Hello,

I haven't been able to tell about my Chicago experience until now, because I've only had the "News" portion of this Forum bookmarked and forgot there were other parts to this Forum... which is a big fail (I go to so many places in my bookmarks that I can't memorize the layout of every website, I guess?).

Since I need to catch up with this thread, I'll explain my experience at the concert and then respond to what other people have posted at the end.

So here goes:

My bf (Luis) and I drove from Murray, KY all the way to Chicago, which was a 7-ish hour-long drive, along with plenty of potty breaks. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express, about 7 blocks north of the House of Blues (HOB). We just walked to get there, and we stood in line at about... was it around 5:00 P.M., I guess? If I remember right, we were about the 20th people in line, I think. I asked this asain girl, "Is this the line forming to see Utada?" and she replied, "Yeah!" And I was like "XD awesome." At one point, still early standing in line, I stepped across the street to take a picture of the line we were in, and I made Luis wave to the camera (Anyone see me there? XD lol)

Then I remember it was starting to snow (or it already was for a while, I forget). I remember my toes were starting to become cold, 30 minutes passed and they started to ache, 30 minutes passed and my toes were just plain numb.

The security people mentioned that you can go to the restaurant to pay $15.00 on food/merchandise and you can show the receipt to the people inside and they will allow you to stand in line INDOORS and be the first people to go into the stage area. SO, we stepped out of line, went into the restaurant, and the security inside said that they're not doing that $15.00 deal anymore and that we had to go back outside (I was pissed). Luis and I were NOT going to go to the end of the line again since it was now wrapped way the hell around the building, so we kinda wedged ourselves back in the same area we were.

Once they let us in, we were padded down (although not well) and we ended up being about... I'd say the 5th or 6th row from the stage itself, which worked out well, since our tickets said row F in the standing room, I think (I don't know why they put that). I'm about 5'4, so naturally, it's harder for me to see past taller people than usual... but I ended up being able to see all right XD.

DJ Mike Rizzo came out about after 30 minutes of standing and waiting and started doing his thing. You all know about the guy in the mask already, and it was pretty comical. I thought it was actually part of the show at first, but then I realized that Rizzo maintained the beat like it was until the guy in the mask was escorted off stage, and then he continued DJing. Rizzo played for an unnecessary length of time (like an hour and a half, I think...?) But Luis and I were kinda bouncing to the music (my toes were STILL cold after like 45 minutes of being indoors). He said things like "UTADA IN AN HOUR" and "UTADA IN 15 MINUTES." But, of course, it was all just to "hype" us, since Utada came out a bit later than Rizzo said she would (lol, and I knew that was going to happen).

Utada came out on stage at about 9:10, I think, and my eyes just watered from happiness! XD The acoustics of the entire room, with the lighting and the appearance of Utada just made her entire stage entrance EPIC!!! In my head, I was just continuously thinking, "This isn't just 'In the Flesh', this is UTADA IN 3-D (censored)YES!!!" over and over, lol.

There's not much to say about her performances than you guys already know, so I won't go in-depth about that. But she did say things like "Wow, so close..." in response to how close the crowd was to the stage, and she mentioned how "personal" this concert was than most places she's been because of that.

When she sang "Dirty Desire" and said it would be her last song, I knew that wasn't true, because I saw the supposed "Track List" of her In the Flesh tour, and she still needed to sing Simple and Clean and Me Muero. I also don't know if the FANS started the chant, "U-TA-DA" while clapping so that she would come back on stage, or if the chant was started by people who were a part of the tour itself, so that they could get it started... you know what I mean? Either way, it was awesome, and she came back out on stage, "So, I take it you all would like me to sing more songs..." XD Biggest. Audience. Scream. Evar.

During "Me Muero," I tried to sneak one picture with my cell phone, but...



SOMETHING glared on her face, so it's FAIL. >.> I just show this picture to people and tell them it's my God[dess] as a joke. ...and if you are actually able to see her face, it will make you blind. =)

We took a couple pictures afterward and headed back to our hotel. So, that was our experience there! lol.