The Chicago show was awesome. I did the meet and greet, and all 3 guys were really cool. The performances were top notch, and I came away with a new respect for Phil Collen. The only minor issues were at the pre-meet stage tour, we could visit Joe Satriani's side (left side from audience perspective) but not the other side. I could see Maddi (JP's tech) on the phone scrambling with something. And the other super minor issue was that JP's guitar was so loud during the 3 jams songs at the end of the show that when he played he nearly drowned out everyone else on the stage. I could hear his guitar sound thru the twin Mesa 4x12 cabs vs the main mix, so there must have been some issue with the mics on the cabs or something. In fact at one point, JP faced Maddi and he tapped one of the Mesa Cabs and then pointed toward the floor in a "turn it down" motion.
But the best thing to me was during the meet and greet, I was standing in line to get the autographs and later the photo with the guys. A very young, but extremely cool security guy (who had no clue who any of the G3 guys were) asked me the following:
Security Guy: "Who is that guy with the beard?"
Me: "That's John Petrucci of Dream Theater. Why do you ask?"
Security Guy: "Oh, well he was trying to get into the theater and I wouldn't let him in because he didn't have his pass and I had no idea who he was. He had to call someone to get access."
A Spinal Tap moment if there ever was one