"Being Sick Sucks"
October 9th, 2000
Allstate Arena: Rosemont,
Illinois
Main
Set...
Release, Corduroy, Grievance,
God's Dice, Animal, Red Mosquito, Nothing As It Seems, Given To Fly, Wishlist,
Elderly Woman, In Hiding, Even Flow, Light Years, MFC, Lukin, Not For You,
Better Man, Leatherman, Nothingman, Do The Evolution, Insignificance, Black,
Parting Ways
First
Encore...
Sleight of Hand, Soldier
of Love, Crazy Mary, Jeremy, Rearviewmirror
Second
Encore...
Soon Forget, Baba O'Riley
When I
woke up the morning of the 9th...I felt like complete poo poo. I must have
been getting sick...and being out in the cold for Alpine the night before
really wacked it to me. We got our shit together and departed for the O'Hare
airport. Why? Well the Allstate Arena was there and we had to drop off
poor Sarah so she could go back home:-(
After
saying our goodbyes to Sarah...Ryan, Carolina, and I departed for our favorite
place in the world: the venue box office. There waiting was Mike, Mike's
girlfriend, and Trevor. The rest of the gang was pretty much missing in
action. My seats were really shitty for the show, but I was too sick and
too happy to even care about upgrading. Trevor was not feeling so hot either,
so we both just laid on the floor and tried to sleep and make ourselves
feel better. Around 2 Central Time, I had just drifted into a nice sleep,
and the phone rang...it was my mom reminding me that the Backstreet Boys
were on TRL. Which was great, I was so happy she was recording it for me...but
I was at a box office! I couldn't watch it anyway! Eventually, the cops
came and kicked us out of the box office...saying we were loitering or
some bullshit...so Carolina and I went to go find something to eat...and
we ended up shopping (I found some sweet shoes at Marshall's)...and then
went back to the venue.
Everyone
was hanging out...it was really nice...the weather was much better than
the previous night...and then we all went into the SHITTIEST VENUE in the
world. My spirits were lifted to see that there was indeed a poster...PHILLY's
poster! Woo hoo! I was so pumped! I was at that show! ;-)
Carolina
and I wandered around trying to figure out how the hell to get to our shitty
seats...the place was such crap, really. We got to our seats, and I'll
be honest, I couldn't believe how bad they really were. Oh well. Seriously.
I was there, and that made everything so worthwhile! Once the band hit
the stage though...forget it. I saw better on the lawn the 2nd night at
Alpine Valley. LOL ok, not really, but I couldn't see shit. There must
not have been enough height in-between the rows...because I have never
had such a shitty view in an arena.
Since
my throat hurt, I couldn't scream and could only sing quietly (while popping
Life Savers in my mouth)...so the whole show really sucked for me because
I could not participate like I usually do.
Great
opener...Release! My first for the year 2000! About damn time! And like
always...they played Red Mosquito a few days after Erin saw them:-) Got
the "man" trio for the 2nd time...so that was way cool.
Highlight
for me was Parting Ways...again...cause that song is just so great!!!
Baba...ok...everyone
was DRUNK...(my pants were rolled up because I didn't want them to get
wet from all the beer on the floor) and the clapping was off. I thought
Toronto was way better...I am unsure if this is because I was feeling so
shitty in Chicago or what...but I liked Toronto's version better.
Leaving
the Allstate Arena was a task...it was like a huge slip and slide (of beer).
It was so sick. The whole place was saturated in beer. Gross. That's what
I hate about situations like this...a venue can totally make or break your
take on a show...and obviously, the Allstate helped contribute to my not-so-good
time. Now everytime I pass an Allstate office, I feel like stopping and
asking why they can't put more money into their DAMN ARENA!!!