Wrigley Field - Backstage??

I know a guy who played for the Cubs briefly and he brought us into the clubhouse briefly after a game in like 2001 ish??? I wasn't impressed with the facility I bore witness too. I'm not sure if it's been renovated back there since but having been a pro (practice team) in the NFL for a season I was much more accustomed to newer facilities.

Oddly enough, for the benefit of this conversation, I was lucky enough to run into Eddie, Mike, & Stone in Chicago circa 1995 or 1996 & had the pleasure of briefly conversing with them. They were some of the most down to Earth regular dudes I've ever met in the music industry. Eddie was drunk off his ass & pretty quiet. Mike seemed more like an accountant than a musician & Stone was on a role... hilarious.

I would imagine that hanging with them backstage would be similar to chilling with some old college buddies at someone's house. That was then though... now they're family men, fathers even lol... so I agree, probably not at all exciting.

About 2-3 weeks ago I attended an LL Cool J/Public Enemy show with Ice Cube, De La Soul, & Doug E Fresh as a "guest" of the promoter. The experience was my first "real" backstage experience & it was completely unlike what the others here have described. Our seats were second row PIT and we were able to go backstage via a fence gate maybe 30 feet from the PIT to the left of the stage (to our left, not the stage left). Oddly enough, to the right of the stage was the VIP area for season ticket holders at the venue that we actually didn't have access too lol.

We were in several of the artists dressing rooms with them & actually I started to feel sick to my stomach shortly before LL took the stage & hung out in Flava Flavs dressing room with him & his kids for most of the rest of the show. Really, the only one I didn't spend any time with was LL. There was a short line to meet him after the show & I was just feeling too sick to stay. (sadly enough) Everyone we met there, artist & crew wise were VERY cool & personable.

Upon entering the back of the facility there was a tented in area where the tent covering looked to be attached to the building & there was a plethora of drinks in several coke fridges & hot catered food being served along with various cold cuts, chips, etc. There was a first & second story hallway with dressing rooms off of each. I guess ICE Cube had to cancel at the last minute because he had a dressing room (door closed) but didn't perform & was no where to be seen. A few of the other rooms had their doors open so we just wondered in. I'm not sure if we were supposed to but no one seemed to mind. We'd just knock on the door, standing in the doorway & the artist or someone else in the room would wave us in. For the others we'd just knock on the door & someone would invite us in.

There seemed to be quite a few family/kids/friends of the artists hanging around... especially the food tent area. No alcohol, drugs, or "groopies" that we could see... I realize that these guys don't generally attract Pearl Jam type followings & maybe that's why they seemed so gracious & kept thanking us for our support. As I spent quite a lot of time with the Flava I can tell you that he wasn't at all what you'd think... very cool & full of energy, yes, but also very open about his experiences, sharing personal stories, & quite interested in me & my stories.

Obviously, I just wanted to hear him tell his stories but he kept asking me about me. He seemed to be very interested in people & learning about all of everyone's diverse journey's through life. I told him about how I left my professional career once I'd made some money, to volunteeracation in Kenya with Doctors Without Borders & how music like Public Enemy & Pearl Jam growing up was a primary influence in who I am & how I try to balance my life between making money & giving back through charitable work. He even gave me an email to send him pictures from Kenya & "if I would" write more about what I experienced there. I mentioned Pearl Jam several times & how it seems like there's always a PJ show in my life at each crucial cross road... how I am currently at one of those cross roads & how I was going to see PJ at Wrigley. He responded that he was glad that my first Public Enemy show was also part of my "story" now & how he was a PJ fan as well. FYI - He played guitar, bass, & drums at different parts of the show with great skill... I had no idea he was such a musician.

Anywho, back to PJ... One day I hope to be able to share my journey with PJ & let them know how their music has saved & influenced me through the years. I agree that doing something like this backstage wouldn't be optimal as it's already been said, that would be bothering them at work. Somehow though, I imagine that they'd be every bit as personal, gracious, & generally interested as was my experiences a few weeks ago with those artists. I would have expected it to have been more of a "move em in & move em out" type thing with people kinda pushing you through the experience so as to allow the artists to get back to whatever... but it absolutely was the opposite. I'm sure that the fact that it was an actual concert venue with larger facilities built for that purpose had something to do with it but I also wonder if times have largely changed from the 'ol rock & roll/hairband tour experiences of the previous decades. With social media & technology the world is so much smaller now & there doesn't seem to be so much of a social class-like separation between "the famous" & all of us. Just my opinions & experiences though...

me and a friend of mine were able to get all access backstage passes for lollapalooza last year bought from someone on craigslist for around $500. lolla sold out quick last year and regular tickets were going for ~$350 so we decided it was worth it to spend the extra $150 and get free drinks and food all weekend. we had access to the entire park with the exception of a small fenced in area backstage where the top headliners were hanging out (RHCP, Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Jack White) that had their own security. we were able to watch all the shows from on the stage (again except for the top headliners because you needed a special sticker from their crew to get onstage) and hang out in the artist lounge area. there are a bunch of trailers backstage with every bands name listed so you can roam around a meet people pretty easily. got to talk to perry briefly and spoke to cedric bixler-zavala from mars volta for a little while and a few others. my friend and i split up at one point and he hung out with dave navarro during sabbath for a while (until dave took off with chad from rhcp and the 20-something year old girls my friend was hanging out with). there was also a big party backstage the last night of the festival that went til around 2-3 AM with live music. it was definitely worth the extra money for the open bar and golf carts to drive you anywhere you want to go all weekend. although the top headliners were a little more difficult to meet, many of them could be found hanging out backstage watching other bands throughout the day. i have noticed that for every major festival you can always find some backstage passes on craigslist in the few days before the festival starts. the passes we got for lolla were C3 Guest passes and the year before that i met a radio DJ during lolla who sold me and extra media pass he had which also gave all access to backstage. it is the only time i have been backstage and definitely the easiest way to get back there, i would imagine if you got a pass for a festival PJ was playing you could probably meet them back there. time to start hunting for backstage passes to voodoo festival