P.S. Pictures are in no particular order (in fact I think they are ALL from Day 2!!! Oops!)
 |
| Happy concert goes! |
 |
| Who's playing on each stage each day! |
On July 8th and 9th Dave and I attended the Dave Matthews Band Caravan concerts on the City’s (Chicago) south side. It was a fantastic venue for an outdoor concert (TONS of people…great weather…free water hydration stations (awesome)…amazing music!) but the location of the actual venue left much to be desired. Again, dad to the rescue! He knows the city so well (and was actually watching the news with reports of how to get there and was looking it up on the internet for us!!!) he kind of laid out the days for us as far as transportation goes. He even gave us his CTA card (for Ell’s and busses) AND his student card (for cheaper parking rates!). Magic Man!!!!! On both days we drove into the city (with directions complements of dad…who knows my driving AND my ability to follow directions without getting lost), parked where he and mom do when they go to school/work, walked a block to the Red Line, took the Red Line to the 87th Street Station, where we exited and were to hook up with a bus to drive us to the venue. As we exited the train we were herded (kinda like cattle) in the right direction of the waiting busses to take us to the concert.
 |
| Map of the overall venue! :) |
I guess they were expecting over 100,000 people at these concerts. The doors opened at 1:00 even though Dave Matthews didn’t actually take the stage until 8:30! There were tons of other bands and even a Tim and Dave acoustic set. The two bands I really wanted to see (which we did) were O.A.R. and Ben Folds.
 |
| That's a lot of people! (And it's still early!) |
 |
| Dave said the dress I was wearing was the only outfit that would actually look good with those sunglasses! Too bad you can't see the dress in the picture! |
 |
| Big Screen....no zoom! |
DAY ONE:
We left Palatine around 3 and we in the gates of the concert around 6…yup…long trip…it didn’t help that we hit downtown at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon…everyone and their mother was leaving work and driving the streets!!! But we were moving at just the right time all night. We barely had to wait for the train and then as we entered the line for the bus the doors of the bus next to us opened at we were one of the first people on it…meaning…we got a seat! I must say…I entered in awe. It was amazing. There were 3 stages set up far enough apart that when you were at one stage you weren’t disrupted by the other stages but when you were in the middle area you could kinda hear the music from all 3! Neat! There was a large Ferris wheel in the middle that we never did get a chance to ride…bummer. We also saw these funny anti-polo shirts. Someone had stitched a hunter with a dog on the lower left (as you look at it) of a polo shirt who was hunting the polo logo. It was comical!
 |
| DAVE!!!! |
Dave and I watched O.A.R. for a while before we hopped in line for food and beer. We could still hear and see the band as we waited (for what seemed like forever!). As we left the food area (burgers, beer and fries in hand) we walked over towards the stage DMB would be taking in a little over an hour. We made a few friends as we waited and just enjoyed the spectacle of people watching. The show was great but we didn’t stay for the encore as we wanted to get home at a reasonable time…agreeing that we would stay until the very end the next night.
 |
| Tim rockin the guitar! |
DAY TWO:
Oh. My. Gosh. Dave and I both agree that this might have been the best Dave concert we’ve ever seen! We played our cards right and had an amazing view of the concert from where we were standing! Our only downfall was not realizing we’d be that lucky and failing to grab beverages (water included) before we made our way to the stage. We were really just trying to find the friends we met the night before (we’d been texting them and knew roughly where they were standing) during the Ben Folds concert. We couldn’t find them and thought it rude to continue to cut in front of people, as we HATE when people do that to us! So we just stood where we were, watched, and listened. It was great! I forgot how many songs I knew! :) He ended with Sweet Home Chicago (even though he didn’t know most of the words…he sang the first verse and chorus…which was enough for us.). Dave and I had a laugh at the college group next to us as a few of the girls were in tears as their friends texted them mean things from somewhere else in the venue…oh the drama of being a) drunk b) hot c) tired d) sunburnt…oh the memories that brought up!
