A Night in Chicago

 About a year ago, Kade started playing music by a rock band called Third Eye Blind. When he played a few of their biggest hits I was immediately taken back to my days in high school where I was introduced to the song Semi-Charmed Life and a few others that I really enjoyed. I know I have heard these songs here and there, and even some of their newer ones, probably on the radio or from my brother because I was very familiar with a lot of the music, just as if it hasn't been over 25 years since I first heard them. 

When we were driving back from our trip West to drop Victoria off at school, Kade and I listened to a lot of Third Eye Blind on that 24-hour drive home! Austin and Erik were busy with their audiobooks and other music and games in the back seat. It was a memorable road trip. One song in particular played in my head repeatedly when Kade was in the hospital in the fall. 

A few months ago we discovered that Third Eye Blind was going on tour in our area. The best time and location for our schedule was in Chicago. Kade has a friend who also loves the band and we planned a quick trip to Chicago. 

Our hotel was right in Chinatown, much to our delight! We explored shops and ate very delicious dumplings and rolled ice cream. It was the most I have ever explored Chinatown and I really enjoyed it- Kade and Finnley did too!

The best dumplings!!

Lamb kabob.

Ok, rolled ice cream is divine!!

Kade and I love our ice cream!

Our hotel.

We stopped in the Mini So earlier, this was taken after the concert on the way back.

Since we were there for the concert and I am pretty rusty with city transportation, we had to leave plenty of time to get to the Huntington Bank Pavilion on Northerly Island. After asking various people questions about the best way to get there, we finally arrived in plenty of time and without getting lost! It was only a short walk, subway ride, and bus ride away! It happened to be drizzling throughout most of the journey there, which was kind of annoying, but luckily I had done my hair curly, so I think it looked better than if I had worn it straight. We couldn't bring umbrellas into the pavilion and even though I did wish I had brought my rain jacket when the rain came down harder for a few moments during the concert, it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the night. 

Chicago from our seats!

Lake Michigan is on the other side of the pavilion.

The group Arizona performed first and they were fabulous! Next came an amazing group called Yellowcard, which I didn't recognize the name of the group, but I did recognize some of their hits. I especially enjoyed watching the violinist! It's not very often you see a violinist in a rock band! It got Kade excited about his viola-playing skills. I was very impressed by Yellowcard and how grateful they were to be there, playing as the opening act for Third Eye Blind. They were humble and talented! The most interesting part was that the lead singer mentioned that Third Eye Blind debuted in 1997, which confused me because I graduated in '96 yet I distinctly remember hearing their music at lunch on the quad at Royal Highschool. I looked them up on my phone and learned that while the debut was in '97, they formed in '93 in California and signed their first contract in '96. Since I lived in CA, I think someone was able to get their hands on the music immediately and play it. I went to BYU in the fall and probably listened to some of their music then, but I don't remember. I do know that by the time I met Jason in '99, I was listening to country. That's mostly what we listened to when we were first married. As I said at the beginning of my post, I must have heard them here and there because I wasn't totally unfamiliar with some of their other songs, though our family listened to a lot of Disney music and Kid's Bop during that time (nothing went past Victoria- she repeated everything she heard, very loudly, so we had to play age-appropriate music for her!) When Kade played Semi-Charmed Life which is super catchy, I was immediately taken back to my high school days.

Yellowcard violinist!

The couple in front of us at the concert turned around and said, referring to Kade and Finnley, "I assume these guys weren't even born yet when Third Eye Blind came out." I confirmed the assumption and told them Kade and Finnley have very good taste in music. They were definitely the youngest there and Kade knew the lyrics the best and sang them louder than anyone! He even got a fist pump from some other dude who had started the "encore" chant, which Kade excitedly joined in on. 

Kade rocking out to Graduate!

Singing all the lyrics!

I especially enjoyed it when the lead singer had us put our arms around someone nearby and remind ourselves that we were there for each other and it was going to be a "summer of joy". It was a memorable night for sure! 

Kade gave me some grunge clothes to wear. You can't see in the pic very well, but the jeans could fit two of me in. I wore one of my old belts and Kade's flannel. The nice thing was I could fit my bottled water in the pocket! The bad thing was they got super wet dragging on the ground in the puddles.