|
Thursday, May 11, 2006 By daveofstrength / MySpace My friends and I decided to go for standby tickets. We got up at 6:30 in the morning and took a 7:20 am train. We arrived around 8:40/9 am at the Chicago Theatre. We were prompted to go wait by Potbellies for the standby line. We were within the first 100 people, and we got tickets then were sent to the general admissions line. Waiting in the standby line wasn’t bad considering that there were roofs and whatnot but in the general admissions line came the torture -- like test of how bad we wanted to see Conan. My friends and I (being the idiots we are) didn’t bring any umbrellas, ponchos or additional clothing besides a jacket and shirt, so we stood in line from approximately 9 am to 3:30 pm in the pouring, windy, arctic MAY chill, soaked head to foot. The last hour was the worst -- it was literally painful, numbing, and shivering. Anyways the NBC staff brought the Masturbating Bear out to the lines to entertain us for a while and to put our pains at a bit of ease I guess. Several "LET US IN" chants broke out from frustration and cold pain, but eventually they started letting us in. When we got in, the ushers directed us to our seats which were around 10-12 rows back from the first row which was a very, very good seat in my opinion. I saw various crew members scurrying about with equipment, but I kept dozing off and occasionally waking up to cheers for random people coming out from behind the curtains. Finally Brian McCaan (the kayak guy) came out to remind audience members to keep the random outbursts during both interviews and quiet moments to themselves. Then he finally introduced Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg 7, with Max coming out last. The place was an absolute outroar. They rocked out for a bit, and then the show introductions were being started. Now this was when the place literally burst into cheers and enthusiasm. When Conan came out it was as if the Chicago Cubs had won the World Series. He attempted to calm everyone down as usual. His monologues were Chicago-related and at one point he meant to say “city” but said “shitty” on accident which prompted the whole auditorium to laughter. He also had a bit with Jeff Garlin (of “Curb your Enthusiasm”) on their old apartment residence. I am much too tired to elaborate any more, but it was overall a very amazing night. |