Jackson Browne & David Lindley Serenade Chicago

Jackson Browne had been on my “Artists I Hope to See Live” list for quite a while, so when I saw that he would be appearing in Chicago at a lovely small venue (the Chicago Theatre on State Street) I was immediately interested. It would not be easy to get to Chicago for a Thursday night show, then back to Iowa for my Friday classes, but I was willing to try.

I tried my darnedest to arrive in the Windy City before rush hour, but it seems like there is rush hour traffic almost all the time these days. I did okay until I hit the Kennedy Expressway out by the airport, but then in took another 90 minutes to creep the remaining way downtown. I headed for the parking lot the theatre had listed as the most convenient (but which turned out not to be the most economical). I had barely walked a half block when I got a meet-up call from my daughter Sara – perfect timing!! She and beau Sam walked up State to meet me so that we could walk the 3 blocks together to the restaurant Sara had selected. It was a nice Italian spot – the Rosebud- Theatre District. Not quite as cute or authentic looking as their Naperville site, but very tasty food. We had a fun dinner together – I ate too much of the crusty Italian bread and olive oil, but at least ordered some fresh lake whitefish on a bed of steamed spinach rather than pasta. I couldn’t resist ordering a side of Rosebud’s homemade Italian sausage for us to share – it was spicy, fennel-y and great! Next time I might go straight for an Italian sausage main course. Sara and I shared a trio of Italian gelatos for dessert – my favorite was a creamy lemon.

Sam and Sara walked me back to the Theatre (Jackson Browne was “before-their-time” so I was concerting alone) and we hugged goodbye until our next adventure together.

My seat was in the second row of the first balcony. All seats in the Chicago Theatre provide a good view of the stage, but what I had not realized is that the balcony rows have no leg room at all. My old knees were not too happy about that so I will avoid the balcony in the future. The only other time I had been at this theatre (to see Keith Urban’s charity concert for St. Jude’s a couple years ago) I had an aisle seat on the main floor without a leg room problem. Of course everyone stands through Urban concerts, but that was not the case for the audience seeing Jackson. They remained polite and seated except for a few brief standing ovations on the main floor after the biggest songs. One thing the crowd was not shy about - shouting out requests. In the second half of the show every round of applause following a number was followed by shouts of song names from every part of the theatre!

The sound of Jackson Browne and David Lindley playing together for the first several songs was just lovely. Their mellow acoustic instruments just resonated through the theatre – it was entrancing. For some reason the acoustics did not seem to be as good (at least not up in the balcony) later in the show when Jackson stood at the centerstage microphone (I don’t know why), but the sound seemed better when he sat at his keyboard. In any case, every song was a pleasure. Here are a few samples from the night: 

For Everyman

Call It A Loan

Bright Baby Blues

Fountain of Sorrow

Just Say Yeah

Running on Empty

My only disappointment was the omission of The Load Out as the closing song! I was so sure it would be included since it even mentions Chicago. I waited so expectantly, so patiently - but we were not gifted with this classic. (I consoled myself later by looking up the clip of Keith singing the Load Out while his crew was actually loading out - go to 6:14 in this clip.)

        I had reserved a hotel room west of the city, partway towards Iowa, so my drive in the early morning would be shorter. Little did I know that I would be encountering yet another "rush-hour" traffic jam at midnight!! The roadcrews do a lot of work between 9 pm and 5am and they had several lanes of the Eisenhower Expressway closed. Traffic was backed up for miles so I finally got off the highway and took my chances on the inner-city streets for several miles to get around the roadwork. Drove my "GPS lady" crazy - she kept directing me back to the midnight madness on 290!