Chicago, IL, Joe's Bar 2/2/06

[penny74]

Posted by: dlh
Feb 1


I've got the best bunch of gals to work with here and at my job in Indy. They all said "YOU HAVE TO GO!!" and so my boss gave the OK and I'm off to Chicago after work tomorrow. My son Christopher called Ticketmaster for us to get the tickets. I was not able to get in touch with chk until late in the afternoon so I had him just go ahead and get 4 tickets for Joe's concert. I also talked with the manager at Virgin records and reserved 4 CDs and wristbands for all of us (chk, her sis, me and my daughter-in-law Liz) and then hopefully, INXS will go on with the Chicago Theater concert on Saturday......somebody please pinch me!

[chk]

posted by: dlh
Feb 3
I'm at the hotel's computer so this is going to be quick

THE LOVEHAMMER'S ROCKED JOE'S LAST NIGHT!!!!!


:-XOMG!!! Marty and the band were amazing. OMG!!
There is no words that can describe how amazing the live performance. You have to see it to believe it.

We haven't been able to talk to the band yet. We will give them the things at the signing at Virgin and then the band said that they plan to attend the Post Party at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Can't wait to fill you in when we get back.

[chk]

posted by chk
Feb 2

ok I literally just walked into hotel and am standing in lobby to type this-- so details will have to wait, but LH were fantastic tonight at Joe's -- it was AMAZING to be in a crowd that knew every word and went nuts for the band.
AND THEY ROCKED -- even played Garbage, Eurythmics, Stones. plus Rain, Riddle, Trees, Straight as an Arrow, Hold On, Throw my Head, REAL MAN, This Town, Ring of Fire -- so many. Marty insane -- all over the place (jeans khaki shirt, black T, black converse.) He climbed onto the overhead pipes and hung upside down to sing Paint it Black -- walked thru crowd,etc.
More when I am back in HK.
Just want to say THANK YOU HAMMERS
THANK YOU chitownchick
and THANK YOU DLH!!!
THINKING OF YOU, AUSSIES!
chk

[chk]

Posted by chk
7 Feb (in aussie thread)

Part 1: arriving and Joe’s Bar
So I am tired to death but so excited it’s insane. After arriving in the hotel I have a moment where I think to myself that I might be out of my mind to be doing this. But then, I notice the message light is flashing. Den and chitownchick have both left messages telling me that INXS has cancelled their Midwestern gigs – my stomach goes thru the floor until I hear that LH decided to come home early and play at Joe’s. Both den and chi got tickets for me and Dawn – how cool are hammerheads? Den has also reserved cds and wristbands for the Virgin thing.
So dawn and I go to Virgin to get the cds and wristbands and we see all the huge MC posters up in the store. I am now totally psyched again cause instead of being there for a 45-minute set I am now seeing lH 3x. We both feel like we won the lottery or something and keep saying things like I never have such good luck!”
Okay so we now know that we have to go to Joe’s the next day and I ask the concierge where Weed Street (Dawn guesses it might be next to Crack Alley) and the hotel staff all knew Joe’s and Marty – Oh THAT guy! And gave us directions.
We get there and there are tons of fans lined up outside, we go in and check our coats and try to get good standing spots –which isn’t easy cause the place is already jammed. I am standing about 9 people deep from dead center which seemed idea until the actual show and the professional photogs lifted their cameras. Also the beer chick is standing on a stool right in front of me. I was kind of (not kind of REALLY) hoping she’d move her ass before the LH came on, but it was not to be. You’ll see her head/face in bottom of most of my pix)
Anyway, Black Maker is on stage and really good –they are pumping the crowd for LH and thanking Lh for asking them to open. My sister is really into the guitarist and feigns removing her wedding ring. She says to me “Has it occurred to you that Marty Casey is in this building right now?” Den and Liz and I are trying to contain ourselves but not doing a very good job. The cool thing about the crowd is that there are fans of all ages and both genders. Lots of old-school LH fans with original T’s. A local DJ comes out and intros band, the crowd starts chanting “JD sucks” and the DJ laughs, saying “I didn’t say that.”
So Bobby comes out first and because I am tall I can see them each coming out and I am yelling to Den, It’s Bobby, It’s Dino, It’s Billy. I can see Marty in the corner waiting for a dramatic moment to come out. I SWEAR when he came onstage, the whole place drew its breath. I think Dawn and I both said in unison, “OH MY GOD HE’S BEAUTIFUL!”

