It may not have equaled the decibel level of the Bulls-Lakers game at the Chicago Stadium, but Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and a sold-out house eager to sing along with them combined to make a joyful noise Wednesday in Orchestra Hall.
Seeger and Guthrie transformed the expansive hall into a cozy front parlor as they swapped songs and stories in a 2 1/2 hour show that encompassed the breadth of folk music.
You`ll find few figures that loom as large in the folk pantheon as Seeger. From his early days hitchhiking across the country with Woody Guthrie, Arlo`s father, Seeger has been pivotal in popularizing folk music. Whether through his own songs (”If I Had a Hammer,” ”Where Have All the Flowers Gone”) or interpreting the works of others, he has influenced artists like Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan and the Byrds. And if his politics haven`t always endeared him to the powers that be-he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era-Seeger has remained true to his ideals.
As the son of a genuine legend, Arlo Guthrie hasn`t had it easy himself. In many people`s minds he is frozen in time as the flower child of ”Alice`s Restaurant Massacree” fame. Now 43, Guthrie has become something of a cottage industry, marketing his own cassettes and CDs and continuing to tour.
For over a decade Seeger and Guthrie have been regularly performing together, and even if they`re from different generations, historically and musically their pairing has a certain logic to it.
Bounding on stage Wednesday, they were quite a sight: Guthrie looking like a biker with his graying shoulder-length hair and scraggly beard and Seeger, still buoyant at 71.
”We don`t really have a plan up here-either individually or together,”
joked Guthrie. That seemed just fine to the audience that ranged from young, ponytailed neo-hippies to balding veterans of the folk boom of the late `50s. From the hearty sing-along during the show`s opener, ”Midnight Special,” it was clear that audience participation was not going to be a problem.
Seeger, accompanying himself on banjo and 12-string guitar, sang everything from children`s songs to sea chanteys. Joined on vocals by his grandson, Tao Rodriquez, he sang a song from the Spanish civil war. Playing a wood recorder he made like the Pied Piper, leading the audience in an accompanying two-note hum-along, while later patiently teaching the crowd the harmony parts of a traditional spiritual.
”There`s no such thing as a wrong note as long as you`re singing,” he said.
Switching between acoustic guitar and piano, Guthrie proved to be an engaging performer with a penchant for droll commentary. Introducing a song by his father, he noted, ”He wrote a lot of songs, but he also stole a lot of
`em.” As Guthrie sang his whimsical ”Garden Song” in his nasal, tremulous voice, Seeger sat to one side of the stage, beaming like a genial uncle. Guthrie received his loudest response with ”The City of New Orleans,” his only bona fide hit. His newer song, ”Keep the Dream Alive,” written about the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, was particularly poignant.
As cries for Guthrie`s ”Alice`s Restaurant Massacree” went unheeded, he and Seeger combined on their third encore for one last rousing sing-along with ”Goodnight, Irene.”
It was the perfect capper.
