt more like a full-on party cruise than an appetizer.
Chicago’s headlining set on Sunday night was a masterclass in what they’ve always called themselves: “a rock and roll band with horns.” Led by stalwarts Lee Loughnane (trumpet) and James Pankow (trombone), alongside newer members Neil Donell (vocals, acoustic guitar), Carlos Murguia (keys, vocals), Eric Baines (bass, vocals), Tony Obrohta (guitar), Ray Herrmann (sax, flute, clarinet), Walfredo Reyes Jr. (drums), and Ramon “Ray” Yslas (percussion), the group played like a band with nothing left to prove, but every intention of showing they still can.
They launched right into “Introduction”, their original mission statement from 1969, before segueing into “Dialogue (Part I & II)”, with its trademark back-and-forth vocal lines melting into an instrumental jam.
The set moved like a living history of FM radio. There were tender moments with “If You Leave Me Now” and “Hard Habit to Break”, along with euphoric singalongs courtesy of “Make Me Smile”, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is”, and “Saturday in the Park”. Donell and Baines traded vocal duties with impressive range, while the horns lit up every corner of the Bowl.
One of the evening’s most charming moments came when Loughnane reminisced about Chicago’s pre-fame days playing Motown and R&B covers in smoky bars. With a grin, the band launched into Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”, a soulful detour that reminded the audience how deep the band’s roots run.
Other standouts included “Just You ‘n’ Me”, wherein Herrmann busted out a clarinet solo, and a thunderous version of “I’m a Man” that turned into a percussion carnival, as Reyes and Yslas traded places, bouncing rhythms across the stage. By the time the crowd lit up their phones for “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”, the amphitheater shimmered like a starry canyon.
The encore was pure fireworks bait. “Free” led into a triumphant “25 or 6 to 4”. As the horns punched and the guitars soared, the first fireworks lit the sky above the Bowl. Red, gold, and silver blasts exploded in sync with the final choruses, turning the hillside into a simmering spectacle. It was as if the music itself had ignited the night.
Chicago’s three-night Bowl run reminded Los Angeles of a simple truth: this band’s music is as much nostalgia as it is part of the American songbook. From Carnegie Hall in the ’70s to the Bowl in 2025, they’ve never stopped reinventing their own catalog while keeping those brassy signatures intact.
After this fireworks-worthy finale, Chicago heads back east for a fall tour with stops in Wilkes Barre (10/29), Port Chester (10/30), Staten Island (11/1), Columbus (11/8), and East Lansing (11/12), along with plenty more through mid-November.
If the Bowl shows proved anything, it’s that Chicago’s music still feels like summer itself: warm, familiar, a little jazzy, and impossible not to sing along to, especially under fireworks.
Chicago – “Free”, “25 Or 6 To 4” With Fireworks – 9/13/25
[Video: HOLLYWOODatOVATION w JORGE AMEER]