Chicago Sun Times  
3/10/96

CROWD-PLEASING DENVER DELIVERS RICHER VERSIONS OF BEAUTIFUL OLDIES
Pop Music Review
By Miriam Di Nunzio

	Not many performers would have the courage to open the second 
half of their show with with "Home On the Range", and have the talent to 
make it sound, well, beautiful.
	But that's exactly what John Denver did Friday night at the 
Rosemont Theatre, where he delivered a powerful performance filled with 
sweet surprises.
	Playing the first of two sold-out shows, Denver simply walked on 
stage, picked up a guitar and never looked back.
	Songs like "Poems, Prayers and Promises", "Follow Me" and "I Want 
to Live" were surprisingly truer and richer than when he first performed 
them more than 20 years ago.
	The singer did not disappoint, with perennial favorites "Rocky 
Mountain High" and "Annie's Song", garnering standing ovations for both.  
The only other song that got as big a response was "For You", a 
hauntingly beautiful love song that Denver delivered while playing piano.
	Denver stopped a few times to apologize for missing a note or two 
along the way, but there was no need.  Any misstep was quickly forgotten 
by his powerhouse delivery of the rhythmically pounding ballads, 
"Calypso", his tribute to Jacques Cousteau, and one of his newest songs, 
"Amazon", perhaps his signature "save the environment" song.
	His two-member band, Alan Deremo on bass and Machito Sanchez on 
percussion were, simply put, incredible, with Sanchez playing everything 
from bongos to wind chimes and a dozen instruments in between.
	Denver steered clear of many of his most well known songs such as 
"Sunshine on My Shoulders" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads", opting for 
lesser-known and more interesting ones such as "Darcy Farrow" and 
"Whispering Jesse".