RSS FeedFighting The Crowds Worth It At Midwestern Ball
We were lucky enough to land tickets to one of the official inaugural balls. At the convention center we attended the Midwestern Regional ball. We’re still exhausted from the experience so this update will mostly be via photos, but we do want to mention it wasn’t miserable at all (as the conventional wisdom would have us believe).
Doors opened at 6, and we were there shortly after that and breezed through security. It took a couple of hours for the ball to get going, but by 8 pm a band was playing (on one of two stages) and a good number of people were dancing.
By 10 PM Sheryl Crow had come on and she played a fantastic hour long set, lots of classics, it was really fantastic. Clearly having fun with the crowd, at one point she pulled a military man on stage and had him dance and sing with her, it was quite a show.
The Biden’s came out shortly after Crow’s set ended, a quick (by Biden standards) speech and short dance, the crowds then endured a 45 minute wait for President & Mrs. Obama to come out. When they did come out, the crowd erupted with joy; it was really quite an experience.
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My wife and I were also at the midwestern ball and I agree it was great, a lot more fun and less painful than all those “how to survive a ball” articles painted a picture of.
Being our first ball of this type, I will say that we probably had a better time because those articles did help to set our expectations (very little food, expensive drinks, nowhere to sit, etc). My wife wore flat comfortable shoes with her evening gown and I was filled with pride that she was maybe a bit smarter than all the ladies in tall stiletto heels who looked like their feet were killing them 
To me the Sheryl Crow hour long set was a huge bonus, I had no idea she was going to be playing there, and enjoying that part definitely made the $150 tickets end up feeling like a better value for me, since I’ve never seen her live but would pay to do so. Even without that we would have been happy just to have gone and “had the experience” like everyone says.
For commemorative photos, there was the official photographer (you check your photo out later on their website and order a photo package online if you like it), but there was a also an official backdrop in the hallway that people were taking pics of with their own cameras. I was thinking that for cheapskates like me, you could take your own camera’s photo from that, take your your ticket (which they let you keep), put both of them in a nice custom matte in an 8×10 frame, and it would be a pretty similar result to the official photo package, for a heck of a lot less than the $120 theirs costs.
Lastly, it was kind of surreal being at a party in a huge convention center space. The moment we walked in I said to my wife “I remember when this was all filled with cars for the auto show…..”
My experience was the same as yours lafayetteguy. First time I’d been to one of these balls, and I had no idea Crow would be there. I have a few of her CD’s and like her, but had no idea what a great concert she could put on. The fact that she played for such a long time (and reasonably good song choices) helped make the ticket prices easier to swallow.
Plus Mrs Columbo and I like to dance, so getting to cut a rug for a while before Crow came on was fantastic. Even the drink prices (for Bud anyway) weren’t terrible at $6 a pop. I’ve grown accustomed to $6 beers I suppose.
Sounds like a wonderful time! Did anyone get pictures of the openning act – the Fabulous Motown Revue. My uncle is one of their musician’s (bald guy on keyboard) and I’d love to show my kids some pictures. We watched for a glimpse of them on TV, but to no avail.
If so – I’d love it if you can email them to me at pythagoras314@live.com
Thanks!
lou-girl, the only photo of the band I have is the one in this post already. They were a lot of fun, a good number of people were dancing.
The photographers on site (but maybe just for those who waited in line for a photo) have this website. You can keep trying that link until their photos are up, but I’m not sure they will have any of the band.
We scored tickets to the Western Ball and found a similar experience (ok Marc Anthony and J Lo vice Sheryl Crowe) but nothing even close to what people told me it would be like. Ok except for the coat check thing.
I would certainly do it again, it was fun!
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That looks like a fabulous time!