They played Straight As An Arrow first, the crowd went nuts. It was such a blast being among fans who all knew all the words to every song. Marty is so fast on stage – he’s everywhere that it’s hard to keep up. During The Tunnel he jumped off stage and came running up to the beer chick’s case. He stood on top of that –right in front of me and I was freaking out. I grabbed the camera from Dawn and am clicking away thinking of all the great shots I am getting not realizing that the camera is on video mode and all I doing is capturing 1-2 second snatches of the song (I’m such a loser!)
He did all his moves –conductor, robot, spinning around (during Eyes Cant’ See), climbed the rafters during Paint it Black and sang upside down. There were bodyguards underneath to catch him, but the guy is strong –no help required!
Ok, funny moments I remember:
1. The father of Samantha Rae (baby pictured buying cd on mc.org homepage) hands Marty that photo and Marty says “I have photo of youngest Hammerhead. What’s her name….?” He then asks what her favourite song is but instead of waiting for answer says. “Oh. It’s Eyes Can’t See? Good, cause it’s next!”
2. Marty talked about the band being LH not MC & LH and said “People make you do things (pause) because of TV shows.” He then said, “We get an extra day in Chicago and this is where we want to be –with you.”
3. Marty asks the crowd to indulge them if they mess up cause they are going to play some songs they haven’t done before. Then they launch into the most AMAZING medley of “I only like it when it rains” and Here comes the rain again.” It was frickin unbelievable. Part of me was saying, C’mon Marty can’t sing Eurythmics. Well, part of me is an idiot. It was incredible.
4. Dino’s bass quit just before one song (can’t remember which –Throw My Head maybe) and he says “Don’t start without me!’ So the bass seems to be fixed, they start playing and the bass goes out again but the song keeps going. I hear Dino yelling for Dan. It was fixed before end of song
5. Billy most adorable person ever. He is grinning from ear to ear and it’s nice to see him jamming with Dino. He thanks the crowd over and over for coming at short notice.

Okay, the band is absolutely amazing –really tight and better than their records, really. I thought people were just saying that, but it really is true. I had to keep telling myself to look at the other band members, but Honestly, it was hard. Marty is truly beautiful. All weekend the four of us were trying to put it in words – and there just aren’t any. The way he performs reminded me, and this might sound strange, of Michael Hutchence – so much energy and magnetism. I promise every person there felt that Marty looked right at them during the show. It was intense and fantastic.

[chk]

posted by ChiTownChick
Feb 2

What an absolutely amazing concert! I have to say it was better than the Metro show. The place was packed. I was in a group with Treebee, reddgt, Tara, UandMe, Angie and SHR. They were all at the rail. I was directly behind Treebee and we were just between Dino and Marty. I was even closer for this show than the Metro show. It was crowded but people weren't squished like sardines like at the Viper room last weekend. I also had a PERFECT view of Bobby - had to keep the squee factor down, though, since hubby was with me.

Klly, I'm sorry I didn't call you for your cellcert during the first 2 songs. They had announced prior to the show that pictures would only be allowed during the first 3 songs so I was snapping pictures like crazy at the beginning. Everyone continued taking pictures throughout the whole show once we realized that no one was telling us to stop. Hubby and I took a ton of pics and hopefully some came out nice.

