Classic Rock Bands Chicago, Kansas Coming to El Paso Next Year

Two of America's preeminent '70s rock bands are coming to El Paso in 2022.

Kansas brings their Point of Know Return Tour to the Plaza Theatre in February, and Chicago is live in March at the Abraham Chavez Theatre.

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Both bands have had legendary careers spanning more than four decades apiece and each appeared on the Billboard charts throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s.

And, I can play the air violin and air horn to their songs like nobody's business.

Chicago

Best known for its '70s horn-based pop rock hits such as "Saturday in the Park," "Just You 'n' Me," and "25 or 6 to 4," and soft-rock '80s ballads "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," "You're the Inspiration," and "Look Away," the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rock band Chicago returns to El Paso badder and brassier than ever.

The legendary band, set to perform at the Abraham Chavez Theatre on March 3, 2022, is one of the longest-running, most successful, best-selling groups of all time.

According to its Wikipedia entry, Chicago is second only to The Beach Boys in Billboard singles and albums chart success among American bands. (The Beach Boys?! Whaa? Round, round, get around, they get around, I guess.)

2022 will mark the group’s 54th year of touring. Other than the pandemic year of 2020 when they had no choice but to put their summer shows on hold, the band hasn't missed a single concert date.

Kansas

Less than a month before the Chicago show, on February 9, Kansas is bringing their Point of Know Return Tour to the Plaza Theatre.

The band will be performing the massive hit album Point of Know Return in its entirety. They'll also play their other radio hits not on Point of Know Return, some deep cuts and fan favorites that only diehard fans will recognize, and a few selections from their 2020 album that you can use as an excuse to go to the bathroom or hit up the snack bar.

Mostly known for the hard rocking classic "Carry On My Wayward Son," it was the uncharacteristic ballad "Dust In the Wind" that became the band's biggest selling and highest charting song. But that almost didn't happen.

"Dust in the Wind" was actually a last-minute addition to their 1977 album "Point of Know Return." The story goes, according to the Wikipedia entry -- so who knows how much truth there is to it -- that the guitar line we're all now familiar with was written by guitarist Kerry Livgren as a warm-up finger exercise.

Hearing him play it one day, his wife remarked that the melody was nice, and suggested he write lyrics for it. Livgren did, drawing inspiration from his realization that one day he, like everyone else, would die, the well-known biblical passage Genesis 3:19 ("...for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.") and a book of Native American poetry which included the line "for all we are is dust in the wind."

Initially Livgren was reluctant to even play it for the rest of the band, as it was acoustic and not at all typical of their sound. But in the end his bandmates were down with it, and the last minute addition has gone on to become a timeless pop culture classic.

I always feel like Casey Kasem when I write stuff like that. What do you mean 'who is Casey Kasem?!' Google it, kids.