I think I saw Chuck Berry's last concert...

Non-Phish General
#1

So I went to the Congress Theater here in Chicago last night to see Chuck Berry.
I was kinda excited to see him. What I saw was very strange to say the least.
He played songs out of key and out of order.
Rambled on in-between songs and tried to tune his guitar for 10 minutes.
He then sat at the piano and collapsed, only to be helped off stage and the show called off.
Show was 45 minutes tops,…with all the starts and stops.

He’s a legend and all, but at 84 years old, should he even be performing anymore?
At one point I even mentioned to my wife Suz that something bad was going to happen.
It just felt weird and you could sense that something was not right.
Should there be a point in time when musicians should retire? :confused:
I don’t know if I could handle watching someone kick the bucket on stage like Chuck, or Mick Jagger, etc…

Here’s one story about the show last night.
latimes.com/entertainment/ne … 7931.story

#2

man I know the feeling…at the Furthur show I saw last February, there was a point where Phil just stepped up to the mic and just stared like straight forward, I think it was before the second set or something…I don’t know what he was doing or remember the exact situation, but I do remember having that feeling like uh, Phil you okay buddy?

he went on with the show with no problems, and to this day I have no idea what that was all about…

#3

:wtf:

slow down, Chuck. We love you.

#4

True legend.

#5

Sad, sad, state of affairs. Was he loaded? :wtf:

#6

^At 84, I think you’re always at least somewhat loaded…

What an odd and unique experience this must have been, gamecat!

#7

Strange, I was talking to my wife that we should have gone to that show, if nothing else, just to see a legend before the inevidiable end.
I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t go. Total shame to hear that happened.
Although I’m sure it won’t be his last show, it may be his last show outside the St. Louis area.

To answer your question, yes, I think there is a time for someone to call it quits and rest on the memories of rocking the house in years past. But, on the flipside, if that’s the only life you know, and it’s all you’ve done for 50 years, it’s got to be next to impossible to come to that realization.

Case in point: Brett Favre (or the hundreds of other athletes who just can’t let go)

#8

^ah, i was gonna make a a brett fave comment, you beat me to it. :thumbup:

#9

Well… guess it wasn’t the last… :crazy:

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110103/ap_ … huck_berry

#10

Better luck next time, gamecat!

#11

Well,…I’m happy being wrong on this one. :mrgreen:
And hopefully he’s around for a while longer.

I’m happy I saw him,… he needs to slow down though.
He sounded like Marty McFly when his hand was disappearing.

#12

I’m not even kidding when I say that I thought that Berry was dead…I had no clue that he was still touring…that’s crazy.

It kind of reminds me of when I saw Brian Wilson open for Paul Simon. It was really sad. He sounded out of it the entire time (though the band was pretty tight) and his singing is obviously gone and he really LOOKED like a guy who had a nervous breakdown if that makes sense. The worst was when he was saying “please stand up” as he begged folks to stand up for one of the bigger hits. Ug.

#13

This. And I’m a HUGE Chuck Berry fan, think his influence on rock’n’roll is possibly second to none, and his contribution to rock’n’roll electric guitar IS second to none. The guy is an absolute legend, but up until this thread, I had no idea that he was still a living legend.