Sentences that never should have been uttered, but were

"I can't wait until we get to the Huey Lewis and the News concert so I can study."

My friend and I did come down to the Hartford show after all. And we did get a lot of studying done in the parking lot. (He even studied inside the theater, but I was too wired to do much more than badger people with multiple choice questions about bailments.) Originally we were going to buy cheap tickets way in the back, but when we inquired with the box office there were two in the 11th row tempting me, so I coerced my friend into changing our plans. (But what’s up with the $5/per ticket day of charge ticket surcharge??? On top of the $5/per ticket "convenience" fee??? From the box office???)

Anyway, HLN was great. I mean, of course they were. But even as someone who sees a gazillion of their concerts a year, I still felt like I was seeing them for the first time. There were lots of new things about the set to enjoy: the new harp solo in "Build Me Up," the guitar solo in POL, the newfound funkiness in "Heart of Rock and Roll," the vaguely kind of sort of mini drum solo in "Some of My Lies"... And then of course the "I Thank You" song with Bill Champlin.

Then there was Chicago. We couldn’t stay for much of it because of the long commute and study needs, but we saw the first couple of songs. (I do loathe to leave an event early, but in this case it was necessary. Still, I imagine that generally it's much easier for a Chicago fan to justify coming early to enjoy HLN than a HLN fan to justify staying late for Chicago.) Volume-wise, I understand what people were saying about the sound. It wasn’t oppressively loud, but it definitely seemed louder than HLN's set.

The most striking thing about Chicago, though, was that it was so theatrical. Some of that comes in from aesthetic details, like the slideshow of pictures rotating on a screen at the back of the stage. And the drum kit, which gives the impression that the poor drummer is about to be eaten by a shiny yellow venus flytrap. But it also comes from the performance too. At least in the beginning the first couple of songs/medleys seemed less about surfing the songs themselves (like what HLN tends to do) and more about punctuating the performance with all sorts of musical and physical flourishes. Even Huey's performance in "Color My World" was part of that – he didn't sing very long.

But the "I'm a Man" was fantastic. And I don’t just mean because Johnny! holding the mike in his hands! sang lead! at one point. It was a lot of fun to watch because everyone looked like they were having a really good time. It still had a theatrical quality to it, though, like with different groups of people coming onto the stage at different times. I thought the performance looked a lot like what West Side Story would look like, if everyone suddenly started getting along.

So all in all I had a very nice time and was glad I went, studying and moon-baying aside. Also with the dual-crowd there – HLN and Chicago fans – there were some interesting new people to meet. Then again, I may not understand some of the Chicago fans. When we left we offered our 11th row tickets to people on the lawn, but no one wanted them! We asked about 5 different couples and then gave up. Oh well. I guess it was nice there up on the lawn just kicking back and listening. Who needs 11th row when you have your own party going on.