Sunday, December 6th, 2009: A cold, yet sunny day in Chicago. Still, despite the frigid temps, the air was warm and electric with excitement! The traveling show, Star Wars in Concert had come to Chicago, Illinois. There were 2 shows, and yours truly attended the first show at 1:00 PM. As my lovely wife and I approached the front entrance to The United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, I couldn't resist a picture of the bronze statue of Michael Jordan, a childhood hero of mine. All about the stadium, inside and out, fans poured in from all around to see this spectacular event. In addition to the show, which incorporates clips from all 6 films, an enormous LED Screen, laser lights, orchestral music of John Williams, and narrated by none other than Anthony Daniels, aka C-3PO himself, an exhibit of several Lucasfilm props directly from George's very own vault adorned the hallway surrounding the inside of the stadium. From costumes to props, backdrops to video screens of makings-of, there was plenty to see! If I had a complaint at this point, it would be simply that there was no organization of any kind in the Exhibit portion. People struggled to walk against each other to get their views in, while many tried to capture that perfect picture they were after. The sheer amount of people enjoying the Exhibit alone made it very difficult to gather their photos. In addition, each glass case containing many of the costumes contained super bright LED lights to make the item very easy to see in great detail, but made photography difficult. Still, I was able to snap several pictures of all I could, including some of the original sheet music from the original score!

Once we found our seats, we had a spectacular view of the entire set up. The stage sat at one end of the arena, taking up the entire width of the floor space with it's monsterous LED screen. Children of all ages, young to old, school age to adulthood, filtered in to their seats, eager to view this epic show. A culmination of six films and 3 decades came into one fantastic showing. The story was two parts, with an intermission at the halfway point. The story followed the events of not only all six movies, but the path of many of the main characters. From Yoda to Anakin, The Empire to The Rebellion, the crew of the Millennium Falcon to the event that started it all, there were elements for fans of all kinds. Anthony Daniels lended his spectacular voice and dramatic musings to this show, in true C-3PO fashion. Even while you looked upon his human face, you could visualize his Droid persona all the while. The laser lights and spotlighting were terrific in lending mood to the event, capturing the essence of each scene in both sound, sight, and feel.

I am supremely glad I was able to attend this event. The whole thing was rivetting, capturing my childhood memories and adding to the awesome cannon that is Star Wars. If and when this show comes to your area, you owe it to yourself, as well as the other generations of your household, to be there. I would go again in a heartbeat, if I had the opportunity.

And now, here are the pictures I was able to take for this show...