Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4 Reaction Patreon Request!!! 

For me, this is the best guitar solo (Tanglewood) I have ever heard.

The day Terry Kath died was the day Chicago lost at least 50% of its upside. He was just and incredible guitarist, but it is a testament to the remaining band members that they were able to go on and have such a successful and long stint as a band without him. One thing you don't see in this video in regards to Terry Kath, is that he was perhaps the best guitarist I've ever seen at playing absolutely mind-altering guitar riffs while at the same time singing.

One can still make a strong case 50 years on, that the late, great Terry Kath stands alone as the GOAT as a Master of Guitar. His soulful voice is icing on the cake. The greats Hendrix, Page, and Walsh each marveled at Terry Kath. These and other pioneers of the craft accomplished this without the multitude of analog effect pedals, loopers, etc., or their later digital equivalents … their imagination, Innovation, improvisation as well as composition ability stand as testament of the greatness in the guitarists of the 60s and 70s. They stood upon the shoulders of greats from blues, jazz, and rock and roll guitar of the previous generation and raised the bar to a point where only a few greats have since approached. Usually when I speak to those making a living with guitar about the great Terry Kath, the end their praise with saying “I wish we had more of his work. We lost him way too soon.” His recordings and films preserve his magnificent talent, thankfully, but I do wonder what might have been. R.I.P. Terry Kath 🙏

Terry Kath was an incredible under rated guitarist.🎼🎶🎵

It says everything about Terry Kath that he blows out that mind bending solo, but then he's right back in the pocket. He was a man who knew how to shine, and let his bandmates shine too. One of a kind.

I love watching when a "reactor" has no idea what's coming. It's good fun. Hendrix commented that "Terry Kath was the best guitarist that he had ever seen" and that performance you just watched is Terry Kath in Beast Mode. You should check out "I'm a Man" from the same concert (it's here on the 'tube). Cheers.

To blow your mind further, you MUST react to "I'm a Man," recorded live-in-studio for their first album, "Chicago Transit Authority." In truth that entire album is a masterpiece. Unfortunately, the guitarist, Terry Kath, died in 1978.

Your face says it all my friend. Stunned disbelief. The late great Terry Kath was from another world!

"Beginnings" is highly recommended.

Major goosebumps!!! All over! I know the song, but every time I hear this it does something with me. Fabulous combination of guitars and trumpet/sax... And the musicians, the pleasure exploded from the faces playing this. Absolutely phenomenal.

A great choice of songs...especially this concert version. Kath was amazing...you get the feeling that he'd never run out of ideas..."8 more bars" was nothing to him. As a child of the 70's and 80's, I loved all of Chicago's stuff back then, collecting all their albums (cassettes), but my admiration for Kath didn't come until recent years when I finally got to see him more on YT. Unfortunately, Chicago is perhaps best known for their commercial hits in the 80s, the slower ballads around the Chicago 16/17/18 albums where everything became so focused on Peter Cetera and the Karate Kid movie soundtracks. I'm not one to say that was all bad, but it did overshadow the magnificence of their earlier Kath era songs. Just a great band...and a great reaction!

CHICAGO, was a great band. All were top one musicians. This whole concert at Tanglewood is one the top concerts I've witnessed on RU-vid. Thanks for this reaction Rhueban. 25 or six to 4, had to do with the time of morning they wrote this song and an actual event

I love to watch the amazement on people’s faces when they hear how good Chicago really is. Best group to come out of the 70’s. Peter Cetera is an amazing singer and Terry Kath was killer on guitar.

Mr. Terry Kath on lead guitar. When first hearing Terry Kath play, Jimi Hendrix was quoted as saying that he thought Terry Kath played guitar better than he did. It was later on reported that Jimi Hendrix also called Terry Kath the “Best Guitarist in the Universe.”

70’s Chicago was amazing, creative, and innovative, then in the 80s they mostly put out super popular, but not very interesting, love ballads

IVE HEARD THIS CONCERT HUNDREDS OF TIMES AND WHEN I SEE IT AGAIN ITS LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME !! THE BASS GUITARIST WAS DOING VOCALS / THE HORNS AND THE LEAD SOLO HAS GOT TO BE THE GREATEST EXHIBITION OF PLAYING NO. 1

The incredible Terry Kath experience! Chicago is an awesome band and one of my favorites of all time.

