Ah, the first concert (review) of the summer. If you ask me, summer was made for concerts! This year the Illinois Lottery invited me to cover The Roots Taste of Chicago Performance (this was actually my third year working with them since I partnered with them last summer for Erykah Badu’s Taste of Chicago performance and in 2014 for the Anything’s Possible® Music Series + Janelle Monáe Concert) and of course I jumped at the opportunity. It’s funny because I never used to be a “concert person” (when it comes to live music I’ve always been more of a Broadway person. Speaking of Broadway, I STILL can’t believe I’m seeing Hamilton in October! Words can’t describe how excited I am) but for the past three years or so, I’ve learned to really LOVE concerts! Even if it’s an artist I don’t really like (or am that familiar with), there’s just something about the energy and vibe of concerts that I really love! 
When it comes to food, the Illinois Lottery definitely goes all out. Before the concert began, I helped myself to some (delicious) fish tacos, rice, corn, jerk chicken, enchiladas and guacamole (because you can’t enjoy a concert on an empty stomach, am I right?).
Donnie Trumpet was so awesome! His energy was amazing and he really got the crowd going. What I really liked about Donnie Trumpet’s performance was the fact that he brought a lot of special guests with him, including Chicago’s very own Chance the Rapper.
Seeing Chance the Rapper was such a fun little surprise. That’s another thing that I’ve grown to love about concerts, you never know what’s going to happen or what special guest might come out and perform. I remember back in 2014 when I saw Young the Giant and they randomly brought out GROUPLOVE to perform a few songs (talk about a fun surprise!). My favorite part of Chance the Rapper’s performance is when the ENTIRE crowd sung along to “Sunday Candy.”
Can you tell how excited everyone was to see The Roots?
I LOVE The Roots so much (it doesn’t help that they’re the official house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Questlove is the show’s Musical Director!). Seeing them live was like an out of body experience, they were just SO good! Talk about a GREAT way to kick off the first day of the Taste of Chicago. Speaking of the Taste of Chicago, this year’s (FREE) concert schedule is AWESOME! Tonight I’m seeing KONGOS, Elle King and Transviolet and Friday I’m seeing The Decemberists and Shakey Graves. Then on Saturday I’m seeing Billy Idol (did I mention these concerts are FREE!!) Yup, concert wise, it doesn’t get much better than summertime in Chicago (speaking of Chicago concerts, Lollapalooza is in THREE WEEKS!).