#36 – Attend an Outdoor Concert COMPLETE!
Monday night I had a day off of work. And I was a complete slug. TOTAL slug. I had some allergies, sure, but mostly the problem was that I had no plan for the day. And I am a listless wanderer with no plan. I can walk by a pile of dirty laundry over and over, but if I didn’t plan to wash them that day the pile will remain. It’s true. This happened on Monday. Don’t judge me.
My sister had been talking about going to see a show at the Pritzker Pavillion down at Millennium Park that night and I was thinking of tagging along, but in the end she couldn’t go. Earlier in the day I’d reached out to a couple of people to see if anyone else might want to go, but it was a Monday night and folks couldn’t make it. So I sat on my couch and wondered if I’d just go by myself. I could go because it was something from my list. I could go because I liked this musician and it was about a 25 minute drive from home. I could go because what better way to reverse the effects of slugdom then go to an outdoor concert in the city.
So I put on my big girl pants (really, I think I was still wearing my exercise capris) and headed downtown. There was a fog advisory, but it didn’t seem too bad on the way down. I found a place to park and headed up to the show that was just getting started. This was what I saw first.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who headed downtown for the show. Oh, and the show was Glen Hansard (of The Frames, the Commitments, The Swell Season) featuring members of The Frames. The city hosts these free concerts every Monday throughout the summer.
There were surprisingly a good number of seats available for the taking so I headed down and found myself a spot.
Whenever I go out like this by myself it always takes me a little while to settle in, to know what to do with myself…I mean what do I do with my hands?! I feel compelled to talk to my neighbors. I’ve said it before, but maybe not here, my first line of defense in awkward/vulnerable situations is to quickly make a friend. But instead this time I just paid attention to the music. I breathed deeply and felt the cool air blow across my face. I took the time to really see the Pritzker in all it’s architectural glory. And of course I had my trusty camera.
This is beautiful, right? Chicago is a great city.
I heard some good music
I found some Irish kids. I know this because I heard them speak, not because I can just tell.
I walked right up to the stage and was able to get these…
And then the fog started rolling in…
By the time I was on the road home it looked a little something like this…
****************
While it would have been more *fun* to go with a sister or a friend – it was still a great night out on my own. So my advice to you – go.
xo
erin