The show started with Straight as an Arrow - they rocked the house. The energy level was high throughout the entire show. Marty was all over the stage during this concert. He went into the crowd during The Tunnel, making it all the way to the back of the room and standing on the bar in the back. During Paint it Black, Marty climbed to the overhead pipes/rafters above the crowd and then hung upside down. He sang the refrain while hanging upside down. Marty then brought himself up and lowered himself into the crowd.

Marty made a point of telling the crowd that they were the Lovehammers, not Marty Casey & Lovehammers. He also said how much they love being back in Chicago. He asked for a raise of hands for those there for the first time, new hammerheads, old-timers, etc. We met the guy standing next to Treebee at the rail who has been a hammerhead for 9 years and has seen over 100 shows. He is thanked in the liner notes of the new album which is pretty cool. Marty made a point of saying how grateful they are for all the support and how much they appreciatiate all the fans, even one day old fans.

Here are some more memorable events for me:

1. This happened shortly after the beginning of the show. Angie threw a personalized hammerhead thong at Dino which he promptly hung around his microphone stand where it stayed for the whole show.

2. During Clinic, Marty looked directly into my eyes while singing a part of this song - my knees did go a little weak.

3. During Eyes Can't See (I think this was the song), Marty stopped for a moment during the performance to talk to someone in the crowd (I think it was someone he recognized). When they resumed the song, Bobby looked like he was freaking out trying to figure out how to jump in - which he figured out and the rest of the song continued to rock.

4. Billy smoking his cigarette while playing and just looking like he was having a great time. A couple of times he came over to Dino's side of the stage and the 2 of them jammed together.

5. Marty's shirt was off during the encore performances. Rockbeast, Marty was wearing your dogtag once again and Jezza, I think Marty was wearing your bracelet on his left wrist (yes, I was that up close and personal).

This is the set list as best as I can remember (it's probably not in the correct order):

Straight as an Arrow
Call of Distress
Real Man
Ultrasound
Clinic
Hold On
The Riddle
I'm Only Happy When it Rains/Here Comes the Rain Again medley
Eyes Can't See
The Tunnel
Rain on the Brain
Paint it Black
Trees
Ring of Fire

Encores were Throw My Head and This Town.

I am eternally grateful to my hammerhubby for making this evening possible for me.
To end my evening on a perfect note, my hubby caught one of Bobby's drumsticks!

[chk]

posted by: Linda
Feb 3

Oh my gosh, it is 3 a.m.--what a night!! My first LH concert! It was unbelieveable, and I do have pictures, but I guess will have to email them because I can't figure it out right now. Most of the pictures didn't turn out well--I'm only 5'1", and I was about half-way back, so it was hard to see a lot of the time. However, when Marty climbed onto the overhead pipes, he came out to right where we were standing and that's where he hung and then jumped to the floor, so those are the pictures I'm going to email. He jumped down about 2 feet in front of me and then was like a freakin' hurricane as he headed back up to the stage! As he came by, I put my hand out, as much to steady myself as to touch him (which I did), but I got caught in that hurricane and sort of got drug for a foot or so before I could get my footing. I thought I would end up on the floor! Now wouldn't THAT have been embarrassing!!

I have more to say about the evening, including having converted my friend CJ who I dragged along with me from St. Louis. And also about going out to leave and NOT finding my car!!!!! I have never been to this place before, and I parked in what looked like an open parking lot. There were no attendants in sight, no booths, etc. We came out to no car, in a strange city, had to figure out what happened, where it went, call, get a cab, pay $150 for my car (plus cab fare), and THEN had to ask the tow lot attendant where the hell I was and how the hell to get out of there because I had no idea . Welcome to Chicago! So my $15 Lovehammer tickets have now cost a small fortune!!

I need to go now and get a little sleep (we're in a hotel somewhere near Dwight) as we need to leave about 6 a.m. in order to get to work, etc. But I will write more later, and also get the pictures up on the site somehow.

Lovehammers ROCK!!

