Travel Rogue

August 10, 2005

Ben Folds Ravinia

Took in my first Ravinia concert of the season last night, Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds. Awesome lineup, and definitely evidenced by the complete and absolute clusterfump of Abercrombie clad bodies. As I got off Metra and headed toward Dave, two Ravinia employees pushed past me and walked authoritatively toward a kerchiefed J. Crew kind of girl. She was hunched over on a bench, a string of spittle dangling from her lips, pointing at a pink puddle of puke just left of her flip-flop. I was embarrassed just seeing her. This was not representative of the evening I had in mind. To me, Ravinia is a quiet, pensive evening of wine, cheese, and olives. Good music. A fading sky and candlelight. Guess I'm old. The Ravinia I met last night was younger. Spilled beer bottles, dancing on picnic blankets, and not a candelabra or centerpiece in sight. It was acceptable to talk and laugh during the concert. There were no buttoned-up men in suit jackets walking around with a poster lettered with "Quiet Please." Instead of subdued luxury, there was youthful energy. We walked a bit over to the pavilion, two thirtysomething couples caught somewhere between young-and-uninhibited and old-and-reserved. It's a fine place to be, as long as you're not grasping for one end or the other. At the pavilion, people stood three or four deep, trying to get a glimpse of the performance. Dave had the only vantage point, and described the scene to the rest of us. "There's a guy down there and he has a guitar." Okay. Then on to the ice cream parlor, where a bottle of Ecco Domani went for $30. The price didn't surprise me, after all, Ravinia held a captive audience of drinkers. There's no where else to go if you run out of wine or beer. However, it would make more sense to stock a label that no one knew, thus avoiding criticism and likely increasing conversion. You would have to be extraordinarily desperate to pay $30 for a bottle of Ecco. I was only moderately desperate, so I ponied up $7.50 for a glass. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Different, but nice.

Posted by carolyn at August 10, 2005 09:32 AM

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