This song literally NEVER gets old!

A reporter was doing an interview with Jimmy Hendricks and the reporter asked Jimmy " how does it feel to be the best guitar player in the world"? Jimmy answered, " I don't know, you'll have to ask Terry Kath". That guitar player you just heard play with Chicago, performing 25 or 6 to 4, was Terry Kath!

It's amazing that despite the years, this band continues to teach us the meaning of good Feeling, Chicago🖤

Terry Kath: One of the biggest losses in rock music history. Right up there with Hendrix and Stevie Ray.

for me, this is the best solo of all time.

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how you do a reaction video. You watch it, without unnecessarily interrupting it every 5 seconds and then show your reaction. It's not quantum physics. It's simple. But most people don't get it. This gentleman does.

I saw this video for the first time about 2 months ago. I was stunned by the guitarist and the fact that I'd never seen it before that time. The song was a big hit when I was a youngster. Finding hidden gems is a reason I like RU-vid so much.

"I forgot everything around me when that guy was playing". Perfect statement about that guitar solo. How music should be.

Terry Kath was the SOUL of the rock band: "Chicago." AND Terry was also the best 🎸 player ever! Admired by none other than Jimmy's Hendrix.

What’s great about RU-vid is seeing stuff or hearing things like this that you’ll never see today

That song came off their 1st album in 1969. The were initially called the Big Thing. Changed their name to Chicago Transit Authority. After a lawsuit from the city bus system for using their name they then became Chicago. The horn players were all graduates from DePaul University's school of music.

One of greatest guitarists that lived. A sad day when music lost Terry!

This was very awesome. I've heard the song from time to time, and they said it's Chicago. I kind of grew up listening to them, but only on MTV. It was so different. This must be their best song. Great video, Ruben. Love the channel.

When this album came out I was fourteen or fifteen years old so four years later when I was on my own and making a living this was one of the first albums I bought. The lyrics, "25 or 6 to 4, should i try to do some more," have several interpretations. More Cocaine? More housework? I am sticking with more song writing. These guys were good and one of the few rock bands who always had BRASS!

Hi Ruben, Love your reaction to this one. They truly don't make 'em like this anymore. This concert was recorded during the year of my high school graduation and this is one of my favorite performances on YT. The simplicity of the stage set up, no lights, no costumes, no fog machines, no fire pits. Just a group of young guys with awesome talent having a great time sharing it. The name "25 or 6 to 4", I read in a YT clip some time ago, comes from an offhand comment made by one of the people in the recording booth while they were working on their second album. I'm paraphrasing. It was in the middle of the night and they needed one more song to finish the album. They were apparently having a lot of trouble coming up with a decent song. One of the guys in the band asked what time it was. The answer from the booth: "It's 25 or 6 to 4". You have to understand how we Americans mangle the language. The proper way to express the statement would have been, "It's 25 or 26 minutes until 4:00." The way it was stated apparently engendered quite a bit of laughter and inspired the band to keep working. This is the song that they come up with. If you ever decide to revisit Chicago I would suggest the song "I'm A Man" from this same Tanglewood concert, 1970. All 3 lead singers take different verses and it's quite enjoyable. RIP Terry Kath. We miss you still.

Thanks Andy Goodall for this request, so I'm not the only Patron requesting at times some stuff from before Ruben's coming of age. I'm a fan of early Chicago but probably wouldn't have tossed it at Ruben until getting through a bunch more other stuff (more Outlaws, more Rush, and some bands Ruben likely still hasn't heard). But this is good stuff.

He was writing a song and it was early in the morning - 25 or 26 minutes before 4 am, 25 or 6 to 4. Great tune!

I saw them live while Terry was still alive. The greatest guitar solo ever. I love Stevie too but Terry was guitar God. So clean and intricate.

Excellent reaction to this spectacular live performance. Bravo.

