Relive Aretha Franklin at Ravinia for what wound up being her final full concert ever! - Chicago Concert Reviews

Recall Aretha Franklin’s final full concert ever right here in Chicagoland at Ravinia and see exactly why she will forever be crowned “The Queen Of Soul.” Long before an announcer introduced Aretha Franklin as an 18-time Grammy Award winner, the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and someone who sits atop Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Singers Of All Time” list, the wide-ranging audience at a comfortably crowded Ravinia already knew they were in the presence of royalty. Once the “Queen Of Soul” actually stepped out from behind the curtain to personally recall “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” a nod to her late duet partner George Michael, everyone immediately rose to their feet, enamored by not only her regal presence, but the fact she could still belt it out with considerable gusto. Aretha Franklin definitely socked it to ‘em and beamed at the reverence being heaped upon her, even remarking “I came so close to moving to Chicago, but I couldn’t leave Detroit.” While the 75-year-old version of Franklin with nearly six decades in the business might not match the pure perfection of her Columbia or Atlantic era (perhaps most noticeable at points [...]