A First Of It’s Kind, Windy City LakeShake Festival, Chicago -

By Ethan Chivari

Photos by Ralf Lipp

CHICAGO, IL – A new festival is making its roots in Chicago. Firstmerit Bank Pavillion at Northerly Island played host to the first inaugural Windy City LakeShake Festival. LakeShake is a 3 day country music fest that was headlined by Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, and Florida Georgia Line. The fest ran from June 19-21. To give the audience the best experience Brian O’Connell, Live Nation President of Country Touring & Festivals and founder of the fest proposed the idea of having two separate stages. The Main stage featured acts like Kip Moore, Dierks Bentley, Randy Houser, Florida Georgia Line, and Brad Paisley. On the Next From Nashville stage featured young up and coming country stars.

Friday night was headlined by Dierks Bentley and his special hometown guests. Throughout his set he referred to the Stanley Cup champs the Chicago Blackhawks. In the middle of Bentley’s hit “Drunk on a Plane” he invited out the Chicago Blackhawks along with the Stanley Cup. The hometown crowd erupted with joy as Duncan Keith and many other players hoisted the cup. Keith passed the cup to Bentley who walked the stage hoisting it high above his head. On Saturday Mickey Guyton kicked off the Main Stage with rain in the forecast. Joe Nichols was fortunate enough to get his set in as well before lightning and heavy rains brought the festival to an end. Unfortunately, this preventedd Justin Moore and Brad Paisley from performing. Paisley, however, agreed to stay in Chicago one more night and headlined the festival Sunday with Florida Georgia Line.

On Sunday for Paisley’s performance, the band shared the spotlight with Paisley for upbeat songs like “Moonshine in the Trunk”. But for the more serious songs like “This is Country Music” and “Waitin’ On a Woman”, Paisley made a pretty seamless transitions by beginning the songs on a stage extension in the middle of the crowd, alone on acoustic guitar. To the crowds surprise he then took out a sharpie, gave the guitar his signature and handed it to an ecstatic young girl in the crowd. Paisley closed the show with the song “River Bank”, and doing a cannonball into a virtual pool. As his encore, Paisley played his song “Alcohol”. As soon as he played the first note the arena erupted with cheers, fans swaying and singing to the music. Lakeshake festival was a hit and looking forward to next year.