House of Blues Chicago

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

I attended the Chirs Isaak concert at the Chicago House of Blues. I have been to the Los Angeles House of Blues before, and really enjoyed it, but I was there for the Gospel Brunch. I was not attending a concert then. This time was not such a pleasant experience. First of all, the tickets were advertised as $56, but with taxes and service charges, the total came to $71.03. I know this is always the case with Ticketmaster, but it still irks me. Call me cheap, but if I am going to pay more than $50 for a concert ticket, I want a place to sit. The general admission ticket means you can either stand on the hard, flat floor looking up at the stage, or stand on the balcony, looking down at the stage. Since the floor is flat- not on levels- I chose the balcony. I am 5 feet tall, so standing in a swarm of people, trying to look up at a stage means I will not see anything. The concert was a 9pm show. We arrived shortly before 8pm. There was no actual venue parking. It was extremely cold outside, and parking on the street was very difficult to find. We found a spot a few blocks away. It had a pay box, but was very expensive. Once we were in the venue, the coat check was $5 per person. My friend paid $10 for a beer. We listened to "Toad the Wet Sprocket" blaring from the sound system as we looked for a place to stand. I was asking myself why on earth they would call this place "The House of Blues". I did not hear a single blues song in the piped-in pre-show music. I am a blues singer. That is why I was excited to be attending a show there, and why I was very disappointed with the choice of music played by the venue. Chris Isaak is not a blues artist either, but I would have been satisfied if they would at least play music relative to the artist performing that night, if they are not going to play blues. This was not the case. There was already a good amount of people there, but we were able to secure a spot on the balcony where the stage was somewhat visible. However, it was behind the spotlight. I had dressed very warm, since it was so cold outside. After standing behind the hot spotlight for the entire show, I thought I might expire. I didnt dare move though, because by the time I realized how hot I was going to be, there was not a single standing space where I would have been able to see any of the show. Some of our other friends there didnt see a thing except the occaisional glimpse of a TV screen. There was a local opening act, which was not advertised. She was not really my taste, but good for the singer/songwriter genre. Chris Isaak played a fantastic set. I will say the sound in the venue is pretty decent, and the decor is exceptional, in a Disney/Vegas kind of way. However, when Chris Isaak and his band played an extensive encore, I found myself wishing the show would end already. I should have been thrilled that they kept going on with their amazing set, but by that time, I had been standing in the same place for 4 hours behind a hot spotlight, and I was exhausted. I was extremely uncomfortable for most of the show, and it made it difficult to enjoy it as much as I should have. The House of Blues is to blues what Starbucks is to coffee. If you are a seasoned concert-goer, dont expect any authentic blues concert experience. There is no true grit to this place at all. Expect an expensive chain catering to the masses of tourists that pile in. As I said, the sound is fine and the decor is impressive, but they are making more than enough money to maintain it. There are some great artists performing there (even if they arent primarily blues artists), but unfortunately, I wont see them, because I will never attend a concert at the House of Blues again. I can only recommend this venue for the Gospel Brunch. Otherwise, just know what to expect going in.

AI

aileen f

Im a pretty regular concert-goer in general and Ive been here several times for shows, however, its easily my least favorite venue in Chicago. Times are not accurately reflected on the website or ticket. They say "show starts at..." but really they mean thats when the doors open. Generally I dont mind waiting a little bit, but every single time you end up waiting a MINIMUM of an hour and a half after doors open before the first band hits the stage. The set changes are VERY slow too. Once again you can expect to be waiting at least 30 minutes between bands, and a good 40+ for the headliner...Id say the average time for most other venues Ive gone to is 15...too much more than that and you start losing the excitement buzz and get irrirated. Tickets and rules are inconsistent. Two of the shows I went to, general admission included the pit but this past show it did not. This information was not reflected anywhere when I was buying my ticket and I was very surprised and disappointed upon arrival to this latest show to find out that I couldnt go down there and had to try and squeeze in somewhere around the bars off to the side. I ended up standing awkwardly between people who were standing at the bar, and some guys sitting on stools adjacent from that, and having to constantly shuffle to let people back and forth from the bar to the pit...kinda killed getting into the zone for me. Also, not sure if this goes for every show, or just this last one but security wasnt allowing anyone to take pictures of the band...however this rule didnt seem to kick in until over halfway through the set of the headliner. I had taken a few pics at the beginning of the show, standing right next to security, and had no issues. Toward the end I wanted to try and get a few last pictures during the encore and was immediately stopped and told it wasnt allowed. They were also going into the pit, pushing through people there to tell them to stop taking pictures too...Every show Ive ever been to pictures are fine. If this is a rule of House of Blues, well its stupid. If it was a request by the band, thats definitely a bummer that they wouldnt want their fans to have a few picture memories, but either way the venue should have announced this BEFORE the show started. In general security seemed to be constantly harping on people for stupid little things...guess Im just used to a more chill atmosphere when I go out. I feel like the attitude of this place is overly stuffy, and inconsistant. I chose only to go here if its something I really, REALLY want to see, but I would not recommend this venue to anyone. The only reason theres 2 stars is because the sound system is pretty good.

SA

Samuel Tan

My wife and I went for the gospel brunch. It was our first time at the house of blues so we did not know what to expect. Firstly, we did not quite expect there to be so many people. Before the brunch started, there was a huge group gathered at the lobby, it was packed to the door and we had some trouble getting in. After they started ushering people in, the more seasoned brunch goers quickly moved forward while we stayed behind. This was a decision we would regret later. When we got to our seats, which was right in front of the stage, we then proceeded to get our food. The selection was pretty good, from meats to seafood to dessert. However, the main experience was not the food, which was okay, but the gospel choir that would soon take the stage with a minister. Before we could finish our food, much less go for seconds, the choir had come on and got everyone standing, singing and waving our napkins in the air. It was great fun! By the time we had finished all the singing and dancing, it was time to go because they needed to turn over the place for dinner. The service was exceptional given the crowd and the lack of space. What was even more amazing was that in the rush to leave, my wife had left her phone on the table without even realising it. This amazing waiter came up to us when we were outside, quite some distance from the restaurant as we were walking by the Chicago river, recognised the picture on her home screen and returned the phone to us! WOW! Overall, the experience was a fun one, I just wished we had more time to eat! Maybe thats why the seasoned goers made a beeline for the food when the doors first opened. We will do the same the next time :)

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