June 12-13, 2015-It's been 4 years since Lennie & I have been able to attend the Chicago Blues Festival. This year our visit to Illinois, the dates worked out in our favor!We had mentioned to Leif that we were going to be attending the festival & he said he would love to join us!I know I keep saying that we're out in the country.....which we are, so the best way for us to do this was by catching the train in & back from Chicago! On Wednesday when Leif was over for a visit we gave him the rundown on our Blues Fest plans!
Friday the 12th-This morning we woke up to pouring down rain!!!! What a way to start a Blues Fest....with the blues!?!Today starts early, not so much for us, but more so for Leif who since retiring, had no bed time or wake up time!?! But he was up.....& he was calling me to see if this mornings rain was tabling our Blues Fest! According to the weather, the rain was suppose to clear out around the noon hour. We packed according to the weather & set out to pick up Leif. When we arrived at his place....he was in shorts & a Tshirt!!! Lennie "suggested" Leif might want to bring some "Warm Clothes" too! He took Lennie's suggestion & threw a pair of sweat pants along with a sweater & a jacket into a bag & away we went!
Our intentions were to catch the Metra in Elburn but rain & construction caused us to miss our turn into the Elburn station! Not a big deal, we caught the Metra at the La Fox station!
We had a hard time figuring out the pay parking system here but with some help from total strangers we were good to go!
Now what do we do!?!
I see the train coming from the ELBURN station!!!
All aboard! I was surprised to learn that Leif said he hasn't been on a train since our family moved from Massachusetts to Illinois. OMG, that was 63 years ago!!!
This is the College Avenue train station in Wheaton. More great childhood memories! We moved to 1105 College Avenue after our home in Pleasant Hill burned down. We were here across from the train station from part of 1st grade to most of 5th grade. I loved living in "downtown" Wheaton, we could walk to places, & our friends lived close by, unlike before we lived so far out, at least in my young mind it seemed like we lived so far away from anything & everyone!?! Needless to say, College Avenue no longer looked the same, WOW had it grown.....too busy for me now!!!!
We buy tomorrow's tickets today at the Chicago station, they will cost more on the train!
When we leave the station here in Chicago, we have about a mile walk to Grant Park where the Festival is being held, & yes it's raining out, but not too bad!We barely started that mile walk when we decided to stop at Red Robin (YUM!) for lunch. We didn't know what kind of festival food we'd have to choose from & the rain might quit while we're eating! Leif was sure glad I had an extra raincoat in our bag of tricks!!!
Off to see the Blues!
The Festival is FREE & draws a HUGE crowd! There are many sponsors one of the main sponsors is Budweiser Beer. We start out at the Budweiser Crossroads Stage.
You can barely see Chicago's skyline! By now Leif is sooooo happy he brought along the extra clothing. As the rain continues the temps start to drop.We usually go back & forth between stages but the Budweiser Stage had such a great group of performers we sat there all afternoon!
BB Queen(she was a special guest performer)
Setting up our spots, getting ready for the headliner!(notice Leif in warmer clothing!?!)
As a rule, this section would be jammed packed, with the cold weather & rain, only the die-hard Blues Fans are here! At this point, I myself am wearing a long sleeve pullover, 2 hooded sweatshirts & my rain poncho. I have blue jeans on, wishing I had brought a blannket to cover my legs!!!
Clarence Carter performed 7:05-8:05pm, he should have been the Headliner, he was more known than the headliner, in my opinion!?! I was glad after all that Clarence Carter wasn't the headliner, I was really cold & ready to go back home!!!Tomorrow I'm bringing my blanket!!!
This guy, the one with the star on his shirt.....he never stopped dancing! Every once in awhile someone would come up & join him in the dance! He definitely kept everyone entertained!
Clarence Carter finishes.....it takes a little bit to tear the stage down of his equipment & set it back up for the next performer. Tonight the last performer is Syl Johnson??? See...Syl Johnson I never heard of him, I'm cold & we have that mile walk back to the train station!?! When Lennie asks "Whatta you guys wanna do????" Before I can say I'm cold & ready to go.....Leif says,"Why don't we hear one song by the next guy, then decide?" That's fair enough, Leif has never been to the Chicago Blues Fest before so......we wait! Turns out when Syl Johnson came on stage, he was all right & had I had my blanket to help keep me warm, I wouldn't mind listening to his set.....it was starting to rain a little, so after his opening song, we packed up the chairs, grabbed our bags, now lighter since we're wearing all the clothes we brought.....! & head for the train station!
When we got back to the train station, we only had time to buy some Mrs Field's cookies before boarding!!! Boy did we luck out cause it was buy 2 get 1 free! Just the amount of cookies we needed!?!
(I think Leif is whispering SWEET NOTHINGS to Joyce!?!)
We get back to the La Fox train station, drop Leif off in Sandwich, continue on to Hi-Tide, it's after midnight, & we're going to do it all over again tomorrow!!!
Today we are wiser, & we drive right to the Elburn train station with no problem! Parking is Free today so we don't even have to worry about trying to figure out the parking pay system!!!
Chicago bound!!!
YUM!!!
Today we start out at the Pepsi Front Porch Stage. It's pretty warm out, we find a nice shaded spot, set up & get ready to listen to some music!
Hmmmmm, maybe he ought to put them back on!?!
Blues fans come in all shapes & sizes!?!
After Lurrie Bell's performance, we moved out to the Jackson Mississippi Rhythm & Blues Stage. NO SHADE & boy was it hot!!! We sat there for awhile listening to the music before making our way to the Petrillo Music Shell. We knew it would be packed today, 2 great performers are coming up back to back. Shemekia Copeland & headliner Buddy Guy....we were lucky we found some grass to set our chairs up on! We did, in amongst the crowd, after getting a sandwich for dinner we sit back & enjoy!
It was so crowded tonight, our dancer, was present, but couldn't find room to dance!
Shemekia Copeland put on a GREAT show,I couldn't even work my way forward to try & get a picture! Notice those skies? Even before she was done singing, the rain started, & lightening!!! An announcer came forward & stated Buddy Guy's performance was going to be paused till lightening was out of the area!!! OH NO!!!! We've waited all weekend to see Buddy Guy!!! This presents a real problem for us.....we have a train to catch, so if Buddy Guy is late, we miss a train....the next train is 12:40 am putting us back home way too late! Sorry Buddy Guy, great performer that you are.....maybe another time, but not tonight!?!
We had to hustle to catch the train, we weren't going to make it, but we hailed a cab instead of that mile walk back to the station!
We dropped Leif off at his place & he said, "Hey guys, don't forget me next year!" We don't go to the Chicago Blues Fest every year, but I think our dates for next years visit to Illinois might include another Chicago Blues Festival!?!
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