Sting at Ravinia

I had to get up at 4.30am to get those lawn tickets. Sting was sold out before the tickets were available for non-members. We wanted to have pavilion tickets, sit and listen... No hurry to get a nice picnic spot - not meant for us. But it's Sting at Ravinia, we were lucky that we could go!!



At 4.45pm, Chris came over and picked me up. I had the blankets and the portable chairs. We went to Ellie's. She had this heavy picnic basket and some great cheese and other nibble food. Chris brought us to the door of Ravinia. Well, not without a hassle. The police held all the roads and Chris rolled down the window and said everyone that I am pregnant to get us as close as possible - not a lie, but quite embarrassing!!. The doors were open at 5.00 and Ellie and I entered Ravinia at 5.20 to find out that it was as packed as possible, already! It was so busy that we had to squeeze by a garbage can and steal some space (6 inches) from a poor guy who would wait another hour for his party to arrive.



Then Ellie started putting up our picnic. Real plates, real glasses, a vase with flowers, candles, etc. I tried to lift her picnic basket later, it was as heavy as a dead horse!! Wonder why... I have to give it to her, though. We had the best looking picnic around!



Just before 7.00, P, Chris and Steve arrived. 7.30 sharp, Sting started to sing. We sat there and had good food and talked to good friends for the first half. Then P and Steve left t take a look at the stage. After them, left Ellie. After she came back, the three of us left for the stage while "Every Breath You Take" was playing. We got to the edge of the lawn and peek through heads to catch a glans of Sting. Ellie was dancing and trying to keep this one gut away from her. In the mean time, Chris was making her way to the fences that separate the lawn and the pavilion seats. Ellie didn't follow. All of a sudden Chris and I were standing in front of the gate. Chris said to the girl who was checking the tickets something about me being pregnant(!!??) and tried to get us in. The girl said something back which I didn't hear. Nevertheless, I knew she wasn't letting us in.Couple minutes later, the girls turned away for a second and I felt Chris pull me forward. The girl did a last attempt to stop me, but I didn't even look at her (if I did, I would have gone back) and we were in the pavilion. Half way through, there was a guy from security checking tickets. We said we were sitting behind somewhere and that we left he tickets with our party. Chris literally held the guy's head and said "Everyone is taller than me, please let us through." He smiled, but didn't move away. We listened to couple of songs there, half way to the stage. Sting was already so close, I was happy where we were. But then the unexpected happened and the security guy said his colleague to take over and left. The other guy didn't understand what he was supposed to do and followed the first one to ask him what the matter was. Before they could secure the path, we moved forward. We were now in front of the stage, just couple people before us, left to Sting. We could see the orchestra, the sweat on the faces of the musicians and all the expressions. The guitarist was playing right in front of us.



This was still not enough. Slow by slow, Chris made our way to Sting and at the encores we were literally standing in front of him. There was nothing but the security between us. It was truly amazing. And Sting came back for 5-6 times. He sang all those beautiful songs while we were watching him from 1,5 meter distance!! Too bad the end had to come and he and the CSO (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) left. Later we heard that P and Steve got tickets and were sitting in the pavilion, somewhere close to the fences. They didn't want to believe we were so close to Sting and of course we didn't have any camera - or phone with a camera - with us. But well, the memory is clear and fresh in our minds and we will always remember how we made our way to the stage, Chris and I. Chris, you are the crazies and really awesome!!