I had originally been deciding whether to go to the Chicago date or not, but was leaning towards going. Last summer Phantom Planet had played in Milwaukee at Summerfest, and then played in Urbana, IL three days later. I regretted not attending the Urbana show even though it would have been a 3 hour drive there and back on a Sunday. With Chicago being even closer it made sense to just go. For work I haven't had a consistent 9-11am client in over a month so I usually end up going in at 11am instead on M/W/F. I was banking on them not scheduling me until 11am on Monday and thankfully that was the case, as I arrived back to my apartment around 1:30am. With traffic it's over an hour and a half drive, without it's a little over an hour. After posting what shows I was planning on going to on Patreon a fan who ended up not being able to go to the show sent me her ticket for free. I hadn't upgraded to the VIP package for Chicago so I was planning on getting there when the doors opened around 7pm or after. I was sad I wouldn't be able to talk with the guys before the show, but it would have been a bit expensive, especially with doing VIP and Madison and then staying in a hotel for the night. After the Madison show I ended up writing personalized letters to each member, as well as their tour manager. I also gifted them sour patch gym which is a favorite of Alex and Darren. Since I wouldn't be doing VIP for Chicago I was going to hopefully be able to give the letters to the tour manager to give out to the band, and then maybe get to say goodbye after the show. They really love interacting with fans after shows if they can.
Having Saturday as a buffer day really helped. With it I was able to explore Madison and recover a little bit before the Chicago show. Driving back from Madison and then driving to the Chicago show seems crazy stressful. That way I wouldn't have to feel rushed either. During Sunday afternoon I was talking with a fan, and mentioned that I was a little sad I wouldn't be doing VIP for the show, to which she encouraged me to ask to be added to the VIP list. They know most of the people from Patreon by name, and are always excited to see fans from the Patreon in person. The other fan said that she thought that they felt more comfortable when we were around. On Instagram since I follow the Phantom Planet page and Darren's account and they follow me back if I direct message them on Instagram it pops up towards the top of their inbox. I respect their boundaries and don't usually send them messages. The most I interact with them on Instagram is replying to their Instagram stories. I decided to give it a shot and ask not thinking they would actually see it in time. The worst they could do was say "no", and I would totally respect if they did. To my surprise Darren replied within a couple of minutes saying "of course" and that "it was done." I would now be on the VIP list for the Chicago show.
Since I was leaving earlier for the show than originally planned I took my dog for a longer walk, and fed him early before leaving for Chicago. When I got the venue VIP had already started. I'm not sure how much I had missed. I'm assuming only a couple of minutes though. They did some songs acoustically, but this VIP session was Q+A heavy. I asked what their favorite place they had gotten to go to so far had been meaning stores or restaurants not specific cities. Alex answered saying he had really enjoyed visiting a vintage clothing store in Madison. The store owner had just opened the store, and was excited to show off his collection. An audience member asked Dan (Augustana) what inspired him to write music. He answered that his family still inspired him especially his eldest daughter who had taken up songwriting and had been doing really well at it at. (She's 20). Alex said something along the lines of being intrigued to hear music from the product of his loins??? That is a really weird way of saying he was excited to hear his daughter's music at some point. 🤣 He also talked about the importance of keeping a piano in his house. Since Dan is a fan of Phatom Planet himself he asked them what their favorite show they had played was during their career. They answered with opening for Incubus at Madison Square Garden, and opening for Guns N' Roses in Las Vegas, both of which took place in the early 2000s when they were at the height of their career. They told about how Axl Rose had requested all 20 dressing rooms be his, and how no one but the band was allowed at soundcheck. As a small way to rebel Phantom Planet snuck into the soundcheck and hid behind some chairs, and thankfully weren't caught. Their dressing room ended up being in an alleyway outside the venue with a singular chair next to a dumpster. They emphasized that they were very thankful for the opportunity, and still very much respected Guns N' Roses even after all of that. They were super convinced that the Guns N' Roses fans would not like them, but they actually did. Dan said his favorite Augustana show was in Minneapolis when they played at Prince's venue, First Avenue around 2005. He also stated Minneapolis is his favorite city to perform in, in general. A fan I recognized from Patreon, Andy asked if Phantom Planet could play one of their unreleased songs from the upcoming album entititled "Never Apart". (On Patreon Phantom Planet has done livestreams playing through the unreleased songs for us to hear.)
