{"id":2197,"date":"2013-08-18T19:10:19","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T00:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2197"},"modified":"2013-08-18T19:10:19","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T00:10:19","slug":"night-at-the-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2197","title":{"rendered":"Night at the Circus"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the spring, I was planning my summer activities.\u00a0 One of these would be to attend the Peter Frampton Guitar Circus.\u00a0 It would be a blast from the past sort of thing in one part.\u00a0 The other part was to see B.B King.\u00a0 I\u2019ve not taken an opportunity in the past to see B.B., but always wanted to.\u00a0 This was going to be that opportunity.<\/p>\n

I convinced Rich to go with me.\u00a0 We had seen Frampton last year at Ravinia.\u00a0 It was awesome.\u00a0 The first half of the show as Frampton Comes Alive.\u00a0 The second half was the music Frampton likes to play.\u00a0 That made the second the one to hear.<\/p>\n

After looking at the venue, I discovered that Two Brothers brewery was supplying the beer on site.\u00a0 After some discussion with Rich, I decided to have Rick go also and be the DD for the return trip.\u00a0 Rick said he was for it.\u00a0 So I got online and got a ticket.<\/p>\n

Friday afternoon came, finally.\u00a0 I stopped work at 2:00 and started getting the guys in motion.\u00a0 Chairs were gathered into the back of the car.\u00a0 I found my paperwork for the tickets that we would be picking up at Will Call.\u00a0 We hit the road a little after 2:30 for the trip down to Aurora.<\/p>\n

The trip seemed to take forever!\u00a0 Rush hour traffic had started and the way through most of the towns on our route were crowded.\u00a0 In Batavia, we jumped from one road to the next that would take us down to Aurora.\u00a0 One of our concerns had been about where we would park.\u00a0 As we got down to the area of the venue, we saw signs for the public lots and event parking.\u00a0 My plan had been to use the Metra lot.\u00a0 As I got there, I was in luck.\u00a0 An Event parking sign was posted.\u00a0 It was only $5.00.<\/p>\n

This was a good stroke of luck.\u00a0 The lot is located across the street from the venue.\u00a0 Also, Two Brothers Roundhouse restaurant is located on the backside of the lot.\u00a0 We planned to have dinner at Two Brothers and then walk to the concert.<\/p>\n

We were seated and drinks were ordered.\u00a0 We looked through the menu and determined what we would have to eat.\u00a0 Most of the brewpubs do what are called small plates.\u00a0 These are like samplings of dishes instead of a full dish.\u00a0 Rich and I picked a couple of eat as our dinner.\u00a0 Rick opted for a burger and chips.\u00a0 Rich finished his first beer and ordered a second and I got a sampling of another beer.\u00a0 One of the people from the bar delivered the beers to us.\u00a0 Not long after, our server brought the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0 She left it at the table free of charge sine they would only dump it out anyway.<\/p>\n

After dinner, we headed to the car to collect our chairs and make our way to the gates.\u00a0 We crossed the highway and joined the crowd on the sidewalk.\u00a0 Immediately, we ran into a friend from work.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t seen Sharon in a couple of years.\u00a0 We talked quickly and then we moved on to pick up our tickets.\u00a0 Rick\u2019s was available in the first booth.\u00a0 Rich and I went on to Gate 1 to pick up ours.<\/p>\n

The crowd was all waiting at the last booth to enter the park.\u00a0 We entered at Gate 1 where there was hardly anyone.\u00a0 That was great.\u00a0 Rich and I stopped at the beer bracelet booth.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get a beer without one.\u00a0 Then we stepped up to find out where to sit.\u00a0 It turns out that we were sitting in the benches.\u00a0 This meant we didn\u2019t need chairs after all.\u00a0 The usher said we could sit anywhere, but the first 5 rows.\u00a0 We found a row that gave us seats right at the very end.\u00a0 We were only 13 rows from the stage.\u00a0 How cool was that.<\/p>\n

While waiting for the show to start, Rich and Rick went to check out the souvenir table.\u00a0 Rich came back with a cool B.B. King shirt.\u00a0 Rick hadn\u2019t purchased anything yet.\u00a0 I went in search so I could buy my own.\u00a0 I also got a B.B. King shirt while Rick settled on a Frampton Circus shirt.\u00a0 Well, it was time for the concert to start.\u00a0 Rick and I got back to our seats and already had to scoot someone over to make room for all three of us.<\/p>\n

The first act was Sonny Landreth.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t heard of Sonny before seeing him on the bill.\u00a0 He\u2019s from Louisiana and plays guitar with the same Louisiana s sound as Tab Benoit.\u00a0 Sonny was very good and had a great sound.\u00a0 His band was very good also.\u00a0 We saw Peter and his band come out to the side of the stage to watch Sonny.\u00a0 They seemed to be enjoying the music and watching his technique.<\/p>\n

