{"id":33438,"date":"2023-08-10T17:55:08","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33438"},"modified":"2023-08-10T17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:55:10","slug":"suzie-mcneil-and-the-chain-reaction-deliver-masterful-motown-medleys-and-dynamic-pop-standards-at-town-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/suzie-mcneil-and-the-chain-reaction-deliver-masterful-motown-medleys-and-dynamic-pop-standards-at-town-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Suzie McNeil and The Chain Reaction deliver masterful Motown medleys and dynamic pop standards at Town Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Canadian pop singer-rocker Suzie McNeil\u2014backed by seven-piece ensemble The Chain Reaction– treated Town Park attendees to a dynamic performance on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil\u2019s vocal versatility and Chain Reaction\u2019s virtuosity were featured in the latest installment of Aurora\u2019s popular Concert in the Park series and attracted over a thousand music fans to the stately setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil\u2014resplendent in magenta hair, white-framed sunglasses, a black and white patterned mini-skirt\/vest ensemble, and white go-go boots\u2014engaged an appreciative audience on an ideal August evening with new arrangements of her best-selling songs, a few rock anthems, a series of Motown medleys, and some throbbing disco standards that inspired the denizens of the dance floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil\u2019s showmanship was evident as she worked the crowd expertly all evening. She even suggested that she \u201cmight move to Aurora with its nice houses, nice people, and nice parks\u201d and made mention prior to the performance about Aurora\u2019s \u201ccool Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran songstress\u2014whose song \u201cBelieve\u201d served as the official anthem of the Canadian team for the 2010 Olympics \u2013 moved fluidly through the first set, highlighted by a soulful and jazzy delivery of The Tragically Hip\u2019s \u201cBobcaygeon\u201d, which included a great sax solo by Alison Young whose on-stage chemistry with the magnetic lead singer was evident all evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Securing McNeil was a bit of good fortune for the Town of Aurora since she will be on stage with Aerosmith on their \u201cPeace Out\u201d farewell tour. McNeil was part of Aerosmith\u2019s Vegas residency show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second set cover of Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cCryin\u2019\u201d acknowledged her connection to the classic rockers from Boston and showcased the musical chops of husband-wife team Andrew McTaggart and McNeil through their soaring lead guitar work and vocals, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dynamic duo made this song a highlight of the second set, and showed McTaggart and McNeil in perfect on-stage harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil and Chain Reaction moved seamlessly through a Motown medley \u2013 including The Temptations\u2019 \u201cGet Ready\u201d, The Spinners\u2019 \u201cMaking My Way Back to You\u201d, and The Jackson Five\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll Be There\u201d \u2013 that filled the Town Park dance floor and closed the first set with positive energy that swept through the leafy venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeil opened her second set with Gloria Gaynor\u2019s \u201cI Will Survive.\u201d The 1970s mirror ball standard re-filled the dance floor with dozens of disco-philes.  She played to her audience and extended Gaynor\u2019s piece to establish a natural bridge to her pop roots with \u201cI Want to Know.\u201d McNeil bobbed and weaved her way through Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cSir Duke\u201d and George Michael\u2019s \u201cFaith\u201d with the requisite regard and range for these popular pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wonderfully-human moment in the concert occurred when McNeil had to dash off stage to retrieve her misplaced harmonicas\u2014\u201ca regular occurrence,\u201d she admitted to the crowd\u2014and The Chain Reaction covered ably during the ebullient lead singer\u2019s \u201cexit stage left\u201d by extending their introduction to Dusty Springfield\u2019s classic \u201cSon of a Preacher Man\u201d with engaging individual performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dance floor re-filled and the good times rolled on under a setting sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second set could have ended with the climactic delivery of The Jackson 5\u2019s classic \u201cI Want You Back\u201d, but McNeil used an extended version of Tina Turner\u2019s \u201cProud Mary\u201d to introduce all the musicians that comprise The Chain Reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was evident that the crowd assembled at Town Park on Wednesday night would definitively \u201cWant Suzie McNeil Back\u201d after the go-go-booted, high energy lead singer sent over a thousand concert-goers home in a buoyant mid-summer mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayla Kushnir, runner-up in the 2023 Aurora\u2019s Teen Idol contest, delivered a spirited rendition of the national anthem to kick off the festivities on Wednesday night at Town Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canadian pop singer-rocker Suzie McNeil\u2014backed by seven-piece ensemble The Chain Reaction– treated Town Park attendees to a dynamic performance on Wednesday night. McNeil\u2019s vocal versatility and Chain Reaction\u2019s virtuosity were featured in the latest installment of Aurora\u2019s popular Concert in the Park series and attracted over a thousand music fans to the stately setting. McNeil\u2014resplendent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/2023-08-10-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8Hk","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 12:51:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}