House of Blues, Chicago

After returning from the land that god forgot, Detroit. We had a day of well needed rest at our host, Dom’s house and prepared ourselves to play the legendary venue, House of Blues, Chicago. This was out first HoB experience and from the start it was obvious that these guys mean business. The HoB is a purpose built 4 level venue in downtown Chicago with a full restaurant and bar, small venue for pub bands, large venue for bands like Tarja and a network of balconies, fully equipped backstage rooms, production offices and people who take their job very seriously.

The venue itself is really great, all the walls and furniture are hand painted with crazy pictures and the walls are covered with pictures and memorabilia from the artists who have graced the stage there in the past. Music is a proud tradition in Chicago, second only to sport, and this venue is truly a testament to this. After load in and an exchange of stupid jokes with the lift operator, D-man, we got to sound checking and got prepared for the gig ahead.

It was about this time we were presented with the option to carry on with the Tarja tour to the west coast which considering recent news about the Texas festival we were to play instead, ended up being more of a blessing than we could have imagined. See that story here…
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=119842

All drama aside we got to sound checking and after a fun check with the great FoH and monitor people, we then prepared to rock. We were up first and despite the first billing we felt that the show was more than a success. We had a great time playing such a world class venue and the crowd was very good to us. Urn played and then the beer began to flow. We made the most of the fact we didn’t have to drive anywhere after the show and enjoyed the fantastic hospitality the HoB had to offer.

A big thanks for everyone at the House of Blues, Rotting Corpse crew for selling our merch, D-man for being classic, Urn, Tarja and everyone who showed up and made us feel so welcome. thank you Chicago.