Buyer Beware of Outdoor Concerts in Chicago

Especially Lollapalooza... This should have been a post about an epic return to the festival for Muse. Their 2011 gig at Lolla was on fire, and it was clear they enjoyed being there. So I was really looking forward to this despite my difficulties with the heat in 2011. I had a more sensible plan to stay cool & hydrated and settle for a spot where I could see reasonably well, but not on the barrier like I do for arena gigs.

Linda Zehr's photo from Lolla 2011

I had a feeling this would be out of the ordinary, but I had no idea how. A Tarot reading in advance of the gig warned about deceit, with the trickster symbol of the coyote. Another omen may have been our delayed start ... but we had the moon above and it started well enough.

travelling with Crystal and Janelle again

And it's true there is way less traffic at night, we got through construction zones easily that I imagine were major headaches during the day. However, the wildlife apparently also thinks it's easier, about half way on our journey we hit a coyote! Yep, same animal as the Tarot cards showed. Luckily the car seemed to be OK after a quick check, so we carried on. More road construction added a detour to our route, so I texted my sister, who lives conveniently near Grant Park, that we'd be way past her bedtime. And it ended up being about 2 am by the time the doorman let me in to her high rise! I got a free sofa bed at her place, Crystal & Janelle had a gorgeous room at the Congress Hotel a few blocks away.

Since I didn't plan to queue, I caught up on sleep a little. I didn't really need to be in the park until Temples started, one of the few bands I cared to see other than Muse. There was a chance of storms in the forecast, and it was cloudy off and on, but nothing threatening for most of the afternoon.  I did the silly selfie at Buckingham Fountain thing.

 First I located my friends on the barrier at the Grant Park Stage. I could see the taller members of the group, but it was already too crowded to get near enough to say hi. I considered trying for some Lolla swag early, but the line into the air conditioned shop was horrendous. Next I took note of where the porta potties were located! Then I noticed my phone had far less charge than I expected; I must not have plugged it in right the night before. So I spent some time at the State Farm free charging station, and enjoyed a nice slab of Connie's deep dish. At $5 it was also one of the more reasonably priced food choices.

I got back to the Grant Park Stage in time, our road playlist had included a lot of Temples, so  I was more interested than ever in seeing them live. They delivered- excellent musicianship and an understated & quirky, yet still sexy stage presence.

I was in front of the sound booth, but not super close, so I tried shooting the big screen too. It sprinkled lightly during this performance, but not even enough to get me to break out the poncho.

I had no use for Liam Gallagher who was up next on this stage; I heard later he had a tantrum and left after 3 songs! On my way to the facilities, I ran into Mandy, my original guide to queuing for Muse in Chicago. We agreed to try to meet up for Cage the Elephant later, the last band before Muse.  

 So I spent the in between time resting in the shade, getting water and food, including this $8 hot dog! It was good, and a fine example of a Chicago style hot dog, but not really worth the price.

I knew I would not want to line up for more food later, so I coughed up $3 for a Clif bar too. That's at least  a dollar more than I'd pay at my co-op. In case you are wondering, we are not allowed to bring in our own food unless you have a doctor's note that it's medically necessary.

The crowd for Cage the Elephant grew rapidly. I tried to stake out a space with my towel & texted Mandy, but soon people were trampling it. I ended up getting pushed behind the sound booth in order to have a little breathing space. Mandy couldn't get near me either. I could not see the stage there anyway, only the screens, which they chose to do in b & w. 

It was a high energy, emotional set, not hard to see why there was such a huge crowd. You might not be able to see in my shots that Matt Schulz started in a purple sequined dress! Crystal got one of the best photos of the whole day of this! 

Crystal's photo of Matt Schulz of Cage the Elephant

The dress came off later, but the short shorts and fishnets stayed 😄

I made one more dash to the facilities to get back to try for a decent spot for Muse. Much of the crowd had cleared out, allowing the Rock & Recycle people to pick up their cans. This time I was able to get the side of the sound booth so I could see the stage and have something to lean on. But it filled in pretty quickly after that, so Mandy went for the other side and I didn't get to see her again 😞

At dusk , Muse finally took the stage with the new single Dig Down. I was ready to rock! 

visuals at the beginning of Dig Down 

Matt Bellamy's blinky glasses from the big screen

I am not sure if it started raining again during Dig Down or Psycho. I heard people yelling "Ponchos" and it did finally rain hard enough that I put mine on, but I was still jumping up and down and screaming "Aye Sir!" at the appropriate moments of Psycho. The folks in the sound booth lowered protective flaps, but the show went on. 

rocking out in the rain

Matt on the big screen

Next came Hysteria with its epic bass line.

Dom, Matt & Chris

It continued raining steadily & we saw some lightning in the distance to the south, but I did not feel it was nearby or severe, and as a tornado survivor, I am usually skittish about that  I got one last shot of Matt on the big screen, then the show abruptly stopped after Hysteria.

Matt came to the microphone briefly to say they had been told to leave the stage and didn't know why, and they hoped to be back. He looked baffled. After all, they have played in much worse weather, here's how they handled it in France in 2010.

My heart sank when I next saw the signs to evacuate the park, at best it would be a hassle to get back in. Then we got the word the performances would not resume 💔 so both Muse and Lorde fans did not get what they came for.  I later saw comments that you should not get a festival ticket for one particular band, but if so, why even have headliners? If we are only there to have some kind of live music while consuming overpriced food and beverages and seeing people in ridiculous outfits, why not use some cheaper local bands? No, they know people come for the headliners, but they did not care enough about fans of non-American bands to bother resuming, because the rain had completely stopped by the time I reached the gate. 😠 My sister told me the same thing happened when she went to see Don Henley. City officials are too scared of weather related lawsuits. Lollapalooza knew they didn't have to give us refunds, and we were unlikely to buy more $8 hot dogs if they let us back in, so why should they care? I did later try asking for a refund anyway, just so they would know how furious I am.

We got 2 tweets from Matt on our way out :

Matt Bellamy‏Verified account @MattBellamy

Gutted. City/police made us leave the stage tonight 3 songs in at #Lollapalooza . Due to weather/lightning. Nightmare!

Matt Bellamy‏Verified account @MattBellamy

Crowd awesome, we'll be back, hope lolla book us next year to make up.

Of course I'll want to see them if they are there next year. It might be my only opportunity for a while. They have a few more US shows in September of this year, but that's a very busy time at my job so I did not try to get tickets to any of those. Lolla was supposed to cap off my summer. I am still furious at the authorities who made these poor decisions 10 days later.  If I do return next year, I will be sure to spend as little money as possible to avoid further enriching these greedy jerks.

I'll admit this is a first world problem, and there are far worse things happening in the world. In fact, I am going to a protest tonight. However,  Muse lyrics and music fuel my activism; part of the reason I love them so much is that we share political values. This is my profile picture on most social media platforms.

carrying Matt's lyrics at the Women's March

So I am not sure what to hope for now. If Muse returns to Lolla in 2018 I hope they take steps to make sure we don't get cheated again, whether that is a clause in their contract, or a good-sized aftershow location booked just in case.