Linda

[chk]

posted by itsfreezinghere
Feb3


hi all.
pb, my husband and i stayed for about 1 1/2 hours after the show, but didn't see the band. marty did say during the encore (i think, or earlier possibly) that they were going to catch drinks with friends. there is an upstairs balcony section where they went between the main set and intermission so i suspect they stayed up there.

concert absolutely rocked - i agree with the earlier comment about enjoying it just a bit more than Metro. i would say the difference was that it wasn't quite as crowded and the vibe was - how to decribe this - i guess maybe a bit less manic - i know i was a bit out of control at metro where as last night felt more like "coming home, singing in your basement with the best rockband ever cool"-type vibe. i don't think i got enough sleep last night and am rambling -

perfect combination of the oldies and all the goodies, of course - and a few covers - excellent. just as a side note - i don't think dino has ever looked better - i normally don't drool over dino, but he was looking particularly fine last night.

[chk]

posted by Angie
Feb 3


Hi everyone!
I don't have much time, so I am going to be lazy and copy&paste what I posted at the LH board.

All I can say is, ditto to what Seven said! (It was so great to meet you, sweetie!)

The boys are better every time that I see them!
I don't know how, but they are!

I had the best time hanging with all of my hammerchickies and met some wonderful new ones as well! I don't have much time to post right now, but I will post a few on the zillion pictures that we took.

We were right up at the rail, it was awesome...

Blackmaker was great (again!) and we thought that the drummer resembled Beastie, lol.

I bought a thong and personalized it for Dino, lmfao...
It said Dino ROCKS !!! and the Hammerchickies love Dino...

After the first couple of songs, I held it up until Dino saw it. I threw it onstage and then he laughed and picked it up. He hung it from the mic stand. :lol

After Blackmaker's set, the drummer threw his drumsticks into the crowd, my hubby & ChiTownChick's hubby each caught one. (Hammerhubby's kick ass!) ChiTown's hubby also caught one of Bobby's when he threw them out to the crowd after their set!
(Cindy it was great to finally meet you & your hubby!)

Afterward, when the guys were mingling with the crowd, I asked Bobby to sign the drumstick. lmfao...
He said, "HEY! That's not my stick!"
I said, "Well, you did not throw one to me! I have to make do with what I have!"
He started laughing and said, "Yeah, I am too poor to throw out a lot of them. Of course I will sign it for you."

The guys are awesome, just the nicest people that you could ever hope to meet. Later, we also talked with Dino for a little while. He put the thong on his head for a second, but I don't have a pic of that. lol

We also had a very good conversation with Tbone about street teaming. PEOPLE ---GET OUT THERE AND KEEP SPREADING THE LOVE!!!

Hubby and I had to leave to get back home (it's about 45-50 miles away).
My daughter has school today and my sister was here watching her last night and she needed to get home, too.


As we were walking to the door, we saw Billy and stopped to say Hi and talk for a minute, get a nice hug and a picture. He's such a sweetheart!

WOOHOO! Last night was f**king incredible!


Time to recharge the camera batteries

[chk]

Posted by Reddgt
Feb 3

wow....last night was sooo awesome
was great to finally put faces with all the names I see on the board...
ChiTownChick, Treebee, Tara, UandMe, SHR.....
i ended up taking like over 200 pics....guess I have to get going with
photo bucket so i can post pics....haven't really done too much of that
will be thinking of all those at the record signing and the show Sat. night.....
for now I will have to live through all the new posts from the remaining shows....

[chk]

Posted by 7of7
Feb 3

OMFG-- I just walked in from Joe's. CRAAAAAAZY night! I'm totally still too amped to have any kind of order to this, so please bear with me.

Got there around 6 and saw abunch of Hammerheads, Sistas, and every other variety Lovehammer fan. Went by myself as hammerhubby was working, but I saw a bunch of people, including Kim, Angie, Lora, Kimberly, Rachel right when I walked in. Wow, to say that Hammerheads are the best is an understatement-- so kind and fun and welcoming. Truly live up to the motto "spread the love!" We hung out at the front of the line for a while, and when we got into the performance room, we all spread out in the first row. I saw some crazy pix people got, so close I couldn't believe it-- watch for them soon, they're AWESOME!!!! Blackmaker opened up for them (as they did for the Metro show) and they rocked-- fitting warm-up for our guys.

