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See Andrew Bird for free!


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Because there are so many of you Chicago folk around these here parts, I thought I'd relay this in case any interested parties didn't already know about it...

 

There will be a free Andrew Bird concert tonight at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago.

 

 

The show starts at 6:30pm sharp.

 

 

Opening the evening will be the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International

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I was there (for Andrew Bird) on the lawn. The place was packed. Weather turned out perfect, in my opinion. The opening band (don't remember, but Occidental was in the name) was very good and fun to listen to in a background sort of way, but I admit I wasn't paying that much attention at the time; I was more interested in just lying in the grass in the middle of Chicago.

 

I thought Andrew Bird's set was great. He came on at 7:30PM and did 2 songs by himself, one of them was a cover of the Handsome Family. "The Giant of Illinois" was the name I believe. After that, his band from Minneapolis came out and helped him out. They rocked the house. Lots of stuff from Armchair Apocrypha and lots of new stuff (He said the album was coming out soon) that sounded really good. Towards the end of the main set, people got up and started dancing all over the place in the lawn and in the pavilion. He seemed to really dig that. Part of what helped was that Oprah had been to the Park earlier that day and put up 3 huge video screens and new curtains and stuff, and had left it there for the park to use, so they took full use of it. During most of the songs, it was footage of Andrew and the Band, but they also intercut cool animated footage at points, like this squid and a dude swimming together. It really was nice to be able to see stuff clearly from the lawn. The band had a blast, and everyone around me had a blast as well. I believe they left the stage close to 9:30. A fun and free night out in Chicago.

 

I was extremely disappointed that I missed out on tonight's free gig at Millennium Park: a live taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!

 

I believe next week they will also be doing The Joffrey Ballet and a Steppenwolf Theater productions in the park for free... I will be trying to attend those as well.

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I was there (for Andrew Bird) on the lawn. The place was packed. Weather turned out perfect, in my opinion. The opening band (don't remember, but Occidental was in the name) was very good and fun to listen to in a background sort of way, but I admit I wasn't paying that much attention at the time; I was more interested in just lying in the grass in the middle of Chicago.

 

I thought Andrew Bird's set was great. He came on at 7:30PM and did 2 songs by himself, one of them was a cover of the Handsome Family. "The Giant of Illinois" was the name I believe. After that, his band from Minneapolis came out and helped him out. They rocked the house. Lots of stuff from Armchair Apocrypha and lots of new stuff (He said the album was coming out soon) that sounded really good. Towards the end of the main set, people got up and started dancing all over the place in the lawn and in the pavilion. He seemed to really dig that. Part of what helped was that Oprah had been to the Park earlier that day and put up 3 huge video screens and new curtains and stuff, and had left it there for the park to use, so they took full use of it. During most of the songs, it was footage of Andrew and the Band, but they also intercut cool animated footage at points, like this squid and a dude swimming together. It really was nice to be able to see stuff clearly from the lawn. The band had a blast, and everyone around me had a blast as well. I believe they left the stage close to 9:30. A fun and free night out in Chicago.

 

I was extremely disappointed that I missed out on tonight's free gig at Millennium Park: a live taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!

 

I believe next week they will also be doing The Joffrey Ballet and a Steppenwolf Theater productions in the park for free... I will be trying to attend those as well.

i think i may have spotted you leaving at the end of the night...are you sporting a 'stache these days? :) and wearing the brown wilco jacket..?

 

what a great night...so glad it didnt rain. one of those nights that just makes you really appreciate chicago and everything it has to offer. the screens were awesome and i really enjoyed being able to see everything that was going on from all the way back on the lawn...the video and animation stuff was really great too. he played a wonderful set and im really, REALLY digging the new stuff. cant wait for the next album!

 

the full name of the opening band was the occidental brothers dance band international..world music type stuff. pretty interesting. overall it was a great time, though i do regret not seeing glenn with the kronos quartet at ravinia...im with lou, id love to hear a review if anyone's got one

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