So here’s a shot at a full fledged review. I’m on a shotty airport connection right now, so I’m typing into word and posting as I go.
I fly into Midway with a backpack and a bag chair on my arm. I decided to use my Hilton points and get a room by the airport so I could get some good sleep before my 6:30 flight the next day as apposed to sleeping in the airport (my original plan). So anyway, I drop my bag off and hop on the train to go down to the show.
I arrive at the venue around 12:00 and I took my seat about the 100th place in line. I saw tons of people with signs ranging from “Fan Club member needs ticket” to “will ______ for ticket.” The guy next to me was a lawyer from Chicago, and he gives me the lowdown on the venue and where he plans on trying to stand (which came in handy later).
So at this point, as I’ve built some trust with this guy I ask him if he’ll watch my spot while I go grab a sammich, and he obliged. Get back in line and just start chatting with some others around me and the rumors start to fly about who will open (Ben Harper, Mike Watt, etc.)
The lawyer gets a call on his phone and said he has confirmation that Eddie will in fact open and that the venue secured a 1:00 am curfew At this point I started to get pumped. TU touched down around 2:00 and told me he was heading to the hotel and then would meet me at the venue. At this point things were getting sketchy in line b/c the venue and the fan club were walking around telling people all sorts of stuff about how they were going to disburse the wristbands, and that it might happen before 4:00, etc. So I called TU to let him know that he might want to stop here bfore the hotel just so we’ll get the wristbands…and I’ll hold our place in line so he can drop his stuff off. He obliges and arrives around 3:00……we end up getting our wristbands around 4:30 and then he takes off for the hotel and I continue to chill in line with the rest of the fans.
For anyone who is familiar with PJ shows, you know that the posters are a hot commodity. So b/w the 4 of us (me, TU, lawyer guy, and his friend) we develop a strategy that we’ll head straight for the front row of the 2nd level and then go 2x2 to get the posters. Doors open around 7:15 and we do just that. To set the scene, the Vic is a very small theatre…the type of place you would see a play. Directly in front of the stage is a lowered pit that goes about 10 rows deep. Following that is a slightly raise level of about 10 rows deep and then another one. We ended up on the front row of that 2nd level against the railing. Ended up being a prime spot b/c the place was so packed. If you weren’t in one of the front rows of any of the levels, you were going to sweat your nuts off the entire night. So TU and lawyer went to get the poster and people started to file in behind us, getting pissed when we said we were saving the sots. Needless to say we didn’t leave to get our posters at that time.
During this time we get the drunkest, most annoying douchebags that you could ever imagine being behind you at a concert. Just typical, “I’m drunk and need to let everyone around us know it.” Some of these guys were Chicago guys and some were NYC so there was lots of J.E.T.S chants and cubs chants.
So Ed comes out around 8:15 or so and plays Trouble (Cat Stevens cover). He stops after the first verse b/c everyone was taking pictures, so he kindly asks us to stop. Ends fun finishing the song strongly. He then starts talking about the cubs and this solicits some boos and cheers. Of course the loudest came from the DBs behind us. Ed states that he wrote “ A song about the cubs that you can sing while drinking beer……(cheers & boos)….so even if you don’t like the cubs, I think everyone here enjoys beer.”
Guy behind us yells “I’m drinking beer right now!” which was pretty funny in that “I can’t believe he would actually say that” sort of thing.
Ed closes his set with Dead Man and Pictures in a Frame. Solid stuff.
More to come later
So PJ comes n around 9 or so and kicks it off with All or None, which was a really solid opener – lots of crowd singalong setting the stage for a good night. After the song TU tells me “I’ve got a feeling we’re going to see a lot of weird stuff “ or sometng to that effet.