World’s Biggest Block Party Concert Reviews

July 17, 1999
by Phil and Donna Denson

Hello, all!
First things first – the show:
Absolutely fantastic! Drowned on Dry Land was breathtaking. 3 new songs! Our personal favorite being Waking Up. It is a nice rock song that has top 40 written all over it (fingers crossed). We really liked Cringe, it sounded so much better live than on tape even though the tape was a live recording (don’t ask me why, Susan, it just does :). Jimmy Blue rocked and we wished it would never have ended. The band seemed happy and really played to the crowd. In one word “Delarrific!”

Comments and Observations:
Andrew is a manly man, who knows how to wear black leather. Which leads us to Molly, she is definitely giving Andrew a run for the money in the alcohol consumption department. Thanks Nancy for the “back up” -we need all we can get.

To all we met -we thoroughly enjoyed your company, good humor? and wit. We look forward to meeting up with you all again… One other observation, on the flight home we calculated the actual distance of one “Chicago Block” and came up with the following information, while in Chicago one city block means one mile. Friday night, we walked 7 “Chicago Blocks” to get dinner, you do the math. But, we must admit, we were hungry and when they served our group 2 “Chicago Minutes” later -the food was great -Diane is our hostess with the mostess.

Till next time, hopefully soon,
Cheers!
Phil & Donna

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Kj1035@aol.com

Ok, I am posting. Watch out.

First, let me say that for an outdoor show, they sounded better than anything I have ever heard. And despite the ease to which I was able to get behind the stage, once I made it there, security was strict. I spent about two minutes speaking with Chris Payne from Q101 (an old co-worker) but got booted for not having the right pass. Boo hoo, I was hoping to get a closer look at Justin. Oh well, no big deal, it was weird back there anyways. No one was paying attention to the show, they were all schmoozing (bad, that’s just bad).

Walking away during Be My Downfall to avoid the crowds of people who actually used all 10 tickets, was the most wonderful experience. I could hear the music all the way back to our parking spot and was almost moved to tears – they are the best, aren’t they.

Kel

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Nancieh@aol.com

Hi all! I thought for sure that there would be lots of posts from our Chicago group by the time I got home! I just wanted to check in quick and say that they were FABULOUS, they sounded incredible, looked incredible. Justin had on the infamous leather trousers (no, sorry…Andrew corrected me on that one, they were GLAZED COTTON or something like that) But whatever they were, he looked awesome in them! The new songs were amazing, they would have to be on the new CD. All in all, it was worth the indecent amount of money I spent to see them for an hour and a half, as well as the 1600+ miles I had to travel to see them! I will let the more experienced members describe the concert, as I have been traveling since 8:30 this morning and am working on about 5 hours of sleep for the weekend. My liver is issuing me a harsh reprimand for my weekend activities, and my feet are going on strike from our various excursions about the city (it’s only 5 more blocks….) I want to say to all who were there this weekend that I had a great time, a wonderful group of people who know how to have a good time! Hope to see you again soon! Well, the 2 trains, 2 planes and an hour car ride are beginning to take their toll, I am off………
Nancy

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Taire Ruffing

Hi,

After sifting through over 200 emails (I was only gone 3 days!!!) I seem to remember someone asking about the set list.

Well, I happened to get one of those 🙂 and here it is:
1. Ones you Love
2. Just Like A Man
3. Last To Know
4. High Times
5. Everybody Knows
6. What I Think She Sees
7. Here & Now
8. Roll To Me
9. Waking Up
10. Suckers Parade
11. Crashing Down
12. Hatful Of Rain
13. Cringe
14. Driving
15. Stone Cold Sober
16. Jimmy Blue
——
1. Downfall (with Drowned ~ just for Andrew)
2. Kiss this Thing Goodbye

I am still recovering from the weekend. I had so much fun meeting everyone. I hope we all get together again soon 🙂

Taire

Chicago, IL