Next up was what I had come to see.\u00a0 The roadies rearranged the set for B.B. King.\u00a0 The band tuned up and got started with the first tune.\u00a0 There was a brass and horn section as well as the guitars and drums.\u00a0 After the first song, B.B. himself was escorted to the stage.\u00a0 For a man of 87, he moved pretty well.\u00a0 He came out to great applause and took his seat.\u00a0 After playing his seat and joking with the audience, he called for Peter to come to the stage.\u00a0 He got Peter out there and they played, \u201cThe Thrill is Gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

B.B. would get to the end of a stanza and call for the band to play quietly.\u00a0 Then he would turn to Peter and say, \u201cBut not you. Keep playing!\u201d\u00a0 Then he would threaten to cut guys from the band, even Peter, for not doing what they were told. \u00a0They went on like that for quite a while and we all laughed.\u00a0 Pretty soon, B.B. finally had enough fun and ended his set.<\/p>\n

While they changed the stage around for Peter and company to come on, we walked around.\u00a0 The bench seats were not very full while the immediate seating outside of the benches and the grassy area further back were full.\u00a0 The bathrooms were, of course, the hopping areas of the park.\u00a0 Everyone seemed to be standing in line.<\/p>\n

The show started up again.\u00a0 Peter Frampton and his band came on.\u00a0 I won\u2019t bore you with those details.\u00a0 But if the opportunity arises, the band and audience make it a great show.\u00a0 After a couple of song, Peter brought on Larry Carlton.\u00a0 Who, you ask?\u00a0 Larry is the guitar player\u2019s best guitar god.\u00a0 Larry was absolutely wonderful.\u00a0 A tall older gentleman, I had never seen Larry before.<\/p>\n

Later, Rich did a search and it turns out that Larry has written many hit TV show songs, like Hill Street Blues, and is a session player on many, many albums.\u00a0 I was surprised to find out that he played the guitar solo on Steeley Dan\u2019s song, \u201cKid Charlemagne.\u201d\u00a0 As Frampton like to say, this was a circus and he was the ringleader.<\/p>\n

The songs rolled out.\u00a0 Peter brought out his son, Julian, to sing some tunes.\u00a0 Julian\u2019s pretty tall.\u00a0 Peter joked about shrinking when his son was around.\u00a0 Julian does a pretty fair job of singing.\u00a0 He definitely did better when Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick came to the stage.\u00a0 The second song was \u201cSurrender\u201d from Cheap Trick.\u00a0 Rick threw what looked like an album cover out from the stage.\u00a0 It sailed up, over the crowd, and headed right for Rich.\u00a0 He put up his arm to protect his face.\u00a0 He knocked the projectile to the ground and then scrambled to pick it up.\u00a0 He handed it to me.<\/p>\n

I tried to see the cover in the dark.\u00a0 It was the Frampton Comes Alive cover from some 35 years ago.\u00a0 Wait, it was signed.\u00a0 The lights came up enough for me to see that Frampton and Rick Nielsen had both signed it.\u00a0 Cool.\u00a0 It felt like there was something inside.\u00a0 Rich assured me it was just cardboard though.\u00a0 Everyone around us were thrilled and sad that they hadn\u2019t gotten it before Rich.\u00a0 I sat holding the cover the rest of the night.\u00a0 Kind of hard to clap when you have something you don\u2019t want to drop.<\/p>\n

Frampton finally got around to playing \u201cBlackhole Sun,\u201d which is Rich\u2019s favorite song from the last concert.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty cool rendition.\u00a0 The night\u2019s music ended with a version of George Harrison\u2019s \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps.\u201d\u00a0 I love this version.\u00a0 In all, the guitar work was great.\u00a0 The evening was fun, loud, and worth the effort.<\/p>\n

So the show was over and it was time for Rick to drive us home.\u00a0 After all, Rich and I had been drinking some really good beers during the evening.\u00a0 We had only gotten part of the way home when Rick announced he had to stop.\u00a0 However, no stores or restaurants were open.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t even midnight!\u00a0 We were close to my friend, Kim\u2019s, place.\u00a0 I texted her and she was still up.\u00a0 We stopped by and Rick took care of his business.<\/p>\n

We finally made it home.\u00a0 Sascha was really glad to see us.\u00a0 It was about 1:00 before I could fall asleep.\u00a0 It was a good day though.<\/p>\n

As a footnote:\u00a0 Rich decided to get the cover framed with our tickets for his bar area.\u00a0 We took it over to the shop we usually use for these things.\u00a0 The guy was very impressed that we had Rick Nielsen signature.\u00a0 We\u2019ll get it back in 10 days.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our view of the stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"B.B.<\/a>
B.B. King coming out on stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"B.B.<\/a>
B.B. and Peter Frampton doing “The Thrill is Gone.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rick<\/a>
Rick Nielsen, Julian Frampton, and Peter Frampton on stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Frampton<\/a>
Frampton doing “Do You Feel Like I Do”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the spring, I was planning my summer activities.\u00a0 One of these would be to attend the Peter Frampton Guitar Circus.\u00a0 It would be a blast from the past sort of thing in one part.\u00a0 The other part was to see B.B King.\u00a0 I\u2019ve not taken an opportunity in the past to see B.B., but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2197"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2206,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}