Anthony Bourdain - Genesee Theatre - Waukegan, IL - 11/06/09

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/070042AD97B45CCF

Anthony Bourdain
Genesee Theatre
Waukegan, IL
Fri, Nov 6, 2009

My wife and I bought tickets to this. Tickets are pricey IMO at $40/$50 + ticketbastard fees. We are big fans of his shows books and have seen him once before in person at a Borders book signing. I haven't seen this advertised in that many places so I figured I'd post it in case other people want to see him but didn't know he was coming to town.

For that price, I hope he sings and dances.

Hmm, pricey but tempting. Especially since I believe my mother-in-law would enjoy going, and it's reasonably conveniently located for her since she lives in Antioch. This could be a good way to earn some brownie points with the in-laws, thanks for posting the details

stevez wrote:For that price, I hope he sings and dances.

yeah, I'm confused. What is the event? Is he just going to get up there and talk about stuff? If he's cooking dinner for the audience, I might be tempted at that price, but just to sit in a big auditorium and hear him talk? I don't get it. I suspect that he will use the fact that people show up for something silly like this as fodder for his next book, where he makes fun of all of the people who showed up.

Kennyz wrote:

stevez wrote:For that price, I hope he sings and dances.

yeah, I'm confused. What is the event? Is he just going to get up there and talk about stuff?

That's what I'm guessing, though admittedly more information would be nice. Some people manage to be vastly entertaining doing just that though (see Henry Rollins and Kevin Smith as references with about a zillion clips online of their speaking engagements) and I think Anthony Bourdain would be one of them.

I saw him in Rockford a few years ago at a big event, and maybe he is doing something similar with this. He basically talked for about 45 minutes then did Q&A with the audience. He was terrific and funny and charming. There were about 1,000 people there. But I think the event was free as he was in town for their "One Book, One Rockford" launch. (They had picked "Kitchen Confidential" as the "one book." An interesting choice given that it's not exactly family friendly fare.....)

It was a great presentation. Would I have paid $50 for it? I don't know, but I imagine there might be enough fans out there who would love a chance to see him in person, especially places that might not get him for a book signing like we might here in Chicago.

I was lucky to be at a private reception for him before the event and tried not to swoon too much when I met him (I have many illicit thoughts about him). I did get to tell him that it was "Kitchen Confidential" and lots of tequila in Mexico that helped me survive a super-bad breakup several years ago.

Hellodali wrote:I did get to tell him that it was "Kitchen Confidential" and lots of tequila in Mexico that helped me survive a super-bad breakup several years ago.

No way! It was "Kitchen Confidential" and lots of tequila in Mexico that helped me survive a week in a villa in the middle of nowhere with some totally incompatible traveling partners.

Small world!

My wife grabbed us tickets to this for my anniversary present. I can't think it'd be anything but a speaking engagement/Q&A, but I'd like to have a little more of knowledge/a format/etc.

Khaopaat wrote:

Hellodali wrote:I did get to tell him that it was "Kitchen Confidential" and lots of tequila in Mexico that helped me survive a super-bad breakup several years ago.

No way! It was "Kitchen Confidential" and lots of tequila in Mexico that helped me survive a week in a villa in the middle of nowhere with some totally incompatible traveling partners.

Small world!

Me three! Though I had the flu, which I finished the book during, then came the mezcal (I was in Oaxaca)!

We're going to this event but I have no idea what to expect (well, a little bit now from reading posts here). Still, very much looking forward to it.

=R=

While I'm not going to this event, I really do like him and his Travel Channel program, and I bet he will be quite entertaining. In fact, I feel like a period dose of "No Reservations" totally beats any of the current programming on the Food Network (which, I feel, has really lost its way).

Does anyone who attended care to tell us what it was like? I'm eager to hear what Anthony had to offer.

He stood on stage and had a list of bullet points he wanted to hit, and told about 10-12 stories, then proceeded into a Q&A. My wife who previously didn't really like him too much, and really dislikes stand-up comedy said two things when we left: "He's not as much of a dick as he usually seems, and I found a type of stand-up I like, Culinary Stand-up" If you've read or seen any interviews with him over say the past year, it was a lot of the usual material. (Zimmern, Ray, S. Lee, Richtman) Nice bits about Gourmet ceasing production, and about the east coast hamburger situtaion.


It was a delightful evening. Went to The Silo for the first time for dinner after seeing the thread on it, while searching for food in the general on the way there area. Had the Pan Pizza Trio, and it was really, really good. It's going into the rotation as we only live in Vernon Hills. Also had a couple pre-show cocktails at the neighboring La Opera, as many others did. Lady behind the standard Mexican Bar was so cute in saying, "I like Bourdain, he likes interesting places, he'll probably come here", when she's standing in a tiny 2-tap bar, that just serves Tombstone pizza. Anthony did mention having Hillary's brisket for dinner though.

Hi,

What did he think of Hillery's brisket?

Regards,

He casually just mentioned he had "Really good brisket from Hillary's for dinner"
There was much applause at the mention of Hillary's.

Fun time at The Genesee last Friday, albeit somewhat surreal. As someone who once saw Tony speak in front of 20 people at the Oak Brook Borders, I was astonished to see that he sold 1,600 seats to this event. I am truly thrilled for him. Still it was weird seeing him mic'd and onstage, speaking to a paying audience. But I saw Michael Pollan doing the same thing a few weeks back, so I guess this becoming more commonplace.

We enjoyed Tony's chat, which was highly entertaining. Both new ground and some familiar territory were covered. He did dish on familiar target Sandra Lee but the specific story he told was very funny and one that I hadn't heard before. The Q&A session was longer than I thought it would be but many of the questions, including my own, were somewhat inane. Tony was earnest in answering them, which was cool.

After the event, we were able to participate in the Meet & Greet with Tony, which was nice . . .


Mr. & Mrs. Svickova, Jazzfood, myself, Mrs. Suburban and Tony

=R=

Thanks for the reviews. Sounds like it was a fun night out. I just got an email from Ticketmaster saying Bourdain will be coming to the Chicago Theater on April 24. I'm seriously considering going.

Seeing as I never know what to get my wife for Christmas, I had a revelation shortly after posting about Bourdain's Chicago Theatre appearance. Tickets would be a pleasant and unexpected surprise for my wife. We both love Bourdain and his shows on Travel Channel. So armed with a presale password, I logged onto the Ticketmaster site and purchased two tickets. Got first row balcony seats too!!!

I'm now really excited about spending a delightful evening out with the wife. Of course we'll have to take in some pre-theatre cocktails and fine dining. And we've got about 5 months to secure a babysitter.

The biggest bonus of all is that I've got the bulk of my Christmas shopping for my wife done before Thanksgiving instead of my usual Christmas Eve last minute gift hunt panic.