I never really recapped my trip to Chicago. So in short...
- Met Damon at Olney and we set forth to the train station.
- Took the Amtrak to Chicago. It was an uneventful ride, but I really prefer it over driving. I like trains.
- Checked into the Millennium hotel. Very nice, especially for the Priceline cost.
- Walked toward the House of Blues. 0gled at the buildings and peoples.
- Stopped and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Surprisingly excellent...S.O.B. (10 oz.) Burger and Joe Perry's Quesadilla....highly recommended if you have the opportunity. Had a bit of sticker-shock at the cost...but I had saved for the trip and said, "what the hell..."
- Stopped in Harry Carey's Bar and got kicked out since apparently their dress code forbids sleeveless shirts. Since the bartender was such a prick about it and I've never liked Harry Carey anyhow(!), instead of handing Damon my sweatshirt we walked around the corner to Mother Hubbard's.
- The Goose Island Honker's Ale began flowing.
- Walked to the House of Blues. Stood in line for 45 minutes while a loud, obnoxious, transgendered woman blathered on and on about her tastes in music. My bias is against loud and obnoxious people that possess no common courtesy. She was the epitome of this. Met Bjoern, a German (living in Holland) who had just arrived in town and found out about the concert. We went inside and drank round after round of Honker's Ale, talked about all kinds of obscure tasteless music, exchanged cultural perspectives, and took in the show.
-
Keep of Kalessin ...these guys were quite impressive. They had a great sound and executed flawlessly. Merch was selling fast so I nabbed an
Armada album cover shirt, and later ordered the cd from Candlelight's online store. Definitely going to grab
Kolossus when it releases next month.
Setlist:
The Wealth of Darkness
Crown of the Kings
A New Empire’s Birth [New Song]
Come Damnation
-
Behemoth CRUSHINGLY heavy with CLARITY. It felt as if they ruled the fucking planet for about an hour. They couldn't have exceeded my expectations by much if they had paid for every round of beer.
Setlist:
Slaves Shall Serve
At The Left Hand Ov God
Prometherion
Conquer All
Antichristian Phenomenon
Demigod
Christgrinding Avenue
As Above, So Below
Chant For Eschaton 2000- Which brings us to
Dimmu Borgir. This was the most underwhelming set I've seen in a while. "The Legions of the Chosen Few" Tour. (Er...what? That hurts to think about.) They had a pre-recorded intro that swelled into the venue as the band took stage, and at the climax the band kicked in and half the sound must have significantly dropped from the mix from what seemed to me to be an equipment problem or a sound engineer who was devoting his mental capacity to the whole Legions of Few thing.. You could hear the vocals, bass, and cymbals perfectly clear as both guitars and drums were a muffled mess...the ENTIRE set. It was just odd listening to, and we left before the encore. I'm not a huge Dimmu fan...but Damon is and he was largely disappointed.
Setlist:
Spellbound (By the Devil)
In Death’s Embrace
The Serpentine Offering
The Chosen Legacy
The Sinister Awakening
The Fallen Arise
The Maelstrom Mephisto
The Blazing Monoliths of Defiance
The Sacrilegious Scorn
The Fundamental Alienation
A Succubus in Rapture
The Insight & The Catharsis
(encore)
Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
Puritania
Mourning Palace
- After the show we went to the Cheesecake Factory that was right around the corner from our hotel. The food failed at being food. It was awesome the last time I went with Bran so I had hyped it up to Damon and we both left disappointed.
- We hit Union Station bright and early and caught the Amtrak home. Again it was uneventful. I played Quake III on my laptop a bit and read. Bran called while I was on the train to let me know that the boys were sick. Mason got over it quickly but Piper was horky and sharty all week long. I was certain I'd catch it but I didn't.
And this week I've got sick dogs. Lando horked on Monday and is fine now, but I had to take Chewie to the Vet yesterday evening where he'll be staying until Friday. He was going on three days without eating, accompanied by diarrhea and constant lethargy. At first he was symptomatic of having worms, so I treated him for that as his other problems emerged. The vet thinks it's Parvo, but since he's had an immunization he'll
likely be okay after a few days in care. The vet checked Lando over and couldn't find any symptoms, but he's going to give him an immunization treatment after he's certain it isn't present. We really miss Chewie...as big of a pain in the ass two dogs can be sometimes, we can't wait for him to get home.
I've been watching bits and pieces each night before I go to sleep of Radiohead -
In Rainbows - From the Basement that I recorded from RAVE or another HD Music channel. I've gone a good while without listening to anything Radiohead and this performance is an amazing example of why this band can't be ignored.
Myxomatosis
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