Day 11: Chicago
Welcome
Yesterday we played the first of two shows at Thalia Hall in Chicago.
I rose from my bunk as we were cruising along I-90 through Chicago’s western suburbs. The skies were clear and there was no snow to be seen - a pleasant surprise. My morning routine was made slightly more difficult while we were moving through somewhat thicker-than-usual traffic, but I got there in the end.
Breakfast was great grains cereal, Blueberry Nut Crunch, naturally flavoured, with real delicious BLUEBERRIES. On top of this I added a sliced pear, fresh raspberries, yoghurt, and milk.
We were headed to Thalia Hall is a historic venue that lies in Chicago’s Pilsen district, in the Lower West Side. Although Pilsen is a famous Mexican neighbourhood it was given its name by the Czechs who were the dominant ethnic group until the 1950s.
We were met outside the hall by a friendly member of staff who gave us the full tour and then left us to enjoy the luxurious green room. Awaiting us were fresh pastries and fresh socks, a congratulatory gift for selling out the show.
There were some excellent facilities available in the green room including a washer, drier, water bottle re-filler, and a shower that is tall enough to fit a giant.
This is how the electricity gets to our bus.
In the afternoon I set out for a run, heading east, towards the lake. It was still a bit below freezing and I wished I had worn gloves and a hat. My route afforded some great views of the city skyline though, and I got to see some impressive infrastructure from a time begone.
Sitting modestly in the left rear of the below photograph is a lofty steel structure called the St. Charles Air Line Bridge. It is a heel-trunnion bascule bridge, which means that it can be raised and lowered, and that the counter-weight to assist this operation is not fixed and moves independently of the motion of the bridge. This fantastic design was constructed in 1919 and is still in use today. Fascinatingly it was originally 12 meters longer than its current length of 67 meters. When it was built the engineers knew that a project to straighten the Chicago river was imminent so they designed the bridge so that a section could be removed and the bridge could be moved to a new, narrower location.
On the left bank of the river you can see the St. Charles Air Line Bridge with its deck at 2 O'clock and behind it The B&OCT Bascule Bridge sitting vertical.
Eventually I made it all the way to Lake Michigan and found this incredible view waiting for me.
One of the other great things about playing Thalia Hall is that you get a beautiful chalk drawing done by local artist Ann-Michael Paul. I think this is a Tuna fish, which looks very similar to the Haku, or Kingfish, on the cover of our most recent LP.
At 3pm sharp we had load-in. It was a class 5: roughly a 100m push to the stage which included going up a flight of stairs and a ramp, but there was a tiny elevator that you could put the heaviest items in and we were greatly assisted by some very helpful venue staff.
The Chicago crowd brought a strong Friday night energy to our show. They are some of the loudest hecklers I have heard. “What shall we call the fish?” we asked. “Malört!!!!” they yelled back. “PLAY DON’T GO AWAY” someone screamed in every break between songs.
We finally achieved a successful fish inflation again after the previous two failures. Gabe captured it from the back of the room and it was beautifully timed, swinging up to its fully erect position right as Liz entered the first verse of Future Me Hates Me.
It snowed while we were playing. We emerged at the end of the night to find a layer of fluffy powder atop the bus and a deadly layer of ice on the footpaths. Luckily we didn’t have to pack out so we boarded our sparkly golden hotel and watched the closing moments of Gareth Edward’s 2014 masterpiece, Godzilla, before retiring to our bunks.
My daily bus photo.