Since Phantom Planet had just played a song, it was Dan's turn to perform. He suggested that they do a song together. When thinking about what song to do Dan suggested doing a Beatles song. (Dan however didn't know any Beatles songs even though he suggested it 🤣). This lead to Alex attempting to make his way through "I'm Only Sleeping" while not knowing half of the lyrics just the guitar parts. I sang what I thought were the correct lyrics. (If Alex doesn't rehearse the songs he's written years ago then he forgets the lyrics, even though he wrote the lyrics. It's a normal thing, but I guess I never took it into account before.) Dan then asked them what each of their favorite Beatles was, stating that a person's favorite Beatle says a lot about them. I would have liked him to elaborate on that. Alex said Ringo, but it's unclear if that was his actual favorite. Andrew and Dan said Paul, and then Chris and Darren said George. (Justice for John Lennon.) (Paul McCartney is my favorite, but since no one picked John :P) Darren's dad had texted him asking what he was up to so he recorded the whole crowd saying "Hi Harvey". They said Chicago had the biggest VIP crowd yet, and Alex said how he recognized pretty much everyone.
They then began taking pictures with fans. For my group picture this time I told them I wanted to do a silly photo and asked them if they had any ideas. Alex said that for some reason he thought I was going to say, "I want to take a silly picture, are you guys wearing underwear?" ????I am still confused. 😅 They didn't have ideas for the picture but did last second poses. I had handed Alex my heart sunglasses to add to the fun of the photo. Alex jokingly said that the sunglasses were his now to which I jokingly agreed. He handed them back and patted me on the back. I handed them the bag with letters and gum before the doors opened for the general audience. I then got situated by the stage. I ended up being the tallest person in the front row for Phantom Planet's set I would find out through pictures and videos of the show.
The person stood to my right was a big Augustana fan and insisted to his friends that they come right when the doors opened. He was able to secure a front row spot. He said he had invited his friends to come along and bought them all tickets. Apparently he makes a lot of money at his accounting job. He introduced me to his friends, and said they had been out bar hopping before the show but only had 2 drinks so far. His friends seemed cool, and joked about him being so close to the stage. Ironically one of said friends would replace him during Phantom Planet's set after she had gotten wasted....The accountant guy was well over 6 ft and she was like 5'2 or shorter, which made sense as to why she would want to switch. It turns out the 5'2 girl goes to a lot of concerts, over 50 a year.
Between Augustana's and Phantom Planet's set beer bottles were placed on the stage, one right next to the guitar pedals. I might have gotten electrocuted if the beer had accidentally spilled. To open the beer bottles Chris brought a balisong (butterfly knife) on stage and handed it to Alex. Alex told us up front not to worry that the knife didn't have it's blade. They like to tricks with the knives to pass the time, and Alex even wrote a song called "Balisong". They had a hard time opening the bottles with the balisong but eventually got it. The stage was lower so you could easily lean and grab things on the stage if you wanted. Alex for some reason left his beer toward the edge of the stage and jokingly told me and the girl to my left not to put drugs in or spit in his beer. Man is too trusting. I would never leave a drink out in the open like that, especially as a more well-known person. He did take drinks from it throughout the show after leaving it unsupervised to go backstage before their set. It did turn out to be fine of course, but there were definitely some crazier fans at this particular show. With everyone being in an older demographic I thought there would be more mature fans and I guess that is true for the most part, but there are still some.
