Day 24: Chicago
Welcome
Yesterday we played our second Here & There Festival in Chicago.
The hotel breakfast at Holiday Inn & Suites Southfield - Detroit finished at 9am and there was no way we were waking up for that so we started our day with a nice late van call. Tristan scouted a deli just off the highway where we stopped and I ordered a Reuben.
Our drive across Michigan was mostly on the i94 which for a large portion carried the designation of Red Arrow Highway, to commemorate the 32nd Infantry Division. Later on it became the 94th Combat Infantry Division Memorial Highway. As you head around the southern shores of Lake Michigan you pass through the top sliver of Indiana and soon it is time to transfer to the Indiana Toll Road. Then at the Illinois state line we join the infamous Chicago Skyway.
📷 Tristan Deck
The Skyway is a tollway that is technically a toll bridge thanks to some legal trickery to get around a city law that prevented the construction of toll roads. The actual steel bridge structure itself is only 750 metres long but the 7.9km approach road is considered part of the toll bridge. As we crossed the Calumet River on this fine span we had a great view of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, Bridge No. 6, the steel vertical lift bridge that has stood proudly on the eastern approach to Chicago since 1915.
As Tristan pans right you can see Bridge No. 6, rated 5 stars from 1 google review.
📷 Tristan Deck
Sitting in traffic on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
📷 Tristan Deck
The drive ended with a good amount of bumper to bumper traffic but we didn’t mind as the city view from the Dan Ryan expressway was epic. It couldn’t last forever though and soon we pulled up at the Salt Shed ready for the business of the day. Our festival setup was now a well rehearsed activity and everyone sprung into action. Jon and Gabe focus on all the audio gear, apparently practising some dark art called patching. Tristan sets up drums, while Liz does guitars and pedal boards. My job was to get the birds hanging up and in this I was aided greatly by the festival technicians.
The Salt Shed is a new venue for Chicago having only opened a couple of weeks before our arrival. It is set in the old Morton Salt Company warehouse complex, a facility that was used for the bulk storage of consumer salt, and later on de-icing salt. The festival stage was outdoors, right next to the Chicago River, with the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago as a backdrop.
The interior of the west shed building, historically the primary storage space for bulk salt.
📷 Tristan Deck
The wind had picked up by the time we headed out to play and the birds were flying beautifully. We had only a thirty minute set and tried to pack it with the perfect mix of album favourites and new singles. It was a glorious evening and a stunning location to be playing and we were sad to leave the stage at the end of our time. There were still some things to look forward to, though. Canadian band Alvvays were playing and they are our favourites, and they haven’t played live in years. Courtney Barnett closed off the night with one of her vibrant performances that we have come to know well.
📷 Liz Stokes
