Near my hotel I see Lou Malnati, Pauly's, Ginos, Pats, Boni Vino, Reggies, Giordano, Pizano and of course Sbarro which everyone knows is the best!
Maybe I can eat pizza for dinner one night and then eat some more for lunch on my way out Thursday?
If Uno is really worth it I can take a cab there.
I was in Chicago for Buddy Guy in January and went to both Giordanos which I liked the last time I was in the city and the original location of UNOs.. I have to say I was disappointed by both. Go to Lou Malnatti.
The best Malnati's location used to be the original one in Lincolnwood. Not sure if it's still there, but it's too far to go if you're downtown. The other locations aren't as good because the family isn't there. Rick played BB for New Trier West, my rival high school (and where Rahm Emmanuel went) and took them the state finals back in the '70s. Mine went to the finals in '71 and lost to Hirsch from the South Side which had Rickey Green and Johnny Robinson, who both went on to Michigan. Rickey, of course, played many years in the NBA.
And of course, Mike Bloomfield also went to my HS... 😉
The knock on Malnati's Za (not shared by me) is that they use Italian Sausage patties spread flat on top of the tomato sauce. Some people really don't like it that way. But they're mostly suburbanites, who don't like anything different or frankly, even remotely ethnic....*laugh*
The ironic thing is that most Chicagoans don't eat or like Deep Dish. It really is mostly a tourist thing promoted by the city's marketing department. It's more about the "experience" of eating Deep Dish....*sigh*
I like it fine, but not all places are as good as others. Do your homework before taking the plunge, literally...
Now for the real question...NYC pizza is the best...tell me where (hopefully near the theater) I should go to challenge that thinking in Chicago!
Lou Malnati's? Geno's East?
I'd let a resident Chicagoan weigh-in. I've enjoyed Malnati's, never been to Geno's
Fuji, are you gonna be packin'? I know how you feel about the Big, Bad City and its outrageously restrictive gun laws...*laugh*
Big Rich! Why you gotta go there brother? You laughing because of how all those laws aren't preventing the massive gun violence residents are subjected to endlessly? Only 807 shooting victims so far this year...
But my mind is set on a fantastic night, and probably my last chance to see one of the most epic guitarists of our generation. No room in my head or heart for anything else!
Big Rich! Why you gotta go there brother? You laughing because of how all those laws aren't preventing the massive gun violence residents are subjected to endlessly? Only 807 shooting victims so far this year...
But my mind is set on a fantastic night, and probably my last chance to see one of the most epic guitarists of our generation. No room in my head or heart for anything else!
You know, you're right. That was a pretty classless remark on my part. Sorry about that.
Enjoy the show in what is possibly the most acoustically perfect and definitely one of the most beautiful theaters in the world, in the Greatest City In The World. Wish I was going too.
I had 2 tickets to tonight's show that I couldn't get rid of...... so I gave them to my two sons.... here is the text I got at intermission....
"oh my god dad so incredible it's just intermission but thank you it's really great :D"
I had 2 tickets to tonight's show that I couldn't get rid of...... so I gave them to my two sons.... here is the text I got at intermission....
"oh my god dad so incredible it's just intermission but thank you it's really great :D"
Kids today are SO spoiled....
No kidding...... I tried to bring them up right - took all 3 kids to a Stones concert a few years ago as a Christmas present - and made sure all 3 went to Buddy Guy's to see Buddy when they turned 21........
My dad never gave me a concert ticket..... 😛
Saw some tickets for sale yesterday on sites at under face value. With the extra seats being opened and with an abundance of secondary market tickets somebody might be able to get a deal if one is on the fence. Although I think the Theater in Chicago and Radio City in NY are probably different animals when it comes to scoring a deal on tickets.
So I've added Italian Beef to the list now, I can get that at Subway right 😉
Personally I don't like deep dish or extra thick pizza myself. I see that several Chicago pizza places offer different crusts. But I want to try probably 2 pies from there from different locations. Let's see I'll be in the city for less than 24 hours...pizza for dinner when I get in, pizza for breakfast the next day and Italian beef for lunch and back on the road!
My son (now 19) and I will be at MSG for Monday night's show. He's driving (7 hours) home from school and missing class on Monday & Tuesday so he can go to the show. I sold the 2 tix I had to the show after he won better tix on a local radio station contest. I remember seeing David Gilmour at the Pier on the west side of Manhattan probably when I was around 19.
We've been concert buddies for awhile - ABB @ the Beacon when he was 10, ABB w/ Santana, Frampton, Doobies, Boston, Roger Waters, etc. through the years. I saw a co-bill of Weezer and The Flaming Lips on his recommendation (and it wasn't terrible LOL). At the Frampton show, Frampton came out, played 2 songs, my son leans over to me and says "I want to see him again". He knew he was in for a great show.
We're both looking forward to it, as I believe this will be the last opportunity to see one of the finest guitarists of all time in the United States.
