TMBG in concert! also PSA
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Ok now on to the important stuff. I just got back from a concert at Lincoln Park Zoo and it was awesome! Lincoln Park Zoo had this thing called "[URL=http://www.lpzoo.com/events/jammin2006.html]Jammin' at the Zoo[/URL]." It was They Might Be Giants one of my favorite bands (loved em for most of my life, seriously--since I was a little kid) and it was so great... It was a last-minute thing as we only heard about it a few days ago and we luckily were able to get tickets just before the show (they eventunally sold out.) I'm really lucky that I even heard about it, I think my dad or someone just happened to catch them talking about it on the radio and mentioned it.
The weather was good, luckily. It threatened rain all day which worried us, and the news predicted scattered thunderstorms and rain. It got really dark at about 5 pm but we were lucky, all that happened was some drizzle on the ride there and a couple drops while the opening band was playing.
The venue was really nice, they have this large lawn area in the zoo where the concert was held. They kept the building with restaurants open as well as the big cats building, flamingo area, sea lion pool, the children's zoo, and a monkey exhibit. The rest of the zoo was closed off. It was really nice just to wander around the zoo at night-- they normally close at 6:30. The concert had 2 other bands before TMBG so I walked around while the other groups were playing. The children's zoo area was especially nice, it's had winding paths through an area with a lot of trees meeting overhead so it was nice and quiet and very pleasant. You couldn't really see the animals in there because the lights were down, but it was just nice to wander through it. I did get to see some monkeys, a snow leopard, a black panther, and the lions were lounging in their outdoor area. I did a fair amount of wander while waiting for my brother, who decided he'd come at 9 when TMBG was going to start playing. The other two groups were "Tally Hall" and "The Bad Examples." You could tell pretty much everyone was there for TMBG though! We got there about when the doors opened but we still did not have the best seats,(they let people who had zoo memberships in early) we were behind a tree so none of us could see the whole stage. Near then end of the concert some people in front of us left though, and my brother and I moved to stand closer and got a very good view.
I like all of TMBG's songs so the concert itself was great. The last time I saw them was a little toned down I think, it was 2 or so years ago at a summer festival in the suburbs. Their website says their concerts are not for kids-- most of the venues are at least 16-and-up, but the zoo concert was all ages so there were a lot of kids there. I think one neat thing about TMBG is they have a very varied audience as far as ages of their fans. They played a couple new songs from an upcoming CD and a few I hadn't heard before from their recent children's CD. They also had some good banter, including telling everyone the concert would benefit the flamingo exhibit-- 'yes that's right, ONLY the flamingoes. No other animals.'
They have one song that sounds conga-ish (if you're wondering its "No One Knows My Plan") so before they played they started singing like 'everybody conga! I'm really not kidding! Everybody conga!' It was really funny, and a bunch of people formed a conga line and conga-d through the crowd.
At the "end" of the concert when everyone started clapping rythmically for them to come back out after they left the stage, they came back did 4-5 more (long!) songs in the encore. Oh yeah and I got a t-shirt.
I would love to go to more concerts at the zoo, I think it's an awesome place to hold them and a good different use of the space...
If anyone's interested, you can read the list of songs and a review of the concert here:
http://tmbgtalk.1.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=3245&st=0&#entry84536
Ok now on to the important stuff. I just got back from a concert at Lincoln Park Zoo and it was awesome! Lincoln Park Zoo had this thing called "[URL=http://www.lpzoo.com/events/jammin2006.html]Jammin' at the Zoo[/URL]." It was They Might Be Giants one of my favorite bands (loved em for most of my life, seriously--since I was a little kid) and it was so great... It was a last-minute thing as we only heard about it a few days ago and we luckily were able to get tickets just before the show (they eventunally sold out.) I'm really lucky that I even heard about it, I think my dad or someone just happened to catch them talking about it on the radio and mentioned it.
The weather was good, luckily. It threatened rain all day which worried us, and the news predicted scattered thunderstorms and rain. It got really dark at about 5 pm but we were lucky, all that happened was some drizzle on the ride there and a couple drops while the opening band was playing.
The venue was really nice, they have this large lawn area in the zoo where the concert was held. They kept the building with restaurants open as well as the big cats building, flamingo area, sea lion pool, the children's zoo, and a monkey exhibit. The rest of the zoo was closed off. It was really nice just to wander around the zoo at night-- they normally close at 6:30. The concert had 2 other bands before TMBG so I walked around while the other groups were playing. The children's zoo area was especially nice, it's had winding paths through an area with a lot of trees meeting overhead so it was nice and quiet and very pleasant. You couldn't really see the animals in there because the lights were down, but it was just nice to wander through it. I did get to see some monkeys, a snow leopard, a black panther, and the lions were lounging in their outdoor area. I did a fair amount of wander while waiting for my brother, who decided he'd come at 9 when TMBG was going to start playing. The other two groups were "Tally Hall" and "The Bad Examples." You could tell pretty much everyone was there for TMBG though! We got there about when the doors opened but we still did not have the best seats,(they let people who had zoo memberships in early) we were behind a tree so none of us could see the whole stage. Near then end of the concert some people in front of us left though, and my brother and I moved to stand closer and got a very good view.
I like all of TMBG's songs so the concert itself was great. The last time I saw them was a little toned down I think, it was 2 or so years ago at a summer festival in the suburbs. Their website says their concerts are not for kids-- most of the venues are at least 16-and-up, but the zoo concert was all ages so there were a lot of kids there. I think one neat thing about TMBG is they have a very varied audience as far as ages of their fans. They played a couple new songs from an upcoming CD and a few I hadn't heard before from their recent children's CD. They also had some good banter, including telling everyone the concert would benefit the flamingo exhibit-- 'yes that's right, ONLY the flamingoes. No other animals.'
They have one song that sounds conga-ish (if you're wondering its "No One Knows My Plan") so before they played they started singing like 'everybody conga! I'm really not kidding! Everybody conga!' It was really funny, and a bunch of people formed a conga line and conga-d through the crowd.
At the "end" of the concert when everyone started clapping rythmically for them to come back out after they left the stage, they came back did 4-5 more (long!) songs in the encore. Oh yeah and I got a t-shirt.
I would love to go to more concerts at the zoo, I think it's an awesome place to hold them and a good different use of the space...
If anyone's interested, you can read the list of songs and a review of the concert here:
http://tmbgtalk.1.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=3245&st=0&#entry84536