The Forge

EOP is a great band and always puts on a good show. You won't find a more passionate singer than Margarita Monet. Unlike most other bands, EOP makes themselves available to their fans before, during (the other bands' sets), and after the show, so there is plenty of opportunity to meet the band members, get pictures with them, and get stuff signed. Their meet & greet was a bit of a different story. At the appointed time (as given in the preshow e-mail) nobody was there. The band started trickling in about 15 to 20 minutes later. The things the band said they were giving out, i.e. some of Margarita's artwork, signed posters, etc. were not ready, and we were supposed to pick them up later. Since the timing of this event coincided with the doors opening, there were other fans all over the place, so it was not what I'd call a true meet & greet, i.e. the fans who didn't have "VIP" M&G tickets got the same treatment as fans with just a general admission ticket. After I complained to Margarita, she set out to make it right after the final act. I had brought my son's fiancé (her first M&G) and Margarite loaded her down with extra swag. The drummer, Jamie, and base player, Kenny, visited with us quite a bit, but the guitar player, Dave, had left. (I did talk to him during the show, so he was around earlier.) We got some pictures with the band members who were there, I got my poster from last year's concert signed, but they forgot to give us the signed posters (and we forgot to ask for them) before we left. Bummer! My takeaway is that all of the band members are really super nice, and they're all suburb musicians who really care about their fans, and I think that's partially why the meet & greet got messed up. I think Margarita has a heart of gold, and wants to meet all of her fans, and that's hard to do, so I think she got overextended. The other two bands certainly made no attempt to do that (note that Delain did have a M&G an hour before the doors opened.)

Delain played a great set. This is the "new" reconstituted Delain, so all or most of the personnel are new aside from the keyboard player, who is the band leader. Diana sounds very much like Charlotte, so I'm assuming that's part of why she got the job. They played a lot of old material, i.e. from the original Delain, which surprised me a little bit, but I guess that makes sense since the band, in one form or another, has been around for more than a decade. The Forge is a tiny venue, but that does make it more "intimate" than a larger venue. If the house capacity was even 500 people, I'd be surprised. It's probably more like 300 I would guess.

I've been listening to Tyr for about 15 years and this was the first time that I got to see them live. I had tickets last March in Detroit, but had my first chemo treatment the week before so couldn't go. My daughter still went and had a great time. This time around my daughter and I got to see the show in Joliet. The two local opening bands were pretty good. The first one had some technical difficulty with their guitarist, but that seems to have been fixed a bit later. The second local opening band - Havron - had more energy and seemed to put on a better show. The drummer reminded me of Animal from the Muppets. The lead singer's vocals could have been mixed a bit louder, but overall they did a really good job. Then there was Aether Realm who was the main opening band. Maybe they are good in the studio, but their sound mix tanked live! It was very muddy. But others in the crowd were getting into them so maybe they are not my cup of tea. Tyr came out during one of their songs with blow up axes, war hammers, and swords and "attacked" Aether Realm. This was quite funny! Then there was Tyr. They put on an amazing show! Crowd participation was high. There was only one song on their playlist that I didn't recognize, but that one was great also! The lead guitarist seemed to come out of his shell around the halfway point. Aether Realm paid Tyr back and attacked them with blow up implements of destruction". I have to say that both bands were able to maintain their stage presence while getting attacked. It was very light hearted!

Their performance was amazing as always!! I'll go see them any where & time. The only complain is that we could've done without the local band, didn't fit the style. And the other complaint, not on the band, is that I wish they would've played in the city, because on a Tuesday, it's harder to get to the remote destination of Joliet and attempting to get out of Chicago during rush hour. Otherwise, I'm sure it would have been packed like their other 2 previous shows in Chicago.

Absolutely magical night! We did meet and greet with the band and they were some of the sweetest people you will ever meet. The performance was beyond words and far surpassed all of our expectations. One of the best live experiences we’ve ever experienced by one of our most favorite bands. ❤️🤘🏻

I am extremely happy Wednesday 13 tours and stops at The Forge! The meet and greets are well organized and easily put together. There really isn't a bad spot anywhere in this venue. It's not a big venue but still capable to hold enough people. The bands that come through at The Forge are big and small. I cannot say enough good things about this place! I attend many multiple shows each year because this place kicks so much ass!

They put on one hell of a show! Everyone from the bands to the crew are so kind and friendly. I had VIP tickets and the money is so well spent! I have been listening to Icon For Hire since I was in 3rd grade, I was 12 the first time I saw them, and now I'm almost 20. Icon For Hire is amazing!

