BoDeans
2006.06.10 Ravinia • Chicago, IL

Sam Llanas, Kurt Neumann, Bukka Allen, Eric Holden, Kenny Aronoff

Saturday June 10, 2006
Ravinia - Chicago, IL

We made the trek to Chicago for the second time this year to see the guys, even though this was our first visit to Ravinia. Despite the horror stories I've hear from other fans who attended Ravinia shows in years past, we had nothing but a good experience from "wining it up" in the hotel beforehand, to having an inside scoop on parking, right down to befriending the security guard to let us dance all night. Maybe our experience was the exception, but we had a fantastic time.

And then there's that setlist of theirs!
1. Say About Love - So good to hear this again. Kenny adds so much to this song. It was another instance of "we've been spotted", although it's pretty hard to miss the dancing girls in the front row when everyone else is sitting.
2. Good Work - including a bit of Batman thrown in and sang as loud as possible by the BoDivas up front and WAY to the right. :)
3. Makes U
4. Don't Be Lonely - Sam loses his jacket and his guitar, takes his mic and works the stage like only Sam can! Absolutely loved it!
5. Angels - Sam asks "Who remembers 1986? Well this is from then."
6. Texas Ride Song - JUMP JUMP JUMP! (Well someone had to show them how it's done! :) Eric's solo was awesome, even seemed like Kurt waited a bit before coming in with his own solo in order to give Eric a little longer.
7. Me Again - What a beautiful song. I really love Kurt's guitar in this one. It really adds so much when layered with that voice of Sam's.
8. Still the Night - Kenny came through for the BoDivas and spoiled us with more cowbell than we could have wished for! :) Thank you Kenny! We're going to miss ya! And of course at the very end of the song, Kenny sped it WAY up. Makes you wonder how anyone can keep up with him!
9. Jenny Rae - What a shocker to have Kenny walk out from behind his kit and take a seat on "his box". All the while Sam is introducing it by saying "What is this called, again? Kenny on the box?" (this is about the time we're bursting out in giggles having been involved with the roadtrip when "Kenny on the box" was born. And of course we LOVE Kenny on the box!! I actually didn't think we'd ever have the pleasure of experiencing that again! As for the song....WOW is the only way to describe it! :)
10. Going Home - I think my jaw hit the floor when they started this one. Talk about getting lost in the music....from Sam's voice, to those harmonies, to Kenny playing the hand drums on his lap and Kurt's unbelievable guitar. However you describe it, it was breathtaking and such a treat to hear performed like that! And then as if that wasn't wasn't enough, they go into......
11. Sweet Dreams/Little Red Corvette (The Eurythics/Prince) - Sam introduced it by saying "Me and Kurt grew up listening to the radio like most of you guys probably, and always liked a lot of different kinds of styles of music. We try to represent that the best we could. But once in a while we like to go way back." Then asked "Ready boys?" as the guys nod back at him. Sam had put down his guitar for this one as well and was workin' it with just the mic and work it he did! Not to mention Kurt's harmony was unbelievable in Sweet Dreams! Eric looked like he was back there having way to much fun playing Little Red Corvette, Kenny I believe had a great big grin on his face the whole time and to top it all off, Bukka's accordion added such an incredible sultry feel to it all. Wow....what a show stopper!! That alone was worth the ticket price! Then at the very end Sam mentioned that "I hope that wasn't too weird for ya." Not at all, Sam!! We loved it every minute of it!!
12. Runaway - again no Del Shannon intro, but it was rocking like always with Kenny back behind the kit.
13. Fadeaway w/Bed's too Big - Wow what an intro! Kurt just ripped it up in the very beginning before anyone in the crowd even realized what song it was. Kenny again threw in a bunch of cowbell for us and then sent a great big smile our way as if to make sure we noticed (as if we could miss that! HA!) At the very end Kurt made a comment that they must be "shaking the rafters" because dust was falling down from above. Fadeaway also had Bed's Too Big thrown in. Sung by Kurt, played by Sam. But I guess once just wasn't enough for him because after Kurt sang it, Sam somehow rounded out that softer part of the song by ending up right back to playing the Bed's Too Big snippet. Kurt was looking at him as if to say 'where are we going with this?' before looking back towards Kenny and nodding to Kenny to just take them right back into the fast part of the song.
14. Naked - Rickshaw Riding thrown in again....and of course we loved it.
15. Closer To Free - And of course that's when everyone rushed up to the stage, we were no exception and had a great time dancing and singing up there like we always do! When they started to walk off stage after the song, we got a good laugh from Kenny and Eric with our signage. Because who doesn't love Kenny's cowbell?!?
-encore-
16. Paradise - Again Kurt and Sam come out alone, Sam sans guitar, and Sam mentions "I think I swallowed a bug". But he must have recovered nicely because Paradise was absolutely breathtaking!
17. You Don't Get Much - As always Kenny was going crazy back there just giving it his all. Almost as a tribute to him, they ended with Eric, Kurt and Sam all back there facing Kenny, Kurt even on his knees. It definitely was a great moment because that man really is something else to watch!
18. Good Things - Kurt introduced this by saying that "We got a sing-a-long song here, so if you gotta get your cell phone out, call your friends...get them to sing along with this next song, alright!" The rest of the song was awesome like it always it. And a great ending to a great show.

When it was all said and done, we had had an absolutely wonderful time and got to hear some real treats through out the entire night! Who knows, maybe the stars were aligned just right that we had such good luck with tickets and with security letting us do our thing and I even got a few pictures in the process!