Twelve years ago, Leonid Vorobyev retired from his career as a sound engineer in Moscow and marked the occasion by recording a Chicago tribute video. No sheet music existed for “Brand New Love Affair,” the song he wanted, so he transcribed it entirely by ear, pulled together a few friends, filmed it, and posted it online. The video went viral. It could have ended there as a good retirement story. Instead it launched one of the stranger success arcs in American touring: an 11-piece ensemble from Moscow that now fills concert halls across North America, replicating the horn charts and stacked vocal harmonies that made Chicago a radio fixture across two decades.
About the Show
Leonid & Friends bring the “Make Me Smile” tour to the Aztec Theatre on October 19, the middle stop of a Texas swing that runs Dallas at The Majestic Theatre (October 17), San Antonio (October 19), and Lubbock’s Buddy Holly Hall (October 21) before the run continues west. The full tour stretches 60-plus dates across more than 30 states, April through November 2026.
The ensemble is built around Chicago’s structural DNA: layered horn lines, stacked close harmonies, and a rhythm section disciplined enough to hold all of it together. Vorobyev’s founding premise was that they’d play the arrangements note for note â a claim that requires not just a brass section but enough skilled vocalists to land those harmonics cleanly in a live room. Over the years the repertoire has widened to include Earth, Wind & Fire, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Steely Dan. Four studio albums (Chicagovich, Chicagovich II, Chicagovich III, and Oldies But Goldies Part 1) document how far the project has traveled from that first YouTube cover.
What the band has also accumulated: the blessing of the original group. Chicago founding members Robert Lamm, Danny Seraphine, and Michelle Kath Sinclair have met Leonid & Friends, and the ensemble is featured on Chicago’s official website. More than 200 U.S. performances and multiple sold-out tours since 2019 later, the “tribute” qualifier carries less weight than it used to. No support act is listed for this show.
Venue & Logistics
The Aztec Theatre, at 104 N. St. Mary’s St. in San Antonio, is a theater-scale room that suits the demands of a production this size. Show time is 8 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. Buy tickets