The Night Muse Stole Christmas, so they could bring it early!

 

Muse at the Aragon Ballroom

Early in November, as we Musers were having eargasms over the new album, Simulation Theory, we got news of official tour dates and ticket pre-sales, but a number of cities did not have dates yet, including the big 3 of NYC, LA and Chicago. Minneapolis was not even on the radar this tour. So I thought I was off the hook for ticket buying stress the morning of Nov. 9, but then we saw tweets from 101WKQX announcing Muse headlining night 5 of their holiday shows- The Nights We Stole Christmas, exactly 1 month away! I had to think fast, well OK, not much thinking was involved, though I was responsible enough to check my credit card balances first. A little nudge from my original Muse queue buddy, Mandy, was enough to convince me to do it, and I bought the ticket.

Transportation was up in the air for a few days, but knowing how nice riding Amtrak had been in April, I decided to get in on that if I could score the cheaper tickets, which I did. Driving myself in my ancient car was not an option, and parking is scarce at my sister's (but lodging is free!), she actually prefers fetching me from Union Station.

The weeks flew by, and despite some home repair strife, I was on my way early in the morning of Dec. 8. I got closer to finishing As Always Julia, and did the dining car for lunch, where I got seated with 2 older men, one a Vietnam vet, the other having just returned from Vietnam as a tourist! So I mostly listened to them compare notes, fascinating! But I didn't eat too much because I knew Diane was going to take me out for REAL pizza- Chicago Deep Dish.

Deep dish pizza at Pizano's

Diane also chauffered me to meet up with Mandy at what I considered an ungodly hour the next morning,  It was not really too cold for Chicago in December but we were layered up anyway, ready to spend the whole day outside the venue, the Aragon Ballroom.  It had been 40 some years since I was last there for my very first rock concert.  We were 15 & 16 in the queue.

early morning queue outside the Aragon

We soon discovered the handy Starbucks across the street was not going to be so handy- their bathrooms were not available on Sundays! We were able to find other places nearby though, and spent the time catching up with friends, some we had not seen since previous Muse gigs in Chicago. We also tried to fix it so the maximum number of people would get early entry for donating a child's coat, by pairing up plus ones, but this fell apart when the WKQX folks came out with the wristbands before we had it sorted.

Sean Kelly's magnificent Matt-like shoes

Having the wristband reduced anxiety a little, and Mandy, Jae and I decided after that was a good time for last bathroom run. Unfortunately, that meant we missed Muse leaving the venue for dinner between sound check and show time 😔 So some other lucky fans got to meet Dom, though Matt & Chris slipped away.  I seem to have a real knack for missing out on these opportunities.

It got darker and colder but excitement kept us warm. Soon staff separated those of us with wristbands into a separate line.  Then after not much longer they lined us up to go in first as promised.  We had to stop on the stairs once inside and Salty the Snowman , WKQX's mascot kept us riled up. Then some idiot decided to let the rest of the queue in behind us with no attempt to keep people in order.  They all pushed forward of course, and there easily could have been a stampede. One of my friends did fall twice running to the barrier, but she made it and so did I. However, people who should have been right next to us ended up behind. Not as bad as Detroit 2016, but still, stupid and dangerous. Still, we were in our happy place now!

barrier in blue

                                                            

Mandy & me , very ready for Muse

I don't remember if the venue was quite as charming back in the 70s but the ceiling was certainly lovely now.

Barns Courtney opened with an energetic set. His stage presence reminded me of Jim Morrison, but not the music, still it was kickass rock n roll and he's a powerful singer.

The second support band was Jungle. Most of us were not impressed, and I didn't take any pictures. All of their songs sounded the same to me, and would maybe be OK background music at a party.

Finally it was time for Muse! Knowing they had not opened with Algorithm a few days before, I wasn't counting on it, but they did open with it. Besides being an all around great song, it allows Matt to be extra theatrical. 

Matt Bellamy

Crystal's video of Algorithm, she was just a bit to my left.

