Tonight's top show: Kid Sister, Konono No. 1 at Millennium Park
Kid Sister/Konono No. 1: South suburban native Melisa Young (a k a Kid Sister) is at the forefront of dance-rap with her terrific 2009 album, “Ultra Violet.” She’s paired with Congolese thumb-piano maestros Konono No. 1, who turn junkyard remnants into rocking percussion instruments, 6:30 p.m. Monday at Prizker Pavilion, Millennium Park. Free; millenniumpark.org.
greg@gregkot.com
Greg,
Any word on who made the call to turn Millennium Park into a racist police state last night?
It's curious as to why the Park District chose to make this special exception for the show, which was labeled as "hip hop":
From their site and signage: Alcohol, glass bottles and metal cans will not be allowed into the Jay Pritzker Pavilion seating bowl or Great Lawn for the July 19 Kid Sister + Konono No. 1 concert. Bags, coolers and packages will be screened.
Increased police presence, coupled with sectioned off lawn seating and only permitting entrance on the Michigan Avenue side of the park? I've attended sellout shows at the park by the Decembrists, Wilco and She and He without these restrictions. Not sure who was responsible, but the implicit racism of this is breathtaking.
Read more here: http://amgarcia.com/2010/07/20/kid-sister-the-pritzker-pavilion-police-state/
Greg replies: Checking into this
Posted by: Matthew Brett | July 20, 2010 at 11:06 AM
I agree 100% with Matthew. I was at previous Monday night concerts by She and Him and the Thermals, and at both, crowd control was handled with a light touch. In fact, fans were allowed in the aisles to dance. Bags weren't screened excessively, and people generally had a great -- and safe -- time.
Things were very different last night. The police/security presence was overwhelming. The person in front of me had his bottled water confiscated (I fought their efforts to do the same to my sealed plastic Whole Foods water). There was no way to dance in the aisle, because a guard immediately would intervene. At one point, I noticed that the woman across the aisle had dropped her phone and ID. When I tried to walk across to tell her, I was stopped by a guard. Even parents with small children were prohibited from dancing in place in the aisles.
What's so disturbing was the obvious double standard at work here. The Thermals? Let em dance. A hip hop show? Bring on the riot police. What were the organizers possibly thinking? And for the record, this was a friendly, well-behaved crowd, hardly the kind of threat that would merit such incredible over-reaction.
Maryann
Posted by: Maryann Siwek | July 20, 2010 at 02:40 PM
^^agree with all the above. The crowd was not much different than the crowd for la 33/TF Orchestra PolyRythmo or Antibalas, maybe a touch younger, lots of families. There was no need to hassle people as much as they were being hassled.
The staggering thing was the fenced off lawn. It looked hateful and ridiculous. Towards the back there were more security than spectators. During the encore one whole quadrant of the lawn had only one family on it with dancing toddlers. Hardly the hellraisers the city was prepared for.
Posted by: neil jendon | July 20, 2010 at 11:03 PM