OKAY! Awesome song. I love this one. Thanks. I love this track. This was one of the bands the older kids would listen to when I was in grade school. In '71 we had moved to Maine from Connecticut and I was half way through first grade. My oldest brother is ten years older, and this was the stuff everyone his age was listening to. ...and at the time the extended guitar solo was so much the rage...great stuff. Glad you enjoyed it. 🤘 Thanks for the heart. Yeah, I can remember a lot of the music from the early seventies... my oldest brother loved American Pie. My second brother, seven years older, liked BTO at the time and Three Dog Night. Both of them liked Deep Purple and I fell in love with that band. I can remember riding with my brothers to the car salvage parts place listening to early Alice Cooper on eight track...but that was probably a few years later. ...and then toward the end of the decade everybody started talking about a new guitar player named Eddie Van Halen and everything started changing...but that was the younger crowd mostly...and about '78 I fell in love with a scrappy Punk band called Blondie and I've been chasing down good female rock vocalists ever since. Thanks again. You've got a great channel.

OK... this was on my reel to reel tape collection. Together with CCR, Foghat Kansas, Frantic, April Wine and all of these late 60.s early 70.s great rock bands... moved to a cassette tape and then road music for long drives...

Insanely good musicianship. Wow.

25 or 6 to 4 was said as they sat in the studio in the middle of the night trying to come up with one more song idea. Sitting on the floor, someone asked what time it was. Instead of saying 3:34 or 3:35 am, they said it the other way.

Excellent \m/ THANK YOU! Glad to see this specific LIVE song reaction. Always, always astonished to see & listen to this concert footage. R.I.P. Terry Kath I had suggested this one for different reaction channels, but somehow they ended up reacting to the studio version instead. This was a real treat 🖒🖒

He was in a ZONE / HENDRIX STOOD JUST OFF STAGE AND WATCHED HIM PLAY THAT VERY RIFF AND SAID THIS GUY IS THE BEST IN ROCK

Great reaction.I .jIMI loved Terry"s playing .I attended an early concert in "I think " 1970 at Cornell University. I believe it was close to or during that same tour., a completely awesome show.

For me, 12 years old and when Terry Kath died I cried. Coming from a musician family. He was the absolute best.

Chicago was a soundtrack of my youth. Performance video was great. "Reaction" was five minutes I'll never get back.

Jimi Hendrix heard them play one night where was appearing. He went up to Terry Kath and said "you're a better Guitar player than I am" and asked them to open for him on his road tour.

HENDRIX SAID TERRY WAS ONE OF THE BEST....

Hey Rubin, I loved them when I was young, and am a lot older, still love them! Rock On, young dude 😎🍑

I saw them in concert twice in 2019. So yeah they still tour.

The funny thing is he started as a bass player! I always drawn to old Chicago . I have grown up in the early 80s hearing Chicago on the radio countless times

The song is about trying to write a song and staying up till almost 4:00am trying. Great choice!

Really enjoy your video. I grew up listening to this - you've made me "re-appreciate" it again! Thanks man!

Really liked your reaction when Terry Kath started getting in to his solo. Genius guitar work.

My first time seeing you on RU-vid and was not surprised at your reaction as they are an amazing band. I have subscribed to you and look forward to seeing what other bands you react to!

Bro this solo was epic

Terry Kath was also in the movie "Electra Glide in Blue" with Robert Blake in 1972. Awesome band.............

Your expressions of amazement and even disbelief says it all. I think it was Hendrix who said he was a better guitarist than himself. Which was true.

My god...the expression on your face during Terry Kath's solo....PRICELESS!!!

Thank you so much for your appreciation of Chicago in the beginning. I am 65 and have seen them evolve.....but the 70's early 80's were the best. '

Blistering guitar rif, Holy shit!

About 10 seconds in you looked and smiled. I thought "he ain't even started, just wait".

I saw this (early) Chicago band three times - Terry Kath's nephew was a roomate of mine too. Each musician was an A+, and Jimmy Hendrix once said that Terry Kath was a better guitarist than he was (they toured together). This band may have represented the most talented concentration of musicians, in all of rock.

I finally watched most if not all reactions to this song/version and yours was one of the best .

Terry Kath was killing it on this song. Great guitar work by the late great Terry Kath (1946-1978).

If you enjoyed the shredding on "25 or 6 To 4" from that Tanglewood concert, listen to the studio version on Chicago's second album for a comparison. and the studio version of "Poem 58" on their debut album "Chicago Transit Authority". Also listen to Kath's vocals & guitar on "Introduction" and "Make Me Smile", vocals on "Colour My World", "Once Or Twice". Kath could play lead, rhythm, and sing lead vocal all at the same time! Rest in peace, Terry you were the best!

