The band Chicago performed on stage at the Venetian Theater in Las Vegas on March 14, 2020. It was the last day of their third residency in the town that never sleeps. As they took their bow in front of the audience, they had no idea it would be their last.

Chicago was the last band on stage, the last band to perform in Las Vegas, and perhaps the last band that played globally before leaders shut down the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Band members thought this would be a two-week wait, yet time stood still. As they anxiously prepared to hit the road, weeks turned into months, and they began to watch the calendar, realizing that their performance in Las Vegas may have been their last.

For the first 55 years of Chicago’s existence, the band never stopped playing. They toured cities across the nation and around the globe, averaging over 100 concerts per year. They never missed a concert date since they debuted in 1967. Chicago is one of the longest-running and most successful rock groups in history.

A self-described “rock ’n’ roll band with horns,” they had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and ’80s. No one would have anticipated their stardom. Chicago can count more than 100 million records sold, 37 albums, [they are working on their 38th], induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016, two Grammy awards, 21 Top 10 singles, five consecutive No. 1 albums, 25 certified platinum albums and multiple Music Awards plus countless other awards and honors.

Lee Loughnane, one of Chicago’s founding members, trumpet player, songwriter and Sedona resident said of the pandemic, “Who would ever think the world would shut down? It’s not going to happen — that was 100 years ago.”

Through 2020 and most of 2021, the band attempted to sit idle. Some rediscovered their families, while others began getting used to staying home. Band member Jimmy Pankow joked that he declared war on his spouse. One filmmaker, who’s been with the band for 12 years, had an idea.

Peter Curtis Pardini previously directed “Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago” in 2016, documenting the band’s origins, successes and struggles. The film won its first award at the Sedona International Film Festival in February 2016, winning its Best of Fest Audience Choice Award. The band also opened the festival with back-to-back sold-out performances. “

After we were here in 2016, and the movie did so well, we started to think about what we could do for the 55th anniversary of Chicago,” Pardini said. “We didn’t have a plot until COVID hit, and we realized this could be a good movie. Three months after the pandemic, we started to put the footage together when Lee was working on his studio.”

Pardini went on the road with the band as a videographer back in 2010.

“Back then, it was just me and a camera. And I can pretty safely assume that I was very annoying to most of the band members, because I didn’t know the limits of what I could film and what I couldn’t, in terms of just getting into people’s faces backstage,” Pardini said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re getting dressed after the show, maybe you don’t come backstage.’ But in turn, they became so comfortable with me that 11 years later, making a movie like this, you can see that they’re also comfortable in front of an interview setting, even when there’s a crew in the room.”

The new film, “Chicago: The Last Band on Stage,” chronicles the band’s reaction to the pandemic, the recording of their new album, and the song “If This is Goodbye.”

The creation and recording of the song led to the band’s realization that while they have no intentions of stopping, they will eventually have to do so. The song incorporates themes of change and saying goodbye while also addressing the ultimate truth that nothing lasts forever.

The film premiered at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Oct. 14 and has a remaining show in Cottonwood on Monday, Oct. 24. Loughnane, Pardini, sound engineer and Sedona resident Tim Jessup and percussionist Ramon “Ray” Yslas were in Sedona for a Q&A after the film.

Loughnane was asked if there was any time in his 55-year career with Chicago if he ever thought about quitting.

“No, I think all of us have gotten to the point where we didn’t want to do it anymore or to get angry with somebody or something or just the whole process and go, I’m done,” he said. “It only lasts a short time and then you realize, so what does that mean? What? Are you going to do that? As I said, I don’t have many other things that I do. I built the studio because I know something about that. If you want to invest in something, invest in something you know. I’m going to work on that for the rest of my life, whether I’m playing on the road or just making music here.”

While there has been a rotation of band members throughout the years, those who have left for one reason or another, percussionist Ramon “Ray” Yslas, who has been with the band since 2018, says that it is challenging but exciting at the same time.

“It’s sad when a couple of the guys left. I was like, ‘Wow, man,’ because you become family,” Yslas said. “You know, these are my brothers. Right? But it’s not like I’m not going to see them again or not talk to them because we still communicate by chat, text or whatever. And then the new guys coming in, they’re there for a reason. They’re there because they’re really good. So, it’s exciting to play with somebody new and their approach. “Our new bass player, Eric Baines, is amazing. He’s a good guy. He’s a good soul. And we became brothers, instantly.”

“There were so many times we could have broken up, the band could have imploded, and it hasn’t,” Loughnane agreed.

Loughnane and sound engineer and Sedona resident Tim Jessup built a state-of-the-art studio to record and mix music — much like Caribou Ranch, a recording studio built in 1972 in a converted barn on ranch property in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Chicago recorded five albums there between 1973 and 1977.

While in Sedona, Chicago’s band members recorded their 38th album at the newly built Studio 164. The door to the studio is a replica of the one at Caribou Ranch. They have all discussed that this may be their last album. Mortality is a reality. At some point there will be band members who will have to say goodbye.

“For us to be able to do this is a miracle in itself,” Loughnane said. “I realize that I can do anything I want, I know what I want to do when I grow up.” “This could be the [band’s] last serious original project and to give it every ounce of energy — we want it to be the best album we have ever done.”

Loughnane began performing in front of audiences with Chicago Transit Authority when he was 20 years old. Now 55 years later, at the age of 75, he says that it doesn’t get any easier, and the recovery time takes longer. “I never feel like I’m 25 anymore. That would be nice, though. I get to the point where I’m ready to play and give it all that we have,” Loughnane said. “I have always gotten tired, no matter what age I’ve been. By the time we end this show, it takes some stuff out of you. The recovery time used to be shorter — it takes a little more time to recover now … the travel is the hardest part.”

Jessup and Loughnane are working on a new project recorded in 1971 — The Carnegie Hall Project. The pair spent nearly a year meticulously analyzing more than 40 concert tapes. The 16-disc release includes all eight shows the band performed at Carnegie Hall between April 5 and 10, 1971.

“I am so blessed that not only working with Lee in the band, and Peter on all of the current content that we produce, but also working with Rhino Records and getting to go back and work on the old stuff,” Jessup said. “The Carnegie Hall project set the bar pretty high. It took us almost a year to mix that because it was 41 reels of two-inch tape. We wanted to raise the bar and be able to deliver a product that people can listen to and hear details that they’d never heard before — the tonality, the full richness of the horns, for instance, that you can now hear on the new recordings. It was always there on tape, but the technology didn’t exist in 1971. [It’s exciting] to be able to bring out the best of what was on those 41 reels.”

The upside of the pandemic was that Loughnane and Jessup could give this project their full attention, working in shifts to get the job done.

“Lee actually learned how to edit,” Jessup said, noting that Loughnane would edit the brass parts on his computer, and then he would bring the files back. “If it were not for all of that sort of grunt work that he was doing, it probably would have taken two years to mix it all. He really was a major help in engineering.”

Jessup has been the master sound engineer, recording the band on the back of the tour bus and taking out the generator noise, in hotel rooms and now at Studio 164. With the pandemic behind them, the band is continuing their performances — at a pace they are comfortable with — on stage, where they feel right at home feeling the energy of the audience. “ It’s performance energy,” Loughnane says. “You think it’s fear. And it’s not. What you throw out to the audience, they send it back to you. And that’s how our show works. That’s why our show works,” he said.

As for their legacy, Loughnane suggested, “[To be known for] good music. To be known as a very good musical band that pretty much knew what they were doing and helped move music along.” While the band may be preparing for the inevitable, it is obvious that they are not ready to say good-bye.