Chicago Blues Festival / review

235 S Columbus Dr
Chicago, IL 60604
(773) 866-9740

The show can get a little draggy and repetitious at mid day, which is why only four stars, and Chicago’s finest is out forcibly closing the park at 10 sharp (not cool), but on Friday and Saturday night toward closing one gets a show and an audience that is not to be missed. Get in a little before sunset, and seats should be available inside the fence - just be sure to leave your cameras and your glass bottles at home.

If you get there late, no worries, just bring a chair, and be amazed at how friendly a crowd of a quarter of a million people can be. The food stands behind the shell tend to be overpriced, ounce for ounce, but if you pass through that line of stalls, on some years a nice art show can be found in the park, and there are the hopefuls busking away on the sidewalks leading up to the fest.

Bashing this event has become a rite of passage for the terminally cool, who will point to the "safe" nature of many of the acts, but if you aren’t concerned with impressing somebody, you might be willing to admit that you enjoyed seeing B.B. King on stage, who looked like he was having a grand old time up there - and so were we.

First Posted: 10/5/2007
Yelp Rating: Four Stars