The Rain Delay

I fled home from Saudi in time to take the Girl up to Chicago, for an evening with Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field. We had secured some members passes for the VIP area in the pit. The concert started with a strong pulse of classic tunes before an hour into it the concert was stopped. Due to concerns for the safety of the patrons they decided to have a short pause while a storm passed through.

In a twist of irony I thought back to the mud bath that PJ played through the first time I was in attendance. In 1995, at the Eastern Creek Raceway, we slugged through an epic 3hr set that saw the heavens open up for a large portion of the show. Back in '95 though I was a whipper snapper, the pit was actually moshing, and the girl would have been nowhere to be seen.

Back to Chicago, the majority of the crowd had taken refuge under or beneath the shelter of the grandstand. We had a nice spot at an entrance to the field to catch the most of the storm.

There is supposed to be a video here that I took of the heavens opening up. Unfortunately technology has gotten the better of me and I can't upload it - if only there was a 12yr old around to show me how. It was pretty cool so just your imagination of the lighting, heavy rain, etc. (Kids that's what we did before technology was around)

After a couple of hours the covers came off and the concert resumed. The band played on until 2am, well after the 11pm curfew, that left some very satisfied fans in tow.

Highlights of the night included: seeing Dennis Rodman (former Chicago Bulls player) in the pit area with us, a rendition of Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns (a song from Mother Love Bone - Stone Gosssard and Jeff Ament band prior to Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready linking up to form Pearl Jam), and the live debut of three new songs off the new album (Mind your Manners, Lightning Bolt and Future Days), the third which may well wind up in the wedding songs rotation if it is released in time - upon request from the Girl.