A Big Lake, Tall Buildings, and 50,000 People

I recently traveled to Chicago to see a concert, among other things. This was my first real experience in a big city so I think it's important enough to write about it. This post will be in two parts: the city, and the show, but they're all really the same.

Chicago

I've never truly been to a city before. I've visited DC and Philadelphia and I suppose Charlotte and Orlando if you want to even attempt to count those, but none of these are quite the same. Either way, during all of those trips, I've never lived in the city for multiple days and experienced it for what it was.

When we went to Chicago, we were in the actual city (sort of), lived more than visited (sort of), and overall just got a better experience than I have on the average vacation. I qualify those for a couple of reasons: we were technically in the suburbs (but Chicago suburbs are about the same as downtown Raleigh), we were still tourists, and we were only there for about four days. Despite all this, it was by far a completely different experience than I've had before. 

I know two types of environments. I'm mostly in the southern suburban culture that involves friendly people, long travel times, lots of landscaping, and the same five restaurants. It doesn't change much, but it's familiar. The other is that of pure outdoors. Rivers, trees, dirt, rocks, and the occasional hammock. It's a good place.

Large cities are like neither. Millions of people live together in one place in an impressively well-run environment orchestrated by local infrastructure. Everything you need is within a short walk (unless you need Walmart or a gas station, since those seem to not exist). Everything is shared by others, your transportation, your land, your building, your office. 

On the train, an automated yet casual voice informs the passengers where you're headed. "Doors closing. This is a Red Line train heading to 95/Dan Ryan. The next stop is Lake. Doors open on the left at Lake." It's a good system, easy to use, cheap, and relatively fast. The electric cars accelerate quickly and attempt to knock you over if you aren't holding a handlebar, but if you get the right footing it's fun to attempt to not fall over (and the whole train will hate you if you do). The train wasn't what I expected; I imagined a completely underground train that would be hot and full of exactly the sort of person you wouldn't want to be stuck on a train with. But it wasn't that. It's only underground downtown; everywhere else it's about twenty feet above the roads. The people were normal, you bought tickets in a vending machine, the stops only took about twenty seconds. 

Chicago was strange and wonderful and easy to live in. Interestingly, despite the metro environment that meant that everyone does everything together, an "every man for himself" attitude permeated the city. No one really talks to each other, or nods their head when they pass by, or anything else I'm used to. I don't think this is a bad thing, it's just not something I'm used to. I found it odd that a city of three million people could sometimes feel less populated than Wake Forest. 

I've always said that I should live in a city when I get older. They're more convenient and certainly more efficient than the one acre lot neighborhoods a lot of us live in these days. I think most people should live in cities unless they have a legitimate reason not to do so, since it's just better for the world in general.

After visiting though, I don't think I want to. I loved it there, but I don't think I would like living there. Even though it was new and interesting and exciting, I don't think I was ever quite comfortable. Not enough to live there full time. 

I do think that all of us should go visit a city sometime though. It definitely gives an interesting prospective if you've never been to one. There's also just a ton of things to do. It's pretty cool.

The Show

You probably know this, but the main reason I went was to see Coldplay in concert. That night was an entirely different experience. 

If Chicago was slightly impersonal, the concert was quite the opposite. I don't know how it happened. There were like 55 thousand people there that night, and somehow there was a huge sense of community and smallness. I'm sure the fact that I was near the front had something to do with it, but everyone got the feeling that the people sitting 500 feet from the stage saw just as good a show. 

Initially, the show got rained out. There was a huge storm and no one was allowed in the stands. The field people hung out in the tunnel beneath the stadium while we waited out the storm, and the stands people hung out in the vendor areas and under the stadium seats. The two opening acts got cancelled and every seat had a puddle on it. But no one cared. We were all just happy to be there.

Coldplay came on an hour after the scheduled time and it was better than anything I expected. I've been to several concerts before, but none of them compare at all. I feel like a lot of shows are just "lead singer performs with some support from the rest of the band," but this was more "here's Coldplay." 

The whole stadium was a part of the show too. Each person was given a light up wrist band when they came in. They're all controlled by a radio signal, so they blinked and glowed in sync for most of the songs. The entire stadium lit up in a field of colored stars, joining in on the visual performance as much as a the musical one. 

I don't really know how to describe the experience. It was somewhere between the feeling you get when you finally go to confession after a long time, or standing on top of a mountain looking down into a huge green valley, or seeing a friend you haven't seen in a couple months (or days), or being at a really good Dan's house. All I can say is that it was one of the better nights of my life.

I don't mean to sound like I'm gloating or anything. The experience was incredible and I'm incredibly lucky and thankful that I got to go. I know a lot of people don't even like Coldplay. Personally I think they're pretty much the best band out there and I don't see how they could sound average at all, but I guess that's cool if you think they are. I get it, they can seem a little weird/gay when they shoot rainbow confetti everywhere and sing about "an adventure of a lifetime" or "a sky full of stars." But it was an adventure of a lifetime and the stadium was a sky full of stars.

I think the song below pretty accurately shows what I like about them. And it perfectly encapsulates what being with you is like.