Enjoy the shows everyone...this will be special.
Mike
No kidding...... I tried to bring them up right - took all 3 kids to a Stones concert a few years ago as a Christmas present - and made sure all 3 went to Buddy Guy's to see Buddy when they turned 21........
My dad never gave me a concert ticket..... 😛
I wouldn't have WANTED my dad to give me a concert ticket. Rock and roll back then was about REBELLION, not going to shows with your PARENTS.
I remember one time I was listening to Dark Side Of The Moon and my dad popped his head in the door during the Great Gig In The Sky and said, "That's beautiful!"
I immediately took it off and never played it in his presence again.
When I was a kid, if your parents liked it, it SUCKED.
So I've added Italian Beef to the list now, I can get that at Subway right 😉
Uhhh......no.
Gonna head downtown early because of the rain - looking forward to the show and meeting up with some more "cult" members..... 
Wow. 
If I die tonight and that was my last concert experience I will die happy.
I just saw Gregg 4/5 (which was a very very strong show by the way, better than when I saw him in 2014) and I was looking forward to that, but I knew the jewel was the Gilmour show the next day.
I"m not sure words can begin to describe this show. Dave wasn't just locked in, he was very much pulled into the vibe of the crowd. I heard him be maybe a little cynical after wish you were here in LA and I heard that he wasn't exactly lingering on the stage post show at the United Center Monday. Tonight, it looked to me that he couldn't get enough and neither could we. "I wonder how many of you were here the last time I was here?" 4-28-72, one of the most highly regarded Floyd recordings. I wasn't there, but I am aware!
This theater was amazing.
Other than the last ABB Beacon night, this was the best money I ever spent on a ticket! I may have spent 10x more! I loved my seat so much I didn't want to leave when the show was over.
Dave didn't want to leave either. He was the last band member on the stage after comfortably numb, the male background singer had to usher him off. Others who saw the Monday UP show said it wasn't the same deal that night. Dave was really relishing in the moment the crowd and the venue in general was giving him.
Didn't party during the show and thankful for it. Partied post game at Buddy Guys!
And hey, Sang bought my pizza tongiht!
Thanks for the snippets of the performance. One thing about his tours are they are frustratingly small with minimal dates so scoring a ticket is a chore.
Quick question, is the audience silent or are they engaged and cant help themselves and doing the "sing along style" on his masterpieces.
Those sing-along show ruin it for me if its for multiple songs.
People definitely sang along, but the sound was so good you almost couldn't tell.
Everyone sat except for Run Like Hell (last song before two song encore) and from then on everyone stood. Everynow and then I'd see someone get up for a few seconds and dance a bit. The scope of my view was just the first dozen rows of the orchestra though.
One guy, you know there is always a guy like this, he stood up in the middle of the floor and was trying to dance and he was waving his arms for other people to stand up too, he didn't stay up long.
I think this show was a couple minutes longer too. Almost a full 3 hours with set and encore breaks. I will have to check the other recordings to see if some songs went on longer, it sure seemed like Sorrow and Comfortably Numb were maybe extended just a tad on Dave's vicious ending solos.
The entire show was just a knock out. Grand slam, over the top, whatever figure of speech you can think of. Dave was in perfect voice and playing. It was really enjoyable to see him enjoying it too.
They did things with lights that I didn't know were possible. I had just seen Brit Floyd who naturally tries to duplicate a Floydian style light show...no way, not even close. Lights during Astronomy Domine were really really cool and then ofcourse Run Like Hell was pretty crazy. And just other times, subtle things like Wish You Were Here and Shine On, how they broke up the spot light into different shapes. They saved the lasers for Comfortably Numb, which I think lasers sometime can be overdone, but they used them appropriately.
The show exceeded any expectation I may have had. Just epic. Being such a huge Floyd fan at one point in my life and having never seen Gilmour solo, that truly was one of the best musical experiences of my life!
Oh and a taper sat right next to me! 
He said he knew of 2 or 3 other tapers.
And he videoed the entire show! That will be a treat!
I've never seen such lax security in this day in age when getting in or throughout the show. That was really nice and will pay dividends when the recordings and videos come out!
Great hooking up with Sang and Nebish before the show - I hope they enjoyed that as much as I did!
David was his usual epic-self. He never fails (at least when I've seen him) to be a total pro and give you more than your money's worth. No one better in my opinion when it comes to proving how powerfully great music and a great stage show can be combined into a memory that will last a lifetime.
The only sadness is the probability that this will be the last time I get a chance to see him, given his infrequent touring. But if you're only going out once every 10 years, last night was certainly the way to leave everyone wanting more.
Going Monday night MSG.
Anybody know what time he has been going on? Traveling from Boston and need to plan accordingly.
He started right at 8:00 - the scheduled start time - and played almost 3 hours with a 15-20 minute break between sets.