Great 1 hr 30 min set! They had a cool stage setup and played the hits and the newest singles plus a couple deeper cuts including "Pieces"! That's prolly my fave song of theirs and was super surprised they played it cause they rarely do. Great energy per usual and great performance! 🤘

Adelitas Way put on a great show as always! My 4th time seeing them in the last year alone and they never disappoint! Played a 1 hr set of a good mix of older and newer songs, just wished they played longer! Otherwise played as support and they also put on an entertaining set for 45 min! 🤘

I've seen Adelitas Way multiple times. Even when they only had 1 or 2 hits. They have always put on a great performance. Since this was the last show on this tour, when they were almost done with the last song a lot of the members of the other bands joined them on stage for a final "curtain call". This was an awesome thing to see because you could tell these guys have developed a true friendship with one another. A big THANK YOU to Adelitas Way for yet another great show!

Great ending show for what sounded like a great tour! The members of Otherwise are some top notch people! They hung out with everyone after the show for pictures and stuff. Adrian is one of the best! He's so engaging and appreciative of everyone he meets. He also hung out at their merch table before they performed. So he was basically hanging out with the fans the whole night! Thank you Adrian and the rest of Otherwise for another great experience!

Nothing More is by far one of my favorite bands to see live! They always bring the house down! Johnny puts his heart and soul into every show along with high energy from the rest of the band. Another great set list as well! Their crew is awesome also. The one member kept grabbing picks to hand out to the fans waiting around, myself included. A huge THANK YOU to all of the Nothing More band and crew members for another unforgettable show!!

This was by FAR one of the best shows I've ever been to! And I go to 30-40 shows per year! All 3 bands were magnificent, and it's gonna be hard for any band to top this show. The crowd was also electric. Definitely best show of the year so far.

I LOVE The Black Moods and they put on an amazing show. All three are brilliant musicians and Josh's voice was on point (when I could hear it clearly). The only issue I had with the concert was the venue was small and the mixing was not good. The volume boarded on unpleasant, and at times and the base and drums were overpowering Josh's guitar and vocals. I'm looking forward to seeing them again at a larger venue.

We saw Eluveitie along with Seven Spires and Omnium Gatherum at the Forge and were impressed with the show. We drove up to the Forge in Joliet, IL from Indy to see this show and it was worth the drive. All of the bands were amazing and Eluveitie was better than the last time we had seen them in 2010 or '11. The Forge was a great venue and we look forward to coming back for another show.

I absolutely loved all four bands at the Forge, but Nonpoint killed it. They packed the house and brought their A Game. The energy was flowing so much that I wondered how they could keep up the pace. They not only kept up the pace, they increased the intensity throughout their set. It was my fourth time seeing this band and I can’t wait to see them again.

A great show! Icon For Hire sounded fantastic, and their setlist had some nice surprises. I was disappointed with the lighting, though; it was difficult to take pictures and even difficult to see them sometimes. Sumo Cyco also brought excellent energy, I hadn’t seen them before but they won me over immediately. 🤘

Warbringer puts on a great show. Jonathan has great stage presence. They kicked ass. After the show, I decided to head back over to the merch table (even though I already bought two of their shirts) to get a vinyl copy of their record. Jonathan was standing there and I ended up talking with him for like 5 minutes about the influence for many of their songs as I am a fellow history buff. Told him it was a great show and I'll definitely be at their next show next time their in town. Highly recommend, especially for history buffs and metalheads.

Show was fantastic. Meeting the band was cool. Wish the VIP experience was more than it was but would definitely do it again in a heartbeat ☺️ wasn’t a huge fan of the venue though. Super packed, small area, and the sapphire lounge early access sounded like a good idea but mixing VIP with early access was a nightmare it was very disorganized... it was like being held in a pig pen from wall to wall with no where to move. Not the bands faults by any means they were all amazing❤️

This is the best show I've ever been to and I've been to quite a few great ones... Slayer, cannibal Corpse, Metallica, Anthrax, Sepultura... just to name a few. Phil is absolutely the best. He took the time to talk to everyone at the meet and greet and personalized everyone's autograph. His beautiful wife was by his side and she took dozens of pics for all of us on our phones. She was awesome. The rest of the band (the illegals) were equallyas memorable. They truly are talented musicians. They rocked harder than anything I've heard in a long while. Phil was so grateful to his fans. He even signed a vinyl a fan threw on stage while he was performing. During his performance!! He made sure we were all having fun and he gave mad props to his band members. He truly seemed to be enjoying himself on stage. Like it wasn't just a job but something he really loved doing and we all loved him right back. His vocals were off the charts. He did a few Pantera songs which we all went insane for, of course but his Phil H. Anselmo and the illegals material was just as good and as hard if not harder. This man is unbelievable. The older he gets, the more hard core he gets. So many rockers get soft as they further in life and their careers and start putting out more melodic stuff. Not Phil! No sir!! He rocked the shit out of this show. He keeps getting better with age and I hope he goes on forever. I flew in from Florida to watch the show and he definitely made it worth my trip. Thanks Phil and the Illegals!! You gave me the best show of my life. I won't ever forget it. If anyone out there is a die hard Pantera fan like me, drop everything that you're doing and get on a plane and go see this living legend perform. It will definitely be worth it. Amazing performance.