Alex was less talkative this show between songs. During the beginning of their set Alex talked about how if they had any money they would move to Chicago, because they love being there. Dan from Augustana had actually wrote some of the Augustana's songs in Chicago as well. (I could go on a whole rant about this but it does really irk me that you can't really make it as a musician anymore financially, unless you're one of the biggest artists. Otherwise you spend a lot of money producing songs especially if you're not signed to a record label which would also take your money and leave you with less creativity. Going on tour is also expensive, and most bands just break even and rely on merch sales or platforms like Patreon with paid subscriptions. Streaming songs has taken away the desire for physical media, and getting your songs streamed also pays very little unless you have a lot of big hits.)
During the beginning of their set Alex had said that he already had made way to much eye contact with the audience already. Alex is very philosophical minded and told us that we are all apart of the same tribe, and it's fine if you haven't accepted that yet. Being in Chicago the venue had a strong smell of pot in the air. Alex ended up playing guitar at the edge of the stage in front of me this time. A setlist was placed a few inches in front of me on the stage after Alex complained about not being able to see it again. I was excited because that meant I could easily grab it after the show. (I'm sentimental and had yet to get any setlists or picks from a show. I do think after you've gotten one item you should let other fans get items too so you're not hoarding items. Unless you go to a ton of shows in general and pay a lot of money then I think it's a little more acceptable.) After playing the song "Drive On II" someone in the audience shouted "Bone Zone", which was the original title of the song. (If you know, you know.) Alex performed a little snippet from it before moving onto the next song. During "Lonely Day" Alex had Darren start the vocals to the song. Darren quoted "The Goonies", and because of this Alex stated that quoting things is a form of echolalia. (As a Behavior Technician I can say he wasn't using the term correctly. Echolalia is more repeating sounds of things repeatedly, whereas quoting shows and movies over and over again is known as scripting. The more you know.) At the end of their biggest hit, "California" someone shot their bra on stage. Alex ended up picking it up and wearing it like a blindfold before handing out a drumstick to someone in the audience. (I thought it had been a pair of underwear at first, so I'm actually kind of relieved it was a bra, not that Alex would have done the same with underwear). Since Alex was wearing the bra like a blindfold and trying to decide who to give the drumstick too I thought he might throw the drumstick into the audience like a bouquet toss at a wedding. (That would be pretty dangerous though.) The two girls stood to my right ended up playing rock paper scissors for it. When the other girl had one, the girl stood right next to me asked if she could have the bra. Alex was definitely confused as to why she would want the bra, but didn't want it himself so he handed it to her. (This is the same girl I mentioned before who was very much super drunk at this point. She hadn't even been there originally to see Phantom Planet, but in her drunken state must have taken a liking to Alex.....). She did the very strange action of putting the bra into her cleavage. While doing the action Alex asked if she was putting it on, to which she pointed to her chest and said she had put it in her cleavage. (A revealing shirt of course.) Alex made the statement that, that was even weirder than wearing it, and you could tell he was visibly uncomfortable at that point. (Women get away with objectifying men more than the other way around. It's really gross either way, and irks me especially after forming a friendship with these guys.)
Phantom Planet played their "last" song before security was adamant about everyone leaving the main part of the venue. One of the techs on stage told the main security person that Alex had wanted to come back out into the audience and perform acoustically. That kind of ruined the whole encore thing, of having the audience shout to get the band back onstage. With the security being strict some fans had already left the venue not thinking there would be an encore after that. (The cringy lady from before ended up reaching over and snatching the setlist that was in front of me, after the show had ended.) It's made me sad especially since she hadn't even been there to see Phantom Planet in the first place and was acting really entitled. I decided to see if I could get one of the other setlists by asking the stage techs. I pointed to one kind of hidden in the back by the drums, and he went and got it. However, he ended up handing it to another fan that was reaching towards the stage when he came to the front, saying after that, that there were no setlists left???? I guess I was just really unlucky.
