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On Saturday, I attended the Ravinia Music Festival in Highland Park, Il. I've been in Chicago for nearly 20 years, and this was my first visit. I was impressed.
I've been reluctant to go in the past because I was expecting typical concert venue - porta-potties and county fair food. Not so - Ravinia has several restaurants on site and very nice facilities. They also sell takeout food and prepacked picnic baskets. I didn't actually eat any of this - the people I was with are Ravinia regulars and have a system of getting there early, staking out a space, and bringing enough food to feed a division. My token bottle of wine was completely unneeded.
So, we sat out on the lawn, surrounded by candles and 8,000 of our closest friends (smallish crowd by Ravinia standards) and listened to Classic Albums Live playing the Beatles' Abbey Road. The band was spectacularly good. Their "gimmick" is that the first set is to play the album in question note-for-note. They don't talk between songs, and they play the entire album. (In this case, this included such obscure Beatles songs as "Octopus Garden", which you'll never hear on your oldies station.)
The second set was more Beatles, but in this case it was a selection of greatest hits, and they did loosen up and gossip. All in all, a very nice evening.
I've been reluctant to go in the past because I was expecting typical concert venue - porta-potties and county fair food. Not so - Ravinia has several restaurants on site and very nice facilities. They also sell takeout food and prepacked picnic baskets. I didn't actually eat any of this - the people I was with are Ravinia regulars and have a system of getting there early, staking out a space, and bringing enough food to feed a division. My token bottle of wine was completely unneeded.
So, we sat out on the lawn, surrounded by candles and 8,000 of our closest friends (smallish crowd by Ravinia standards) and listened to Classic Albums Live playing the Beatles' Abbey Road. The band was spectacularly good. Their "gimmick" is that the first set is to play the album in question note-for-note. They don't talk between songs, and they play the entire album. (In this case, this included such obscure Beatles songs as "Octopus Garden", which you'll never hear on your oldies station.)
The second set was more Beatles, but in this case it was a selection of greatest hits, and they did loosen up and gossip. All in all, a very nice evening.
