When we last left out heroes, they had just had an amazing experience with The Whigs, The Gaslight Anthem, and The Hold Steady. Unfortunately, bad news had found it’s way to Detroit. Becky got a phone call as we were leaving the venue letting her know that her dog was in rough shape. She headed home to take her to the emergency vet, and Matt and I sadly awakened on Friday to the bad news that the pup did not make the night. Terrible way to put a cap on things in the D. 

We were planning on a caravan of four, and eventually five, from Detroit to Chicago to go see the Old 97s at Navy Pier. It just wasn’t meant to be. To keep Matt and I from being stranded, Becky still drove us all the way to South Bend in spite of the night’s events. We did our best to keep her upbeat and I think we did a pretty good job. We’re a pretty hilarious and charming couple of bros after all. We got to South Bend around 2:30 and met up with Crouch, the legendary Heisman Trophy winning bartender. We got some Chick Fil A, had some laughs, grabbed some brown liquor, and then we bid Becky adieu and the three of us hopped on a train to Chicago. Matt and I had officially reached Planes, Trains, and Automobiles status. Departing South Bend at 4:45 and arriving at 6:20, we were going to be cutting it close to catch the 97s who were due on stage at 7:00p. It wasn’t meant to be.

The train was delayed from the start, but we were getting drunk on the train so it was chill as could be. There was some amazing people watching to be had and some very loud randoms sat in our vicinity throughout the trip. We finally pulled in at 6:50, but Matt and I had to get to our respective hotels. Crouch met up with his cousin, the pretty awesome Erin, and they headed up to the Pier. Matt and I got to walking. We managed to get to my hotel, then up the street to Matt’s, and finally we got to Navy Pier about 8. It then took another 15 minutes to reach the Beer Garden before I heard the sweet dulcet tones of Mr. Rhett Miller singing “Big Brown Eyes”. Extremely disappointing the miss the first hour of their set but A) I’ve seen the 97s/Rhett at least 15 times and will see them another 15 times God willing and I can take 1 truncated set in my life and B) remembering what got us started on the late path that day kept things in perspective. I was late, but I was there. I saw the rest of our crew awaiting us, I grabbed a brew, and got to Clare, Jeanne, Kevin, Crouch, and Erin just in time to belt out what was left of “Barrier Reef” and to get it all started yet again. We caught about 30-40 minutes of the 97s and then chilled at the Beer Garden with a healthy amount of beer for a while longer. Eventually, it was time to eat and we made our way to a great tapas place whose name escapes me. 

After some great conversation and delicious food (OMG bacon wrapped dates y’all), we called it a relatively early night and headed back to our respective hotels. A quick cab ride back was made a little longer thank to Michael Bay. Turns out they were filming Transformers 3 while we were in Chicago and we encountered the first of a few circuitous cab routes thanks to Optimus Prime. A day that started off bleak had turned into yet another memorable night. There wasn’t too much sleep to be had that night - we had a noon start at Wrigley on Saturday to come - but it felt really good to get into that bed.