Next up was Psycho, which got everyone jumping.

"your ass belongs to me now"

The Wolstenbeast

The Aragon is a smaller venue than Muse usually play, but Matt still did plenty of jumping.

Matt Bellamy

I had friends all around so it was not too hard to take close ups, except for the lighting issues. 

Matt Bellamy looking bright & shiny

Next came  Break It To Me, another new song I was hoping to hear. I don't know the videographer, 

but I suspect they were right behind me.

The jacket came off, and some of us hollered for more 😉 knowing Matt has suggested Chris & Dom perform shirtless!

Matt Bellamy

Matt Bellamy

A few guitar god moments

Matt & Chris

Matt belting out a note, possibly during The Dark Side, an early fav of mine from Simulation Theory.

Matt Bellamy 

Some classic Matt pointing, not sure if this might have been during the US debut of the "Metal Medley". Fans were not too sure about this concept when Matt first mentioned it, it's parts of a good number of their heavier songs, but we found it works quite well.

Matt Bellamy

I can't remember where in the show Matt asked how many of us had been at Lollapalooza in 2017. Sounded like a lot of us had been, then he said "fucking weather!" So I think this was in part a make up show for that sad occasion when they were yanked off stage after 3 songs because of rain.

Matt Bellamy

I tried to not take too many photos and be present,  though you can see I kind of failed at first.  As usual, the closer, Knights of Cydonia came too soon, but was a bit less bittersweet since Matt had told us they would be back for the regular tour "Marchish"

Chris, Man with a Harmonica

Matt Bellamy

"you and I must fight to survive"

Matt & Dom at the end of Knights of Cydonia

It seemed the band were really enjoying this gig, and it was a very full show for a short holiday set. 

Several of us who had stowed things in Jae's car agreed to go straight there after the gig,  That took a while, and I wondered if I was missing a chance to meet the band again. Some friends were waiting in the alley hoping for the best, though I could see they had the SUVs behind a barricade. When Mandy got to the car she told me they had been shooed away from that spot, so we gave up on "stalking" Anyhow, Mandy had to get up for work the next day, and I was ready to get to my sister's where I knew there might be some pizza left. I was kind of sad to not join up with others partying after, but knew I needed to save my money for another ticket, not to mention my home repair problems. 

From their social media posts, it seems Muse did stick around Chicago for a day to rest up. So did I , and went out for a walk in the mild weather, but not far enough to run into them by Lake Michigan. Chicago was lacking snow, but looking pretty festive, especially in my sister's swanky neighbourhood. 

South Loop holiday decor

Anyhow, we soon heard that Muse was coming back to Chicago April 12 at the United Center, and the pre-sale would be tomorrow! I was grateful my train did not leave until afternoon so I could deal with that. I texted  my sister right away to make sure it was a good time to visit again!  Yes, it was , and I double checked which of my accounts actually had money left in them, got my cards updated at TicketBastard and thought I was ready.

Diane spoiled me with spinach quiche for brunch, and I was ready at my laptop promptly at 10 am. I was not in the "waiting room" long, but somehow there were no regular GA tickets left already. I took a deep breath and went for the cheaper of the VIP packages. I had no business spending that much on a ticket, but it was the only show this next tour that I know I can get to, and while there was another pre-sale later, it was too close to my time to pack up and leave, and I had no way of knowing for sure if there would be more regular GA tickets. As it turns out, there were some, and even in the regular sale too. Perhaps I'll trade down later,  unless it seems like I can use the VIP ticket to help a friend or two get to the barrier.

See you in a few months, Chicagoland! 

Chicago skyline as seen from the Empire Builder

Ghosts of Christmas past

Not sure why I feel like jotting some of this down, maybe because the holidays don't feel like they used to...

Before I went to school, and maybe even after in the early grades, choosing the toy to ask Santa to bring was a big deal. We usually got inspiration from the Sears Christmas catalog. I remember one year very much wanting a Thumbelina baby doll, and I did get it. There were usually not lots of toys, we might get some other nice things, but generally just the one special toy. It may be because we were not that well off, but I think it was less common to try to buy more toys in those days.Even the fabulous electric train set we got in early grade school was built up gradually over the years.