It was great to meet 2 more "cult" members - Lou Malnati's with nebish and Buddy Guy's with nebish and fujirich. It's always great to meet people from the site before shows. I'm glad we were able to do it.
Everything about last night was perfect..... no traffic on the way downtown, a cheap parking spot right near Buddy Guy's (2 blocks from the Auditorium).... waited just a few minutes at Lou Malnati's until nebish showed up.... had some great pizza and I had a couple oatmeal stout beers that were tasty.... then over to Buddy Guy's, where my brother and fujirich and one of his friends met us. Some blues from the stage, a couple Buddy's Brews, and then off to the show. My brother and I had real good seats - in the balcony on the side - though not quite as good as fujirich's seat. 🙂
The sound in the Auditorium was great - the guy sitting next to me saw the show at the United Center Monday night, and he said the sound was much better at the Auditorium. Great light show, although a bank of speakers blocked out part of the big screen for us.
What can you say about the music - David's tone is like no other......I kept turning to my brother saying "he's 70 years old!"....... they would be playing kind of a slow melancholy song, and then he would play a solo that would send it into the stratosphere......
Nebish and Fujirich stated thing well - it was an awesome show, but I also kept thinking this would probably be the last time I'll see him...
For those that are still seeing him, they had a very cool poster at the show - while the picture may be the same as other shows, it was specific to the Auditorium show - I didn't know about it, and they only printed 250 of them - they were $50 - but they were sold out by the time I found out about them.
If you get a chance, go see this ......
......I kept turning to my brother saying "he's 70 years old!".......
So you are saying he doesn't still look like this? 😉
Well, the hair is a lot shorter - and it's white..... 😛
Not exactly sure of the setlist, but I think it was close to the one posted above - except he didn't play Breathe....
What was kinda cool was that before the show and during intermission a tape was playing that was mostly bird noises, some of the things that are said on the albums in the background, and little snippets like the beginning of Echoes and other noises from PF albums....
There is one source up online now. It was recorded from one of the upper balcony areas. The crowd singing is noticeable on this one, although really from the location the sounds is very good.
David Gilmour
Auditorium Theatre
Chicago, IL
April 6, 2016Source: HEB (AT943) > SP-SPSB-10 > Sony M10 (24/48)
Transfer: SDHC > wav file > Sound Studio (16/44.1) > xACT > FLAC (level 8)
Recording location: the rafters
Recorded by: Tapehead201 5 A.M.
02 Rattle That Lock
03 Faces Of Stone
04 Wish You Were Here
05 What Do You Want From Me
06 A Boat Lies Waiting
07 The Blue
08 Money
09 Us And Them
10 In Any Tongue
11 High Hopes
12 Astronomy Domine
13 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
14 Fat Old Sun
15 Coming Back To Life
16 band introductions
17 The Girl In The Yellow Dress
18 Today
19 Sorrow
20 Run Like Hell
Encore:
21 Time
22 Breathe (Reprise)
23 Comfortably NumbLength: 2:38:17
There should be other recorders that show up, the guy sitting next to me said he isn't the fastest.
I just got home about an hour ago. I did stop and visit a friend on the way back.
I brought Chicago pizza home and Italian Beef sandwiches!
The Al's Beef sandwich beats the pizza! That was an amazing sandwich!! After I ate mine I knew I had to get some to-go for the Ohio crew.
Other than Lou Malnati pizza from Wednesday, today I bought one from Giordano and heated it up at my buddies house just a bit ago.
Those two pizzas have similar crust, but are pretty different in the taste. One nice thing heating the pizza up in the oven made the crust crisper so we could actually eat it like normal pizza holding it in our hand.
I like the pizza, but loved the Italian Beef sandwich!
Thanks to everyone who helped make my 22 hour time in Chicago a big success. I did the Sears Tower observation thing too. I packed quite a bit into a small amount of time. I did visit the city once for work almost 20 years ago, but the only thing I remember from that trip was sitting in a Wrigley Field loge and watching it rain instead of watching baseball. If it weren't for the great David Gilmour I likely would've never come back - so glad I did.
Good hanging out with you Sang, I think I will be coming back to the city and will get in touch when I do. Rich, now that you live in Ohio if I head down your way for a show I think you might be going to I'll send you a pm since we didn't have much of a chance to talk yesterday.
About that poster...I've never seen such a line at the merch table have you? I mean the Beacon ABB was packed too, but before the show here they must've been 10 wide and 30-40 deep waiting to get up there. I snuck out right at intermission and got my stuff.
Did you get a poster?
Thank you good folks for the reviews. Gilmore isn't coming to DC so I really appreciate the reporting. I've seen him a handful of times with Pink Floyd. I also caught a low tech show at the Tower in Philly back in the 80's.
If he adds shows in my area your reports have really encouraged me to go.
Glad you all met up and had a great time!
Did you get a poster?
No. I don't ever seem to do anything with the posters I have. Hopefully I can hang some ABB related ones up here soon, but I always put it off.
