Since even the slightest mention of Off Broadway (such as selecting "Stay In Time" as our Song of The Day not too long ago) makes our web traffic spike, who are we to miss an opportunity to make our sponsors at Superior St. happy and, at the same time, share what is for many the Holy Grail of Off Broadway concerts.
Filmed in 1981 at Champaign's Studio One to an enthusiastic audience there to witness the Chicago powerhouse promote tunes from their latest Atlantic Records offering, Quick Turns, the band delivers a blistering set of shoulda-been hits in full arena rock fashion.
To say that this is Off Broadway at the peak of their powers would not be an understatement and, in the course of the band's hour-long performance, you will be convinced that those who merely tuned in via radio missed out on an otherwise jaw-dropping visual performance from singer Cliff Johnson and guitarists John Ivan and Rob Harding.
Of course, keeping the whole from going sideways is the rock solid rhythm section of drummer Kenny Harck and bassist Mike Gorman.
A year later, Cliff Johnson would be fronting an entirely different band and Off Broadway would not be heard from again until the mid '90s when Cliff Johnson, Rob Harding, Mimi Betinis, and Mike Gorman got the band back together .
Uploaded to Youtube by the wife of guitarist John Ivan (who, in this video, gives Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen a run for his money in the guitar-changing department) and brought to our attention by our buddy Boris at the Secret Weapon.
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it came from the '80s