May 04. Park West, Chicago, Illinois
The venue Park West is nicely laid out. The dressing room is not very large, but the backstage bathroom and shower were good (best tiling of any on the tour so far!). We set up on what is a wide but shallow stage with access only on the side that I am not on. The previous gig at the Cleveland House of Blues had a very deep stage and good access at both sides. Much easier for getting on and off for the songs I do not play on. The shallow stage in Chicago meant the audience felt very close to the band. We could see the whites of their eyes and I certainly felt more visible too.
Oh yes. One thing I forgot to say about the Cleveland gig was that I found a room backstage to do some clarinet practice. As a woodwind player, particularly a reeds player, one really does need to practice to keep one's sound, embouchure, and general technique. I am much less of a clarinet player than a sax and flute player, so it was very useful to do some practice. The benefit of the practice was very noticeable to me on both the Cleveland and Chicago shows. I wish I could do it every day when on tour, but the facilities generally are just not there. I am sure it would be very annoying to the other guys in the band if in a small dressing room I was practising my scales up and down and squeaking away on those high notes when they were trying to chill out.
The Chicago gig was apparently gig number 75 that this band has done since starting in October 2011. That is a lot! We toured Oct/Nov 2011, April/May 2012, and now. Steven, Nick, Adam and I have done every gig. Marco didn't do the couple Chad Wackerman did (and Chad is coming back soon) and there have been four guitarists, so Guthrie is the new boy. I remember well the gig we did at Chicago Park West on 18 Nov 2011, as it was the last gig we did with the guitarist John Wesley and the final gig on that first tour. Also, after the gig Steven's manager Andy Leff sat each member of the band down in the venue and told us how much Steven had loved that tour and playing with the band and how he wanted to continue with it and do more - and were we interested? Until then it had really just been an experiment to see how it all went. So here we are 18 months later with the new album which we recorded together in Los Angeles doing very well and the band going from strength to strength.
The Chicago gig went down a storm and the audience was excellent. We did the song 'Sectarian' tonight but instead of the gauze at the front of the stage dropping in the middle of the song, it was decided to drop it after the end of the song. This was because with the curved shape of the front of the stage and the way the gauze was hung, it was thought that when it fell it might land on Steven, Guthrie and Nick's heads, and it might turn into an unplanned comedy moment. It would have looked ridiculous if Steven was walking around onstage with a white sheet on his head! When the gauze did come down, this did not infact happen, but it could have, so it was probably a wise precaution.
After the encore, I went out to meet and greet fans again and sign autographs. Nice to meet the good people of Chicago and beyond and talk to some very appreciative fans who had clearly loved the show.
Back onto the bus for another Jeremy Brett episode of Sherlock Holmes (the Solitary Cyclist) on DVD and then to bed. Next stop Minneapolis, home of the legendary artist known as Prince. Tried to check out some of his stuff on Youtube, but there is actually not so much there. Apparently he has his lawyers take down as many unauthorised clips as they can. Some random Prince information - In 2001 he became a Jehovah's Witness and he still sometimes knocks on people's doors to discuss his faith. He is a vegetarian and in 2006 was voted 'Worlds sexiest vegetarian'. His releases have sold over 80 million copies and he has won 7 Grammys. He was called 'Skipper' when he was a little boy.
I went for a short walk to grab a coffee, and saw two strange things: a 'Pedal Pub', which is a bike for 10 people with a bar; and the Target Centre (or Center) which is a big arena for basketball and concerts and on the entrances are signs 'No guns are allowed on the premises'. Welcome to America.
Theo Travis