Alex did come into the crowd, but since we weren't allowed to stay in the main part he lead the crowd to the front/bar area of the venue which was even more intimate for an acoustic show. I stayed towards the back during that. Alex sang "Athem" as everyone else sang along. He then went into the soldering iron story like he had in Madison before performing "Local Black and Red." The 5'2 girl had been standing pretty close to Alex during the performance, and in her drunken state had thought she would be able to bag either Alex or Darren apparently. Alex went backstage after the show instead of lingering like he had done with the rest of the band in Madison. The security then wanted people to start leaving the bar area due to shutting down the venue for the night. I left when I was told. Before I did the 5'2 girl got another beer and told me how it had been so nice to meet me while slurring her words. I was nice back despite not really feeling the best way about her. Around 6 fans stood out front to hopefully talk to the band. I was hoping to say goodbye to the band before leaving as I wouldn't be going to anymore shows. (I do have the Red Rocks concert but it will be so huge that I won't be able to talk to them.) They didn't end up coming out to talk to fans that night and I wonder if it was because of the 5'2 girl. (She was actually a woman in her mid 40s). I told the fans outside that I thought they would for sure come out because they loved interacting with fans. While the bar portion of the venue was still open Darren did come out, and talk with some of the fans left inside. I was outside at that point. I pointed out to the fans outside that Darren had come out so he would probably come outside soon. He didn't, but the girl did. While waiting for her Uber she chatted to me again while now hiccuping and slurring her words. She told me about other concerts she attended, and how her 16 year old daughter had been doing the same now. How she had slept with various band members in the past (her not the 16 year old) and how she quote "was not a slut." I listened politely, and chimed in occasionally. (Just to say if it's consensual than it's fine.) After talking for awhile she asked me if I wanted both the bra and the setlist, since I had actually been there to see Phantom Planet. I declined the bra, but said that I would really appreciate the setlist and thanked her. She thought she had made a connection with Darren and said something to another fan that I didn't hear, but must have been about that. The other fan had thought she was talking about Dan from Augustana and stated that he had a lot of kids, and has been married for a long time. (He has 4 kids.) She pulled up a picture of her and Darren that she had just taken with him moments before and said "him." To which I replied, "Darren???" (Darren is definitely in a serious, committed relationship with his girlfriend so there's no shot he was actually interested and was just being nice.) I didn't tell her all that though. Chris (touring bassist) came out after that with two friends, thanked me for the letter, and gum before walking off, and hugged me. (Phantom Planet had the day off the next day so I think he ended staying with friends that night.) The 5'2 girl greeted him and asked for a picture before hugging him before he left as well. At that point the girl's Uber had arrived and she hugged me before leaving. All that was left was me and one other fan, but she was also waiting for her Uber at that point. (It had only been 30 minutes of waiting outside so not that long for anyone wondering.) I started walking back to the parking garage after that, as I was walking I saw Phantom Planet's band drive past. You could tell it was them because their tour manager was up front driving with their tour photographer in the passenger seat. I waved, but they probably didn't see. I had only walked a little ways down the sidewalk at that point so I went back to tell the fan about how I had just seen their van drive past so she would know they were actually gone.
The way back to the parking garage was confusing as it was 4 streets intersecting diagonally. Both the parking garage and the venue were located on the same street, but I couldn't figure out where the road continued at the intersection. I headed to where I thought I had come from, but secondguessed myself when Google Maps was pointing in the opposite direction of where I had come from. I walked that way for a few minutes before turning around after I didn't recognize any of the places I was passing. I ended up figuring out which road was the correct one and finally came upon the parking garage. What should have been a 5 minute walk turned into 15. (Thanks Google Maps). (To anyone nervous the venue, Lincoln Hall, was located in Lincoln Park which is one of the safest/richest areas of Chicago, I was clutching my pepper spray, made sure not to look down at my phone too much and walk quickly.) I got home around 1:30 and thankfully didn't need to go into work until 11am the following day.