Oh man thank you for NOT having to pause. Unreal isn't it?

A great song about trying to write a song. I can listen to this over and over.

Fantastic to have video of Chicago playing live! I'm also a big believer in album tracks, like Lennon. Kath's solo on this song, ( Chicago, their second album, ) is tasty. Group had two incredible singers, Kath and Cetera. Lamm was good but for bluesy vocals, Kath killed.

"I should have a cigarette". Good one. : )

The stunned and wordless reaction, reminds me of my first time hearing this beauty. Cheers 🇬🇧 Edit: spelling.

in related trivia "They ( Led Zeppelin) performed over 600 concerts, initially playing small clubs and ballrooms and then, as their popularity increased, larger venues and arenas as well. In the early years of their existence, Led Zeppelin made a concerted effort to establish themselves as a compelling live music act." so people who say he was sloppy should find 300 or more concerts where he was sloppy in a remarkable way.

Every original member of the band Chicago had a degree in Music.

Watching you get your mind absolutely thrown into a state of Speechlessness was Priceless. RIP Terry Alan Kath, as his departure from this world left us with a feeling of Awestruck as we remember what and it meant to have The Guitar GODs Walk with Man on this Earth.

RIP Terry Kath.

I know you did not expect that all. your comment a rock band....lol This needs to be played and enjoyed the talent!!!!!! great reactions !!! so unexpected!!!!!

HENDRIX COULDNT NOT EVEN GET CLOSE TO THIS TECHNIQUE. , NOT EVEN CLOSE

At the end I think it was Jimmy Panko that shouted out to Terry Kath but sounds like he said Take Care.

Terry keith was underrated. I think he was one of theee best guitar players in music. Bummed me out when I heard he had passed away.

they don't make them like they used to, absolutely right

One of the two songs I'd play in the jukebox.

Terry Kath was the only guitarist that scared Jimi Hendrix. He was his favorite. The greatest.

RIP Terry Kath...we love you!!!!!

I hope you have gotten to hear the studio version by now. The audio is much more pristine. The notes of the guitar solo from that studio version is permanently recorded in all our brains.

R.I.P. Terry Kath.........remember kids, the gun is ALWAYS loaded.

One of the most talented group of musicians ever assembled.

25 or 6 to 4 refers to the time of the morning. The song is about spending all night trying to create a song, with no luck. The time on the clock was 4:35 AM or was it 4:36AM? So what did they do? They wrote a song about their song writing troubles.

Ik hou van Chicago. One of my favorite groups. I lived in Holland for four years. I’m American. I played several Chicago songs for my friends in Holland. It helps that I learn to speak the language. I had a great time. I still miss Holland and will visit in the next year or two.

Chicago, as they ended up calling themselves, after starting out the first couple of years as "CTA, or "Chicago Transit Authority" were a band that slowly morphed from a down and dirty/gritty Band, into a more pop/am radio friendly Band that featured a horn section, and vocally pleasing sound. The clip you just played, featuring the great "Terry Kath" on lead guitar, is from the period when they were still playing with a raw and gritty sound. I preferred their early sound, to the more refined sound that came later.

Love your reactions especially from an older person which I am THANK YOU SIR ❤

You are quite right! Kath was brilliant! Chicago's first six albums are all worth a good listen!

The song is about the writer being on acid. (studio version). It was 6 minutes to 4am... and he was trying to write his 25th song. "Should I try to do some more...."... etc. ;-) Listen.

They were my favorite teenager band. I played the trumpet in Junior high and this band top notch amazing

BTW, Jimi LOVED Terry Kath. Even gave him a guitar.

Jimi Hendrix the first time he saw Terry Katz - “ Wow that guy is better than me!”

that guitar solo wow...

Terry Kath should be mentioned in the same sentence as Clapton, Hendrix Allman! ❤️❤️

( Documentary: "The Terry Kath Experience" 2016) - 50 years later...even more I appreciate getting to live when I did...

Terry Kath is the only person I have ever seen make a guitar laugh. He's absolutely magnificent.

Hi Ruben, it's 25 or 26 minutes until 4am.

Great intro. Terry Kath just gets the train rolling