The guys came out one by one, which allowed us to show them a little individual love, which was great. The whole show is kind of a blur still. Everytime I see them, it's always the new best show I've ever seen-- it amazes me how they're always able to top themselves-- but this time I was so close-- OMG! I got to make eye contact with everybody several times (even Bobby way in back!) I was barely to the right of Marty's mike, so he was right there (boy, do I like it when he's in my face!) for a good part of the show. Of course he was running around like a madman too, and Billy and Dino would occasionally move around the stage and play to different parts of the crowd, so I think everybody got to see all of them. Songs-- (not in any particular order) Trees, Ultrasound, Tunnel, Eyes Can't See, Ring of Fire, Paint it Black, Call of Distress, Riddle, Throw My Head, Real Man, Rain on the Brain, Clinic, I'm Only Happy When It Rains going into Here Comes the Rain Again, This Town, and I'm sure I forgot some. They are all 100% WILD MEN giving the audience everything they've got and then just when you think they can't possibly have anymore left, they slam you again. I've never been in the front row before but I was amazed at how much each one of them connected with the audience. And the audience was CRAZY-- singing along to every word of every song, the energy was just bounding off the ceiling. Marty not only climbed up the scaffolding, but he climbed on the ceiling beams up by the pipes (the place is like a big old warehouse) over the MIDDLE of the audience and was swinging over them upside-down for a bit singing and then jumped down INTO the crowd! I've seen Marty climb around before, but this was literally UNBE-f**kING-LIEVABLE!!!!

When they did Tunnel, Marty was right in front of me during the first round of "keep calling. . ." and looked kind of surprised and pretty excited about the fact that the crowd was singing the new part ("I will stay true. . ."). I wonder if he was thinking people were so used to the old way, but then he saw that we're right with him singing the new part. Also, at one point he was talking about just because the CD and billings say Marty Casey and Lovehammers, that they are still, in fact, Lovehammers, and that just because someone makes you do something doesn't change who you really are. The crowd went wild. Man, talk about integrity-- god, I just love them all!!!!!!

A couple personal highlights for me-- since we were so close to the stage (I could literally reach out and touch the guys-- which I did, and pretty f**king often!) we all got incredible eye contact. A couple lines Marty was singing when he looked at me were "you're my friend!" (Throw My Head-- which, BTW, I was!), he reached out and grabbed my hand and looked at me on "hold on to my hand." And, not to sound like a complete and total dork (yeah, I know, too late!) but I never really understood how people got so crazy they would scream and cry when they saw the Beatles-- OK, now I get it! They're all such complete and total Rock Stars on stage, it's really hard to comprehend how sweet and gracious they are when they meet the fans, and they're truly interested, grateful, playful and caring. Bobby, Dino, Marty and Billy are such a rare combination of talent, showmanship, artist, ass-kickin' rockers, and amazing genuine guys you could see yourself being friends with.

Oh yeah, afterwards they came out to mingle and meet people, catch up with old & new friends, and have a drink or two. Although I've gotten pix OF them before, I've never before tonight gotten pix WITH any of them, and I got Bobby, Dino, and Billy tonight. And I gotta hand it to my fellow Hammerheads-- there were no lines, people just made their way over to a group surrounding each guy, no pushing or mauling the guys (although I had to restrain myself!). People were just so respectful and let everybody savor their time with the guys, and the guys were so great about making sure to spend time with everybody. It was just truly lovely. I talked to Bobby about college (he was at my school the same time I was down there-- can't believe I didn't meet him then!) I told Billy how much I loved the diary entry about surprising his kids when he got home, and I told Dino I was the lone dork waiting to see if I could get in to see the Fox News in the Morning show! Even though I didn't get to see them, it didn't matter-- I was there to support them, and that's all that mattered (although I would've LOVED to have been in the studio to watch!) He told me how much he appreciated my support, and hugged me and kissed my cheek a few times throughout the conversation. GOD, I LOVE THESE GUYS!!!!!

