“Is anyone here a fan of Disney?” asks Alessia Cara. The crowd responds with the loudest screams of the night as she is hinting that the next song will be “How Far I’ll Go” from the Moana soundtrack. It’s a fantastically uplifting song and everyone joyfully sings along. “See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me. And no one knows, how far it goes”.
After singing this hit, it’s clear the night is close to ending. Cara says “how I wish I could stay.” Once again the crowd erupts as the music begins for “Stay”, her collaboration with Zedd, a German record producer, DJ, and musician who primarily makes EDM. “Stay” is a great club anthem and it gets everyone up and dancing.
When Alessia returns for an encore, she is carrying an acoustic guitar. “This is a cover by Fleetwood Mac called ‘Dreams’”. This song was released in 1977, 19 years before she was born. None of her younger fans knew the song, but all of their parents did! Her great voice shined on this song. As an interesting note, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie just performed two days ago only two miles away at Northerly Island (See that review here!).
This was a fantastic opening night to the Taste of Chicago. Catch the rest of the festival through the weekend!
Quinn Delaney
PlaylistHQ 