Chicago Covers Magical Mystery Tour

Cover art by Matthew Pardini

Catch Lee Loughnane live on The Fab Fourum March 22nd at 10pm ET! The Fab Fourum is a live weekly call-in roundtable show hosted by Dennis Elsas, Bill Flanagan and Tom Frangione on SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel (Channel 18).

Chicago has been playing a cover of The Beatles classic Magical Mystery Tour on their 2023 tour dates. The song has special meaning for veteran Chicago band members Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Robert Lamm. In their early days of playing clubs in and around the city of Chicago, club owners insisted bands play Top 40, they had no interest in the Chicago’s original music – much of which is featured on the band’s first album Chicago Transit Authority. Rather than playing music that would later be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame, they covered songs made popular by their favorite bands. Magical Mystery Tour was a huge influence on the band members and staple of their club repertoire. It remains a favorite of the founding band members.

The production of the song was overseen by Lee Loughnane and mixed in his Sedona, AZ recording studio along side Tim Jessup, mix engineer and studio manager of Studio One Sixty Four. The song is now available to stream on multiple streaming outlets HERE.

The Chicago cover of Magical Mystery Tour will be played on radio for the first time on The Fab Fourum, tune in to Channel 18 on SiriusXM March 22nd at 10pm ET to listen and hear commentary by Lee Loughnane.