Economics also figured into maintaining the Santa myth. One year my sister and I had asked for some other kind of dolls, and we saw our mom making clothes for them before Christmas. She explained Santa was having a tough year and needed some help getting doll clothes. However, I remember one year we knew of a toy that was coming from her and not from Santa- she was making us teddy bears! She tried to not let us see them before Christmas, but Diane figured out where hers was, still unfinished, and got so excited she ran into a wall!

We did not grow out of our nosiness quickly. Packages under the tree were always picked up and shook to see what we could guess about them. One year we noticed we each had a small square box under the tree, It was after school time, we were old enough to look after ourselves, and our parents weren't home yet. We agreed to carefully unwrap them together for a sneak peek- they were they guitar straps we'd asked for! Then we even more carefully re-wrapped them so no one would know we had looked.

Christmas TV specials were important annual events to us. We never missed A Charlie Brown Christmas  and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I persisted in trying to see Rudolph every year well into adulthood because I identified with him- always felt like I didn't quite fit in. I probably started watching Miracle on 34th St as a young child too  This is not just my favorite holiday movie; it's my favorite movie period. "Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to" There was no TCM or AMC then, I think I probably saw it on WGN- they showed many classic movies in those days.

In addition to sewing doll clothes and toys, my mother was into crafting ornaments. She made a whole set of clothespin people in different costumes like angels, witches and fairies. I hope those are still around somewhere.. She also made some stuffed felt ornaments with elaborate decorations; I do have a few of those.

When I was a teenager, she started making some really involved ornaments based on styrofoam balls and old Christmas cards. and showed us how, so I made some along with her and continued making them, sometimes for gifts, as a young adult. First we covered the ball with foil. Then we glued a kind of collage of small things taken from the cards, and we had to peel these from their backing so they could be glued on to the round surface. Next came the pantyhose layer! Old hose were treated with gold spray paint,  then stretched over our creations and pinned in place.The pins had to be lined up so we could cover them next with a fat velvet ribbon. The ribbon was glued and also pinned, but these pins went through tiny pearl beads at regular intervals, A smaller piece of ribbon was pinned in a bow on top to make a loop to hang it. Finally gold ric rac or braid was glued on either side of the ribbon.  I am trying to remember how we had time to do all this! Perhaps because we did not yet have social media or smartphones. there was more free time for crafts.

Despite her love of crafts, my mom was not that enthusiastic about actually setting up the tree. I always loved it though, and took the job over at some point. I even went in my own direction with felt one year and made a tree topper that looked like our cat, Muffin.

Muffin thoroughly enjoyed Christmas and would usually "help" decorate the tree. Besides the expected ornament bashing, he was a champion package molester. His favorite was gold elastic string that he could snap and make noise. He still had fun when we humans finally got to the official unwrapping- then he could attack the crumpled paper and sit in the boxes. There were probably more chances to beg or steal delicious food, too.

Once my dad became head of the Foreign Language Department at Hinsdale Central, we also had an annual holiday party for all the teachers in it and their guests. These were kind of posh affairs with me and Diane acting as servers of sorts. I think the guests brought all sorts of beverages, mostly alcoholic, and we did the food. A few menu items I recall were Cassoulet and Coq au Vin. I also got to assist with some incredibly putzy canapes, they involved bread cut-outs and flavored cream cheeses piped out of a tube. but I liked them well enough to make a batch of my own for a New Years party when I was old enough to be going out.

These parties were also the likely reason for my mother's numerous Buche de Noel experiments. We really did get tired of it after a while, but only a few years later, you would have found me doing the same to get Black Forest Cake just the way I wanted it!

So there are potentially 4 recipes I could edit into this post, might have to see if I can get at the Coq au Vin on the very old recipe cd my dad made.

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.