And now back at home, my throat is raw, my neck is sore from throwing my head, and my ears are ringing-- I'm physically exhausted but spiritually satiated. And I can't wait to do it all again Saturday!!!!

[chk]

Posted by chitowngirl
Feb 3

I was there last night too! ChiTownChick (who I wished I could have met) already nailed most of the highlights of the night, but I’ll try to fill you in on things that were personal to my experience. Hubby went with me and is a big LH fan as well. For some reason he doesn’t quite understand the need to be in the front row. He seems to hear the music just as well from 20-30 feet back. Go figure. The first thing I thought when the guys came out is how hot they ALL looked. Also, I thought – is that the “I Alone” jacket? Next, I thought how happy the asylum girls would be that Marty does, in fact, have more than two pair of pants. Or maybe he stopped by his house and picked up those jeans?

While I would have loved to be right up front, we were in a really great spot for a variety of reasons. When Marty left the stage and went into the crowd he came right in between hubby and me. Hubby said Marty pushed out the way. I told him Marty was trying to get to ME. Of course, I got my hands on the man. Marty then proceeded to sing on the bar behind us and came right back past us on the way back to the stage.

It didn’t take long before I realized that I was standing next to Marty’s brother, Chris, the entire show. Chris knew every word to every song, of course, and REALLY wanted the guys to play “Summertime in the City”. They didn’t. I guess I have no right to feel bad when they don’t sing the songs I want to hear. Sheesh….

Late in the show Marty got to climbing. I knew as soon as he looked up to the rafters that we were in for a treat. Once again, I got very lucky. He walked down the rafter planks from the stage to the spot DIRECTLY above me. I literally had stuff falling down on my face and into my eyes. I had to move just so Marty could hang upside down. He also managed to knock a lighting fixture from the ceiling. I must say it was a little scary watching him do that. I think Chris was a little nervous as well. One of Chris’ friends said – what did Marty have the top bunk or something?
The songs I enjoyed the most were Real Man, Ultrasound & Throw My Head. Some of the covers were really cool too! It was just unbelievable to watch them all go crazy! They all played their hearts out! They seemed so comfortable in such a familiar place in front of so many friends and family members.

[chk]

Posted by Linda
Feb 3

I think I finally have a few minutes to sit down and think about what I'm writing, and think about the show. My friend CJ and I got up this morning and made the drive back downstate and I still had to put in a half-day of work, so it's been a long couple of days, but I'd definitely do it again right now for another chance to see LH. I really wish we could have arrived earlier (which was my plan) but we both had to work in the a.m. and got a later start than we wanted, so didn't get there till about 8:30. By that time all the good spots in front were taken!

Itsfreezinghere: Yes, I think we were standing next to you and hubby! Are you the tall couple and do you have short, dark hair? I think you actually asked CJ the question about smoking. (I'm the REALLY short one!) You guys were so nice! I was honestly a little frustrated because I couldn't see very well. I think CJ was a little annoyed with me because I'm not more assertive about pushing through the crowd to get closer, and she kept trying to get me a better spot. You guys were trying to help too, which I really appreciated. Marty was pretty easy to see, as he's all over the stage, but I barely got to see the other guys, which was disappointing. On the other hand, if I had been closer, I wouldn't have been right there when Marty dropped from the ceiling! That was pretty cool!!

We waited for quite a while after the concert to meet the guys, but they never showed up. We must have left the building around 11:45, thinking we really needed to be heading out of town. So that was REALLY disappointing, but considering what happened when we got to the parking lot, I guess it was a good thing we left when we did. Tracking down the car and getting it out of impound was a pain, took some time and more money than I really had!

