Ravinia Festival, if you've never been, is a beautiful park with lovely landscaped grounds. There is a covered Pavillion for the stage, but most fans spread out along the sprawling lawns--in some instances, not at all within view of the Pavillion. There are speakers throughout the park so that the sound quality is generally good, and you can picnic and enjoy the music beneath the stars. We brought along a feast of sun-dried tomato/pesto cheese dip, organic veggie crackers, homemade raspberry/rhubarb pie, reeses pieces and sparkling water.
Half the fun of attending Ravinia is the people-watching. People strive to outdo each other with elaborate set-ups, including tables, real china, live flowers in glass vases, and my personal favorite, lit candleabras. We saw each of those items in action last night, as well as a large group of women in matching pink t-shirts reading "What's new, Pussycat?"
Squirrel Nut Zippers opened, and were generally fun. We were pleasantly surprised that they were opening--their album Hot was one of my very first CD purchases. I recall thinking it was super innovative because it had computer content on it.
Jones did not disappoint. He played a variety of new material, covers ("Kiss", "Fly Me to the Moon"), and hits ("She's a Lady", "You Can Leave Your Hat On", "It's Not Unusual" and more). He is a fantastic show man and received squeals of appreciation from the crowd for his dance moves. His band, including back-up singers and dancers and a horns section, was fantastic. While all the songs were performed well, the blues songs were really knocked out of the park.
Overall, a fabulous evening!
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