Belly and Lush Concerts at The Vic on 09/17 and 09/18

I don't know what else to say other than this past weekend in Chicago has been a wonderful experience. I never imagined that I would be fortunate to have an opportunity to see two of my favorite bands from the '90s that I never gotten to see at the height of their careers. Initially my trip to Chicago over 9/17-09/19 was to just see the reunited Lush but when I got wind of the news that Belly had reformed and was going to be performing in Chicago the night before Lush at The Vic, I knew I would go to that show since I wouldn't be in town for the First Avenue show.

The Vic Theatre is a beautiful theatre reminiscent of The State and Orpheum Theatres in downtown Minneapolis. Venue holds about 1,400 people. The Vic is located in the Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago, not far from Lincoln Park neighborhood and just a quick ride on the L train to downtown Chicago.

As soon as my cab drove by The Vic to drop me off at the B and B I was staying at, I saw a line outside the venue, I knew I had to get in line ASAP (after getting a quick bite to eat). I was smart and got a room at Old Chicago Inn which was about a block away from The Vic. I got in line for both concerts around 4:30 but I killed a lot of time talking to people around me. I was really smart about getting in line for the two shows. While not quite sold out, the Belly show was packed to the gills. I would like to say personally being a short person at concerts really sucks. I had the worst experience at last year's Nightwish show when I could barely see around the taller audience members. Not here in Chicago. A couple of longtime Belly fans were super kind enough to let me up in front. I would have been content being in "second" row but I couldn't have passed up that golden opportunity. Again killed time talking to other Belly fans while waiting for the band to come on.

Unlike the Lush concert who had an opening act, Belly had no opening act. They had a ten minute break between both sets. I think it was 21 songs the band played like from other shows. Of course my faves "Gepetto", "Slow Dog", and "Dusted". I was not disappointed in the song selection for Saturday night's show. Surprisingly it was bassist Gail Greenwood who did the majority of the bantering in between songs as opposed to Tonya Donnelly. She was ever so entertaining to watch and listen to. In other words, Saturday night's show was fantastic. I am really happy that I was able to catch the band in person.





Sunday night proved to be really worth the time, energy and money invested in making the trip down to Chicago. Would have I liked a Minneapolis show? Yes of course but I was more than happy to make the journey down to Chicago, my go to city for some personal me time. I had a brief fan girl moment on Sunday morning when I saw Lush's tour bus pull up in front of The Vic. Not to look like a stalker, I quickly took a picture and went on my way to go to Lincoln Park for a couple of hours of playing the role of the tourist. Like Saturday night, I was smart and had an early supper and got in line for the sold out Lush show and chatted things up with people around me. Thank heavens the weather in Chicago was beautiful and warm outside on both nights. Once inside the venue, I was fortunate and got myself situated on the right hand side (facing the stage) in the front row. Opening up for Lush was Tamaryn. She was perfect to open up for Lush. Her brand of dreampop/shoegaze music was delightful. Unfortunately her set was quite show.



Without a shadow of a doubt, Lush put on a helluva show on Sunday night. I will confess I wished they played "500: but otherwise I was pretty content with the set list for the night. At least they played "Ladykillers". As far as the band sounded live, they were excellent.





You can see more photos I took from the show on my Instagram account. I must say the concert experiences in Chicago this past weekend has been far more pleasant than a lot of shows I have attended here in the Twin Cities. People were courtesy and didn't try to invade into my personal space (like some bitch did at a Babes in Toyland show I went to back in January). For a sold out show on Sunday night, I was surprised that I still had elbow room. If money grew on trees, I would go to more shows in Chicago because of the lack of assholes at concerts.  That said, Belly and Lush at The Vic definitely will go down as two of my favorite shows I have seen in 2016.

Side note: Minneapolis and Saint Paul you can do much better than push and shove people at shows. Lot of you are a bunch of rude, selfish assholes who don't give a fuck about others who were in those spots before ya'll so this is a a big FUCK YOU from short person.

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