George and I went to see the EELS show in Chicago at the Metro yesterday. Unfortunately, the Metro is just down the street from Wrigley Field, and the Cubs were playing that day, so parking was a bear (HA! Get it? Cubs? Bear? Chicago?). so, after driving around downtown CHicago for what seemd like 8 hours, looking for a parking space, we finally find some unused Cubs parking a couple blocks from the venue. It cost $25 to leave the car there. I felt a piece of my sould leave as I forked over the cash. Anyway, we get to the place a little after the doors open, and it's mostly empty. Now, let me tell you something about the Metro. It's tiny, and there are no seats. By tiny, I mean really friggin tiny. I think U2's PopMart stage was wider than the entire venue, and I know the giant heart from their Elevation tour would never fit.

So, George and I decide to go up to the balcony, where we would be able to see the stage (a whole 25 feet away), and, lucky us, we were right in front. Kickass. We wait and wait and wait as the place fills up. Finally, the lights go down for MC Honky.

For those of you unfamiliar with him, MC Honky is this old white dude dressed like Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, smoking a pipe and DJing. It was interesting to see, but I wouldn't buy his CD, cuz it's not my kind of thing. Anyway, he finishes his set, the lights come on, and the background music starts up again (and starts to repeat itself). After waiting a bunch more, the backing band comes out on stage and starts jamming to the main riff of All in a Days Work. It's rocking and all, but still no E. Then I hear a guy say, "Excuse me" to me and push me aside so he can squeeze in. Great. Some asshole shows up late and wants my spot. I turn to him to shoot a nasty look, pause when he looks familiar, and then notice that he's holding a harmonica and a microphone.

Holy. Crap.

The band's still jamming out, and E's standing there. Right Fucking Next To Me. George is oblivious the whole time, so I lean over and say, "Dude, E's standing right next to me." George was also quite shocked. E starts jamming on the harmonica and makes his way downstairs to the stage.

They opened with a couple songs I didn't know, played that old 16 Tons song (16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt...) and followed that up with Saturday Morning. The whole show was fabulous. The did a grungy version of Novacaine for the Soul, they played 9 songs from Shootenanny! (including a very nice rendition of Agony, and I was psyched to hear Dirty Girl). A couple songs from Souljacker, a few from Beautiful Freak, a couple from Electro-Shock Blues and a few from Daisies of the Galaxy (which I still don't have).

E had a great rapport with the crowd, and a really good sense of humor. At the end of the first (of three) encore, E gave a little speech about how we should all got out and do something nice for ourselves for a change, because we deserve it. So I did. I picked up a couple T-shirts (which were cheaper than the ones you buy at Media Play) and a copy of the out-of-print live album, Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.

I would definitely see them again. I had a great time.