Chicago Theatre Marquee, The Loop, Chicago

Last Friday we went to see Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend at the Chicago Theatre. Before going we weren’t sure where to go eat that was nearby, so we went to South Water Kitchen. It was alright. Overpriced, we thought. The show was really great, though. Even better than I’d expected, and I was really excited and expecting a lot!

Corinne Bailey Rae, Chicago Theatre, The Loop, Chicago

Here are some thoughts I took note of when we got home:

• In between visits to the Chicago Theatre, I always forget how beautiful it is. Gorgeous.
• I was using the bathroom before the show and all the girls were all a twitter. I heard them saying that they hadn’t slept the night before and that they couldn’t even believe they were there. That’s how charged up and excited the crowd was.
• Our seats were fabulous. On the Mezzanine level, in the front, section K seats 1&2.
• Corinne Bailey Rae is adorable. Cute hair, cute little dress, cute shoes.
• When Corinne went on everyone was still walking around and filing into the theater on the ground floor. it was really distracting and made it harder to concentrate on her performance. I mean, I guess she was the opening act, but still.. I really wanted to hear her and let her have my full attention and it was hard to do that.
• At the end of her set everyone was cheering like crazy and she seemed very gracious and very humble.
• When Corinne sang, the audience was excited, but not like “stand on your feet and go crazy” excited. John Legend, on the other hand, worked the crowd like crazy. We were only seated for his first song before everyone was up on their feet dancing, singing, and screaming. I was kind of surprised, since when we listen to his music at home it’s kind of mellow. It definitely made things more exciting, though.

John Legend, Chicago Theatre, The Loop, Chicago

• The 3 women behind us were hysterical. Not like “funny” hysterical, but more like in hysterics. It made me scream 50% more.
• When John came out he was dressed really nice. A vest, a dress shirt, black pants, and some Chuck Taylors. Early on he took his vest off and I said “Whoooo!!! Take off mooore!!!” Dallas said “Simmer Down!”
• At the end of the song “Slow Dance” John was dancing all around and said something about how there were plenty of beautiful single women in Chicago and there he was up on stage dancing alone. You could tell he was hinting that he was going to take a girl up on stage to dance with him. Well, the women started running down the aisles towards the stage! One was picked to go up on stage and all the ladies were screaming. Especially when she took John’s shirt off and he was stripped down to his white tank top. At another point he went down into the audience.. I didn’t think he was going to make it out.
• For some songs John sat at the piano and played. For some songs he danced around the stage.
• John’s backup singers made me giggle. They had all the old-school synchronized dancing moves.
• One of my favorite songs is “Number One.” I love the melody and tune and it’s just a really fun song, even though the lyrics are horrible and about cheating and lying. The opening lyrics are “You can’t say that I don’t love you just because I cheat on you.” So I think you catch the drift. On the album version of the song Kanye raps for a time and we were thinking he might show up at the show because he’s from Chicago, but he didn’t, but it didn’t matter really. The song was still fun and the show was still great.
• The last song of John’s set was “Coming Home.” He said that they’ve gotten a bunch of letters from the people fighting the war and their families who have said the song has really meant a lot to them. The performance of the song was really chill. John at the piano and in the background they showed great big photographs of soldiers and families. In the moment it was really moving. Maybe it was the wine, but I cried through the whole song.
• During the encore John talked about his travels to Ghana and the poverty there. Before singing the song “Show Me” he talked about the “Show Me Foundation” that he’s set up to help the people of Ghana. He talked about how for just like $10 or $20 you could buy a whole family beds or something really crazy like that.
• Finally, this is in regard to both Corinne and John, their voices were just as beautiful and clear and soulful as on any recording I’ve heard. You know, sometimes people have great voices on the records and then you hear them live and it’s not good. Not the case here.

The photos and videos here are not great, obviously, and they’re more for my personal memories, I guess, than any display of photographic or videography skill. At least the videos below still sound good:

• Corinne Bailey Rae: Like a Star
• Corinne Bailey Rae: Put Your Records On
• John Legend: Where Did My Baby Go?
• John Legend: Again
• John Legend: PDA (you can hear Dallas telling me to get up and dance)
• John Legend: Ordinary People

[Read more →]