These shows were bitter sweet for me. Even purchasing tickets was an adventure.
The day tickets went on sale, my buddy and I drove down to Chicago early in the morning to get them from one of the local outlets and were suprised to be the first in line not realising that bracelets were given out the night before. About a half hour or so before the place opened people with bracelets began to show up and we were suddenly aware that we had to go to the back of the line after everyone who had bracelets. So we went from thinking we were first in line to about 300+ people behind. So tickets go on sale and the line was moving slowly. After about 20 minutes of waiting someone drove up and said another outlet down the street had no line and no bracelets. We immediately ran to the car, drove up the block and quickly entered the outlet and sure enough, no line. Of course by this time the pavillion was sold out for all 3 shows but lawn tickets were available so we bought 4 for the first night and 2 for the second and third night. Happy to have tickets at all we decided to drive by the still brand new amphitheater to check it out so on our way and passing the outher outlet, noticed that the line there was still huge.
So we get to The World Music Theater and sure enough, it looked quite ominous but the lot was opened so we decided what the heck. So we pulled in and just a few workers were about and were able to pull right up to the theater itself. We climbed the hill to take a peek and sure enough, David Bowie was performing that night and we got to observe the setup. Pretty cool.
So we leave Tinley Park and head back to West Michigan knowing that Steve Miller was playing that very same day at a nice rustic outdoor venue called Val-Du-Lakes on a nice hill overlooking some nice beach dunes. So we drove straight there after getting Dead tickets and watching the Bowie stage setup. When we arrived at the Steve Miller show, it was sold out but we were able to score tickets in the parking lot quickly. That concert like many I've seen there was absolutely fantastic.
Fast forward to late July.
Myself and my buddy who had tickets for all three shows and two other buddies just planned on going the first night so we took two cars and followed our other buddies. When we were approaching the venue, we were in the traffic jam from hell. Our other 2 buddies in the car that we followed (and was both of their first Dead show) decided to skip the traffic jam and drive on the shoulder so we followed. After cutting in front of a couple miles of stuck traffic, we made it to the exit and probably saved over an hour wait. When we finally parked, there was little to no vending. The parking hassle and no vending were a couple bad points from the get go.

So we eventually head into the show to find a spot to sit and realise what an absolutely horrible venue this place was. It was like a hollowed out skyscraper with a lawn hill next to it. The show itself was absolutely fantastic. Everyone was on top of their game and Brent was playing beautifully. Every song was played with inspiration and energy. This had to have been one of the best shows of the summer. Plenty of rockers, stretched out jams and even a great post drums Crazy Fingers. Birdsong and Scarlet>Fire were awesome.