Mavis Staples: 6-10-12 at Chicago Blues Festival

Concert Review

Mavis Staples

June 10, 2012 @ Chicago Blues Festival

By Dave Miller

Mavis Staples can take you there.

The 72-year-old singer gave a living history lesson during her Chicago Blues Festival headlining performance Sunday evening at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park. Her eventful life includes not only gospel, soul, and rhythm and blues, but also a history of fighting for civil rights -- the former so intertwined with the latter, from the decades she performed with her family as the Staple Singers to her present late-career renaissance as a solo singer.

Staples related how "Why Am I Treated So Bad" was a favorite song of Martin Luther King, Jr. She noted she's been performing for 62 years and isn't about to slow down. "I'll keep marching until Dr. King's dream is realized," she said. As Staples detoured off the setlist to cover the Impressions' "This Is My Country," she took a moment to address the people who say they want to take the country back from the president. "Back to where, the '50s and the '60s?" she asked, incredulously. "I'll tell you what, I ain't ever going to the back of the bus." Another history lesson came with "The Weight," a song the Staple Singers covered on their first Stax Records album and performed with the Band in The Last Waltz. After the song, Staples gave a loving shout-out to recently-departed Band drummer Levon Helm.

The Staple Singers started their music career by singing in Chicago-area churches and Staples opened with a nod to those gospel roots with "Wonderful Savior" and "Creep Along Moses" -- after a touching start that saw her become emotional when she received an introduction from Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Blues is not the first genre that pops to mind about Staples, but the booking proved to be a success. A large crowd turned out to see her to push the three-day festival's attendance to 500,000, an increase of 50,000 from the previous year. Following a tribute to Koko Taylor that preceded her set, Staples played an impromptu version of Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle," modestly commenting that her old friend was probably saying, "Leave my song alone!"

While Staples and her family have made their mark on history, her performance was very much in the present. Five of the 12 songs she sang came from her 2010 Grammy-winning album, You Are Not Alone, with four more coming from her 2008 Live: Hope At The Hideout. The title track from that 2010 release and "Freedom Highway" was a potent 1-2 punch in the middle of the show. Staples was in strong voice, her deep vocals infused with the grit of a life's experience. She showed herself to be as effective as a closer as Mariano Riviera, bringing songs such as "The Weight" and "Freedom Highway" home with a rousing, surging finish, often repeating a line over and over in testifying fashion. "Made up my mind," she sang toward the end of "Freedom Highway," "and I won't turn around."

Staples bowed to age by taking a break late in the set. She sat at the back of the stage while her band played a pair of instrumental jams before she returned for a couple more songs. Staples brought the crowd to its feet with a closing "I'll Take You There," a number that summed up the entire set with its call to heaven.

The setlist:

Wonderful Savior

Creep Along Moses

Wang Dang Doodle

Why Am I Treated So Bad

This Is My Country

We're Gonna Make It

instrumental jam