Kid Rock, ZZ Top rock First Midwest Bank Ampitheater

I was born and raised on rock and roll. As a baby, my dad would rock me to sleep to "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple.  The soundtrack of my early childhood included Disney tunes and other age-appropriate music, but it also included the likes of Van Halen, Huey Lewis and the News, and my dad's favorite band, ZZ Top. Songs from the band's 1980's and early 1990's albums Eliminator, Afterburner, and Recycler are forever etched into my childhood memories.

So, when my dad and I heard that ZZ Top was playing Tinley Park's First Midwest Bank Amphitheater on August 30 with Kid Rock, we couldn't resist!  The bands were on tour as part of Kid Rock's Best Night Ever tour.  The tour boasted cheap tickets ($20 for both lawn tickets and tickets in the seating) and cheap beer ($4 draught beers.)

While the music was fantastic, the experience of trying to get into and out the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater kept this evening from living up to the moniker of "best night ever".  It took over an hour just to get into the parking lot! Due to a lightning storm in the area, First Midwest stopped letting people into the venue, which obviously spilled over onto the roads getting there. Furthermore, getting through the gate was a chaotic experience.  Patrons entering First Midwest were not told that males and females needed to be in separate lines for entry.  I reached the gate and was refused entry by the male attendant who was searching people, who told me it was "not his problem that I picked the wrong line."

I was able to eventually enter through another line where a female attendant searched me.  The whole process was frustrating, disorganized, and handled very poorly by the staff at First Midwest.  While the weather situation was not their fault, it was clear that they were not capable of handling such a large crowd. During his set, Kid Rock announced that 27,000 people were in the house!

My dad and I ended up missing the first few songs of ZZ Top's set because of the delay in entry.  However, the songs we did hear were great!  The band played several of their top hits from their over 40 year career, including "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Legs," and "La Grange." While the sound quality was not the greatest (this is an area in which the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater has always failed) it didn't detract from the music so much that it ruined the experience. ZZ Top are rock and roll legends for a reason. They rocked from the first song we heard, "Gimme All Your Lovin'," to the last song of their set, "Tush."

My dad and I were fortunate enough to hear Kid Rock's set in its entirety. I have seen Kid Rock twice before; as usual, the man did not disappoint!  Kid Rock played hits spanning the entirety of his career, from "Cowboy" to "American Badass" to "All Summer Long" to "Born Free." Kid Rock is very underrated as a performer.  He puts on a great live show that celebrates his own music, while also paying homage to the rock legends that influence him, as evidenced in the song "American Badass" where he sings, "I like AC/DC and ZZ Top, Bocephus, Beasties and the kings of rock, Skynyrd, Segar, Limp, Korn, the Stones, David Allen Coe and no show Jones."

The Best Night Ever tour failed to live up to its name, at least for me.  However, in spite of the problems I had with how the venue handled crowd control, the music was great, the beer was cheap, and I had a blast getting to watch my dad's favorite band with him.  It might not have been the best night ever, but it was still a mostly fun night.