STYX in Chicago
Seeing Styx in Chicago was one of those events I had on my List (capital L) of "things I have to do." This show was at the newly renamed Tweeter Center which is actually in Tinley Park, about 20 miles outside of Chicago, and I'm usually kind of picky about those distinctions, but everyone called this the Chicago show, and to me this was Chicago. Getting to check an item off your List is a big deal - so forgive me if I'm a little weird about describing this experience! In fact, if you want to skip the story and just go with the pictures, click here - I won't mind, really!
Still here, huh? Okay, from now on if anything I say makes you think "that’s just goofy" - no sympathy, you were warned!
I combined this trip to Chicago with a visit to my friend Jamie, who lives in Wisconsin. To me, Wisconsin is near Chicago - it made perfect sense to me! We left Wisconsin very early on the day of the show - like 4am - so Jamie's kids could spend the day with family. We got to Tinley Park in the early afternoon and decided to see if we could check into our hotel, but they said we wouldn't be able to get into our room until check in time at 4pm. Well, so much for any ideas about getting a nap in before the 6pm show! We checked a few other hotels in the area, and every room everywhere was booked - the hotel staff told me there were things going on at the raceway in the area, a ton of family reunions, and a roller skating convention?? We kept checking back, and finally got into the hotel about 2:30. I was REALLY happy to get out of the car! I couldn’t rest though - I was way too excited!
We tried to go to the box office early and pick up our tickets, but couldn't do that either. We had gotten "golden circle" tickets through Styxworld.com, and when we went to the box office, they had no idea what I meant and said the guest list from the band hadn’t come out yet. I had forgotten to bring the confirmation email I had gotten when I bought the tickets, so I decided we'd wait until we came back for the show and pick up the tickets then, after someone else had straightened out the confusion. My apologies to whoever had to have that argument! So at about 5:00, we were back at the will call window, and this time they had the tickets right there when I showed my ID. We looked at the tickets, and we were in row A - front row for Styx in Chicago? This is something I never ever imagined. Jamie just knew all along that we would be in the front row, but I couldn’t even hope for it - yes Jamie, you were right!