Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois

Worse. Sound. Ever.

It was the second night of a two night run for the Boss at Chicago’s historic Wrigley Field.  Even though I had just seen him a few months ago and tickets are very expensive, I decided to join a big group of family to see him again so I could squeeze in one last concert before shipping off to Saudi Arabia in a few weeks, where concerts are in likelihood illegal. Besides, if there’s one concert that never disappoints, it’s Bruce Springsteen.

It was a fun evening out with everyone, and we made the best of it, but the show itself left a lot to be desired. While I could tell that Bruce was killing it up on stage, the problem was that our seats were located in the last row of the 200 section, the covered area behind home plate. Decent seats for a ball game, TERRIBLE seats for a concert. The sound coming from the main speakers on the field was blocked and muffled and lacked any power, and there were few if any speakers pointed in our direction to combat the problem. I just felt very isolated from the rest of the concert and what was happening on stage. The music didn’t come alive the way it normally does for me at a show. It’s too bad too, because Bruce played a great set, had tons of energy in the pouring rain and was joined on stage by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, two artists I love in their own right. All and all, it was a total bust and lesson learned. The state of my Chicago concert going experience goes from bad to worse.

Setlist:
The Promised Land
The Ties That Bind
No Surrender
Hungry Heart
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Death to My Hometown (with Tom Morello)
My City of Ruins
The E Street Shuffle
Pay Me My Money Down
This Depression (with Tom Morello)
My Hometown (with Eddie Vedder)
Darkness on the Edge of Town (with Eddie Vedder)
Because the Night (Patti Smith cover)
Working on the Highway
Shackled and Drawn
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Who'll Stop the Rain? (CCR cover) (solo/acoustic)
The Ghost of Tom Joad (with Tom Morello)
Badlands (with Tom Morello)
Thunder Road
Encore:
Rocky Ground
Born to Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
American Land (With Tom Morello & Eddie Vedder)

North Coast Music Festival, Union Park, Chicago, Illinois

Worst. Concert. Meetup. Ever.

I had just moved into my new apartment in Chicago, and even though there was still lots of unpacking to do, I took a little break to hit up the North Coast Music Festival, an annual electronic music festival held over Labor Day weekend in Union Park on the south side of the city. While I don’t spend a lot of time listening to EDM, I generally like what I hear and can easily get into it at a show or festival. However, there weren’t any acts at North Coast I was particularly excited to see, I was more going to join up with my little brother, who was much more into that scene, and I was planning to meet up with at the show.

I arrived a little after 7:30. The park was set up very much like Pitchfork, which I attended earlier that summer. The main difference was the crowd was much younger, seemingly all teenagers and college kids. I texted Michael on way in and walked over to catch some of southern hip hop artist Big Boi on the North (second) Stage. Unfortunately, I never heard back from Michael.

I moved over to the Red Bull (third) stage to see electro house musician Steve Aoki, who was quite good but not good enough to distract me from my unfortunate situation. By 8:30, I was at the Coast (main) stage to see Pretty Lights, the headliner for the evening and the artist I was most familiar with. Fun little distraction, nothing amazing. I bounced back over to Steve Aoki one more time before leaving around 9:15. Since hanging out with Michael, the real reason I even came, had fallen through, I figured there wasn’t much point to staying any longer since my absence from unpacking wasn’t scoring any points with the girlfriend/new roommate. My Chicago concert going experience is not off to a good start.