Hootie jams out in the Chi

It’s a warm Chicago summer day at Ravinia and the crushing sound of plastic roller-coolers on the pavement fills the air. Soon, the 6:30 p.m. train whistles through to unleash busloads of drunk people who are more than amped to see some old-fashioned Hootie & the Blowfish.

Ravinia, located in Highland Park just north of Chicago, is one of the only venues in America that allows people to bring in outside food and drink, lawn chairs, candles, blankets and pretty much anything else. And, according to Ravinia.org, Ravinia is the oldest outdoor music festival in North America.

Walking in, I pass two security guards making love to their triple-scoop ice-cream cones. The only thing cops worry about here is people smoking outside the designated area.

The lawn is peppered with food caterers, business outings, family reunions and the occasional kid blowing bubbles.

It's huge and spread out but people still pack it close within inches. This is the biggest show the band played all summer.

In the 15 years that 60-year-old Lowell Plavic has been a lawn security guard at Ravinia, the “higher ups” have never published a number to how many people the venue holds, (for revenue purposes I suppose).

“Hootie brings in more of a younger crowd; a week ago we had John Hiatt which was also a big sell out,” Plavic said. “We also get a lot from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and jazz.”

I figured they would play all their popular songs, which they did and sounded great, but to be honest their stage theatrics were a tad too country for my taste.

However, I believe Hootie & the Blowfish have incorporated the perfect dose of country into rock music. It’s kind of like horseradish; just by itself it sucks, brings nothing to the table and makes you want to vomit (country). But if you take the smallest, tiniest amount and apply it to sushi (rock) then wondrous things can happen. I guess that’s what I think when I think of Hootie – sushi and horseradish.

On top of two encores, Hootie also covered Led Zeppelin’s “Hey Hey What Can I Do,” R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” (one of their band members was in REM) and Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova.”

Once the show ended I found a group of people probably in their 40s and 50s. The man I interviewed was K. Johnson and this was his third time at Ravinia this year.
“None of us here are Hootie fans,” Johnson said. “I’m just here for Ravinia and friends. We all live in different cities, every year we go to Ravinia together. Two of us got here at 4:30…”

Another man threw in, “The rest of us beamed in at 6:30, it was more like a Jim-Beamed in (laughs).”