John Legend at Ravinia Festival | July 21, 2009

John Legend Concert at Ravinia Festival Grounds on July 21, 2009

I went to see John Legend perform at the Ravinia Festival Grounds in Highland Park, IL on July 21, 2009.  Normally I’m not the concert going type.  I’ve seen many shows from rock concerts such as Rage Against the Machine, to hip-hop shows like The Roots and Lauryn Hill to folk singers like James Taylor.  I’ve never once had problems like I had with the Ravinia Festival Grounds.

John Legend is my wife’s favorite artist, so naturally when I heard he was going to be performing in our area I had to grab a pair of tickets.  Not only is he my wife’s favorite artist, “Stay with You” was also our wedding song.

I left work early on Tuesday to make sure we had enough time to make it to the Ravnia, we stopped at Whole Foods before hand and picked up some picnic supplies and food.  According to Ravinia’s website lawn seats were great for picnicing.  Unfortunately that’s about all they are good for.  After finding a place to park, and taking the dangerously packed shuttle bus ( I felt like Keanu Reeves from speed ) to the venue, we found ourselves overwhelmed finding a place to sit.  The place was beyond “packed”, but not to fear, the Ravinia website says thier state of the art sound system makes the concert audible to all….well that was a bunch of bullshit.  Someone is sadly mistaken if they are calling 20 year old 3-way 15″ speakers, pole-mounted and intersperced at quarter-mile intervals throughout the lawn “state of the art”.  We found a place to sit when we first got in and started to set up our lawn chairs, but unfortunately our chairs were hanging a couple centimeters onto the pavement and the “pavement nazi” came by and told us to move.  With literally nowhere to sit, we ended up in the back of the park, about 15 feet from an entrance gate behind a garbage can.  We had absolutely no view of the stage, we were not even remotely close to the stage and could barely hear the “state of the art” sound system over the incessant chatting of the crowd.

Now I’ve been to many concerts and I’ve never seen anything like the Ravinia, people were sprawled out on the lawn like it was thier living room, with no concern for the other concert goers who might have actually wanted to enjoy the music.  I know i sure as hell don’t need to pay $28 to play Yahtzee, or read a book…..YES!!! there were people playing dice games and reading books, and I even saw one person listening to a DAMN IPOD!!! at a concert?????  If I wanted to listen to John Legend over a loudspeaker I can do it anytime, I’m a DJ, I dont need to pay $28 for it.  When I go to a concert, I want to have some view of the stage (as remote as that may be), and I want to be able to hear the music LOUD AND CLEAR!  Ravinia FAILS MISERABLY at this to the point where I feel like I didn’t get what I paid for.

Some freinds of mine from work were able to get seats much closer to the stage, and finally some room opened up for my wife to stand behind the seats near the stage, so needless to say she was happy and had a good time, which in the end is what counts.  When it was all said and done the concert finished up just in time for a rainstorm, but I was excited because Ravinia’s website said that if you parked in the shuttle lots there is NO WAITING after the concert and you will be on your way easily and smoothly.  Forget that!  We waited 2 hours in the rain, in a line, for a shuttlebus.  Ravinia…please pull your logistical head out of your ass!  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know you need more than 3 shuttle busses to move 17,000 people after a concert.

Overall, John was great, he is one hell of a performer and put on a great show, but do us all a favor next time and spare us a horrible experience at a shitty venue, PLEASE come to either Millenium Park, or one of the arenas like the United Center or All-State.

DJ Meltdown is a 16 year veteran club DJ who has performed at many venues on the east coast and throughout Illinois, for booking please use the form located here.

4 Strings – Take me Away 2009 (TyDi & Sheperd Mix)

Apparently the new rage is re-releasing old trance tracks.  4 Strings “Take me Away” was a club banger back in 2000-2001 and its back for 2009, remastered, remixed and re-released.  Check out my Track of the Week Archive for more hot tracks!  This is my track of the week for July 17, 2009.

Klass vs. Haddaway – What Is Love 2009 (Bootleg Club Mix)

Brand new 2009 Remix of Haddaway’s “What is Love” vs DJ Klaas.  Hear it live in the mix by booking DJ Meltdown today.

Fedde Le Grand ft. Mitch Crown – Scared of Me

Fedde Le Grand is back with a new track “Scared of Me”, it’s my track of the week for July 10, 2009.

Basement Jaxx – Raindrops (Funkagenda & Paul Thomas Remix)

Basement Jaxx are back after a long respite.  New Single “RainDrops” is absolutely on fire.  Look for it to be tearing up the charts soon.

It’s my track of the week for July 3, 2009 – HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE!