2015 Steger Days of Music - The Ides Of March featuring Jim Peterik

What a magical night!!!!

Jim Peterik said it best as he introduced his final song of the evening, "Steger Days, you've got the Eye Of The Tiger!"

But before I even begin this story - HUGE HUGE HUGE THANK YOUS to all of the members of The Ides Of March band and crew!!!!!

So the plan was to have The Shift open at 7:00pm and play for 60 minutes, and then The Ides Of March to headline beginning at 8:30pm.  Mother Nature had different plans, after watching the clouds skirt around the festival grounds, at precisely 7:00pm - yes, precisely - the skies opened.  And they dumped the equivalent of Lake Michigan onto the crowd for the next 180 minutes.  I kept remembering that movie title "A River Runs Through It" as I looked around.

Members of Mix Design's sound/stage crew were closely monitoring the radar, even before the rain hit.  After much discussion between Mix Design, the Village of Steger Event Committee, and Cabin 7 Promotions, much to our regret, it was determined to cancel the opening act - and start switching the stage over for The Ides Of March.  The plan was, the minute the rain stopped, the show would go on - on the Main Stage, outdoors.

Everybody continued to monitor the radar as it rained and more and more cells were popping up.  Contacts at O'Hare Airport and Lansing Airport confirmed our suspicions, it was not going to stop raining that night - and it was going to remain a very heavy rain for most of the duration.

Again, in an amazing show teamwork, Mix Designs, the Village Committee, and Cabin 7 converged to discuss the next plan.  It was decided to ask the Ides of March if they'd be willing to play a purely acoustic set in the beer garden, not even a full set, just something for the fans.  Or maybe just a meet-and-greet.  But, something for the fans who stuck it out - some who sat in raincoats under umbrellas the entire time!  The band's manager was brought into the discussion - which went something like this :

Event Committee : "We were wondering if the Ides would be willing to play a small acoustic set in our beer garden?"
Manager - with absolutely no hesitation at all said "They'd love to!"

And, so it was done.  Upon hearing this news three different village RESIDENTS offered to go home (in the monsoon) and get their sound systems to set up for the Ides in the beer tent.  One, who also owns We Have You Covered, Inc. already had the equipment loaded in a trailer and just had to go grab the trailer - and he did.

Within less than a half an hour, residents, committee members, band crew, band members, Mix Design staff, Cabin 7 Staff, village board members, Public Works employees, EMA, and many others descended on the beer tent and created a temporary stage (as the pavement was a 1/2 inch lake), set up tables for the sound board, set up a merch table, set up an entire sound system with multiple mics and outputs for the acoustic guitars.  In 30 minutes, a concert hall was built.  This was an AMAZING example of teamwork and community at work.  That moment made me proud to be associated with the event, the Village of Steger, and the Ides Of March!

During this time, many of the band members were mingling with the crowd, taking pictures, signing autographs, playing some music, and talking.  It was any fans dream!  A chance to meet their band up close and personal - and then to watch them in the intimate setting.

The Ides Of March, ROCKED IT, as we knew they would.  No drums, no keys, no electric instruments at all.  2 acoustic guitars, percussion instruments, and the horn section!  Oh, and most importantly AMAZING AMAZING vocal harmonies to fill out the sound!!! 

They played the hits, Vehicle, LA Goodbye (a fan favorite for sure), You Wouldn't Listen, High On You, a .38 Special medley, and many others, culminating with a wonderful story of Sylvester Stallone phoning Jim Peterik, and the creation of Eye Of The Tiger - followed of course, by the performance of Eye Of The Tiger!

During the set up time and after, I tried to thank each member of the band for doing this extra effort for us.  And their responses?  "Musicians want to play" and "We wanted to give the fans something for sitting out there" and "Of course, anytime, it's about the fans, right?" and the funny answer "Well, of course, I spent time practicing for this gig!".   But those responses show what an awesome group of people The Ides of March is made from!  True musicians who love their fans!

But wait, there's more!  Even after all of that - they they stuck around for quite a while for a meet-and-greet autograph session.  And they took the time to talk to every person who went up there.

I think (I hope) that the people in attendance will talk about this for a long time!  I hope the band is just as happy as the fans and the event staff - I'm pretty sure they would.

The only downside of the evening was having to cancel the opening act - a local all-original band called The Shift.  They were great too, as they completely understood.

Something truly magical happened that night as the community came together and, with the band of course, put on a show that will always be remembered!!

Some photos can be found on the Cabin 7 Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.973573175997686.1073741845.304654299556247&type=3