 |
| Ben Folds! Yup...we were THAT close! |
Once Ben was over a lot of people left to go either listen to another band at a different stage or get food since DMB wasn’t scheduled to go one for another few hours…Dave and I decided to move up and in towards the stage more. Best idea ever...well, at the time at least. By 9 we were LOVING the DMB show and trying not to think about the fact that we really hadn’t eaten since 3…and we didn’t have water with us! We made more friends around us and I was able to buy an unopened beer (fresh and cold that she had just stood in line for for about 30 minutes) from one of the girls around us…and Dave was able to score a warm unopened PBR (ugh…not my fav!) from the nice hippie boy who lost his friends. The Saturday night playlist was fantastic! We had a great view and there was a breeze where we were every so often…so it wasn’t as hot as I was expecting it to be! I made sure that I wore the Sperry’s the second night as I had to shower with my flip-flops on the night before…Dave made fun of that…but it was the easiest way to get everything clean! After the concert on Saturday I looked down and noticed how tan Dave’s legs looked…NOPE…not tan…DIRTY!!!!! WOW! :)
 |
| Yup...that close (well...with a little zoom!) |
 |
| You can see the stage over my shoulder! WOW! |
I was SO glad we stayed through the end…but then we were faced with the difficult task of leaving the venue. Remember how it took us 3 hours to get there the day before (Saturday it took just under 2 hours)…well…the trip home on Saturday was a little longer! The CTA did a good job having busses and trains for the concert goers but it took forever since a) we had to still buy tickets and b) drunks like to just cut in line. (It was difficult for this tired, sober, hot, teacher to hold her tongue and not go crazy on some of the line-jumpers!) LONG story way short…concert was over at 11pm…we were back in Palatine at 3am. Yes…4 hours to get home. We were tired…but we still agree that it was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 |
| Tired and hot...but having a BLAST!!!!!! (PS. My phone is only out b/c I was taking pictures on it...I wasn't that girl texting and on her phone the whole time at a concert! I know better!) |
 |
| Check out those DiRtY feet!!!!!! YUCK!!! And to think I had just made the comment..."Hmmm...my feet don't feel dirty" just before taking off my shoes! |
PS. Note about being a good friend:
Dave and I witnessed something truly touching! As we were waiting in line for the bus we noticed this guy sitting along side the line…looking like he’d had a few…kinda wobbly…a little woozy…we all know the type! Well, we just kinda watched as the line went past and I made eye contact with a rather cute girl who asked if I would hold her spot in line while she grabbed her buddy (yup…side of the line boy). She was trying everything she could to get him to come up with the line but he really just wanted to lie on the ground. Seemed like a good place to him. So every few times the line would move up, we would hold her spot and she would go shag him up (back to where we were). Then he started to look a little gray and finally threw up a little (hard to not gag when someone else is barfing but I managed to keep it together by breathing deep and not looking!). Well, then he decided that he could stand and that he was done wearing his shoes. Took one off and tried to walk a little and said he was fine (there was dried blood on his arm (apparently he’d cut his elbow earlier in the day) that he claimed wasn’t his) and could walk with all of us. The girl really wanted him to put his shoe back on but he wouldn’t listen to her…so Dave gave it a go and wouldn’t you know…he put it back on (incorrectly…but it was still on!). Fast forward about 20 minutes and we’re finally on the bus to the train (she kept saying they had to go “so far”…yeah…nice try sister…try the northwest suburbs!!!). All of a sudden we noticed her rummaging through her purse and taking out her cell phone and wallet…I nudged Dave and was like “no way!”. She then opened her purse and set it in the guys lap (presumably to throw up in!). NO WAY!!!! One of the other riders near us commented that she should get the girlfriend of the year award. The girl with the empty, open purse was quick to turn around and harshly pointed out that she was NOT his girlfriend. WOW. Friend of the year award! (Or perhaps sister…I did overhear he say they had to pick up their brother and would then be on their way home…but I’m not sure!). Either way…she’s a trooper…it looked like a nice purse! (And no…there wasn’t any bus puking…I think we shamed him out of it!)
No comments:
Post a Comment