The BEST part of my very first Lovehammer concert--well, how could I pick a best part?--it was incredible, and I wish I could do it all over again tonight. So aside from seeing Marty and the band in person myself, the best part was watching and hearing CJ's reaction. She is a total convert. I have showed her pictures and some of the videos of Marty, and she has been politely admiring of him. She came along with me because we had a difficult week at work and needed to get out of town and it was impulsive and crazy. But NOW!!?? I do believe she's an authentic Hammerhead! And I don't even think rock music is her favorite! She's suddenly talking about this "fine specimen of manhood," his beautiful blue eyes, and similar descriptions of Marty.

I really wish I could have met some of the rest of you who were there, but hopefully there will be other opportunities. I hope this band is insanely successful, but I also hope they never stop playing this kind of venue--they obviously love it and thrive on it and even are replenished/renewed by it.

Take care all,
Linda

[chk]

Posted by cj
Feb 3
Well! What can I say? As a LoveHammer virgin I can truly say I was impressed. What a FINE specimen!!! I was a little dissappointed b/c Marty said that he was going to stick around for drinks and if anyone found him lying in the gutter we could take him home as long as we had him back by Saturday. I didn't find him.

Itsfreezinghere ... I don't think you can say you were "standing" by us. You had so much energy going I don't think there was one moment you were standing still! LOL

Linda....thanks for a wonderful experience. Hope you stayed in the clouds long enough today to float through your afternoon back at work.

[chk]

Posted by Shuckra
Feb 5

When flexible schedules, patient spouses, true blue friends, and sheer adrenaline come together, amazing things tend to happen.

My friend Michelle and I arrive in beautiful Chicago Thursday afternoon after a 13 hour drive from Mooresville North Carolina. We rested up a bit, had some dinner, and headed over to Joe's.

We saw the last few songs of Blackmaker, they were great! The drummer does sort of resemble Rockbeast from the pictures that I have seen here. Then it was time to get hammered...

My favorite moments during the show were the Price is Right theme music playing as the guys came on stage...the nano-second of eye contact I made with Marty during The Riddle...Marty asking the man with the cute baby photo if she had a favorite song yet...Billy coming over to the side of the stage where I was to sing with Dino, hopefully my picture will turn out...hearing Real Man live...Marty appreciating his one-day fans as much as his life-long fans...of course seeing Marty climb the rafters...watching and listening to Bobby beat the crap out of his drums...during the break on This Town, Marty SINGING to us about how happy they were to spend their unexpected free time with us...watching my friend Michelle fall under the Lovehammers spell...getting a picture with Dino and Bobby after the show...not caring that I didn't get to meet Marty, because the show alone was worth the drive...

The band was smiling and funny and rocking hard and the whole audience gave it right back. Through the whole show, through EVERY song, we were all on the same wavelength - singing along, jumping around, being CRAZY and being HAPPY!!!

So as my friend and I float off the train to our hotel, we realize that the Virgin store is right by our hotel. We decide to stay until Saturday afternoon so that we can go to the signing...

[chk]

Posted by Musicgirl
Feb 6

hey everybody, this is CHK's sister. Wow! what a great time we had in Chi-town. Fabulous meeting so many other Hammer fans & hanging out w/ Den & Liz!! Hammers brought down the roof at Joe's...what a phenomenal time! Amazing talent aside, all the guys in the band stunned us with their genuine smiles and appeciative words. Cheers to Bobby and Dino for showing up at Hard Rock after the Sat. show. Cheers to all of Marty's family members that we met @ Chicago Theatre & HR Hotel... thanks for being so gracious and friendly. LOVEHAMMERS, YOU ARE PHENOMENAL...AS MUSICIANS, AS CHICAGOANS, AS GENUINELY GREAT GUYS...THANKS FOR GIVING SO MUCH TO CHITOWN ON YOUR DAYS OFF!