Ravinia
I am getting ready to leave for tonight's concert at Ravania featuring Dr. John and Madeleine Peyroux (her album Half the Perfect World was last year's best). Ravania is Chicagoland's best outdoor venue for music. It is located in Highland Park, a tony north shore suburb and it is a little slice of heaven. Ravinia has a full summer schedule filled with great classical, jazz, and pop. Philip Glass, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and James Galway are some of the classical acts who will be playing this summer. Their pop acts tend to older acts like the Steve Miller Band and Doobie Brothers or singer-songwriter acts like Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin. the Indigo Girls, and John Hiatt.
There are great theater seats available for each show but most people like to bring a picnic basket and some wine and sit out on the lawn. The lawn seats for most shows are $15. There is plenty of parking and a Metra stop right there. Personally, I avoid Metra because there are godawful waits to get on after the show.
