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High chairs
We checked out nosebleed seats all around town.
Allstate Arena
6920 N Mannheim Rd, Rosemont, 847-635-6601
Height of the last row of seats 55 feet
Sightlines You can read the names of Wolves players on their jerseys.
Crowd Rowdy fans who love hockey and have a death wish for Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz.
Money saved (compared to front-row tickets) $31
Look on the bright side... Not only are tickets affordable ($9), it’s money you’re not wasting on the Blackhawks.—Chuck Sudo
Auditorium Theatre
50 E Congress Pkwy, 312-922-2110
Height of the last row of seats 71 feet, 6 inches
Sightlines Good, but at this height the view of Pluto is even better.
Crowd It depends, but if it’s a rock concert you better believe that having to view the stage through opera glasses makes for some unhappy hipsters.
Money saved $30
Look on the bright side... Oxygen is thinner at this altitude, so if you’re training for a sporting event your lungs are going to be in great shape.—Jason A. Heidemann
Cadillac Palace Theatre
151 W Randolph St, 312-902-1400
Height of the last row of seats 44 feet
Sightlines You can see the whole stage, but it’s more like a view from a plane than a seat in the theater.
Crowd Folks who are happy enough to be in the presence of great theater without actually witnessing much of the action in detail.
Money saved $55
Look on the bright side... Even if you didn’t exactly see the show, at least you can still tell your friends you were there.—Jessica Herman
Chicago Theatre
175 N State St, 312-902-1500
Height of the last row of seats 125 feet
Sightlines They’re pretty damn good—there’s nary an obstructed view in the house
Crowd The scruffy fans at a recent David Sedaris reading probably were not the donors keeping public radio afloat.
Money saved For some performances the difference is negligible, but for others—like the upcoming Sammy Hagar show—you now have $40 more to spend on tequila shots.
Look on the bright side... Audience-baiting comics like Kathy Griffin can’t ridicule you if they can’t see you.—Rod O’Connor
Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre
24 W Randolph St, 312-902-1400
Height of the last row of seats 45.5 feet
Sightlines The action onstage is clear; it helps that Wicked features a bright green protagonist.
Crowd Groups of high-schoolers on field trips
Money saved About $90
Look on the bright side... With rowdy teens in the balcony, there’s a lot of audience energy.—RW
Soldier Field
1410 S Museum Campus Dr, 312-235-7000
Height of the last row of seats 165 feet
Sightlines Totally easy to see every play. But man, football players sure look puny from up here.
Crowd It’s rabid fans who have better things to blow their money on than $300 tickets
Money saved $75 for soccer; $235 for Bears
Look on the bright side... You catch a delightful breeze off the lake in the summer. During a mid-season Bears game, however, that breeze becomes an eyeball-freezing gust.—Laura Baginski
Symphony Center, Orchestra Hall
220 S Michigan Ave, 312-294-3000
Height of the last row of seats 82 feet
Sightlines The steep pitch of the balcony makes you feel as if you were directly above the orchestra—and about to fall over the railing.
Crowd The devoted fans (including college students) are here for the music, not the society.
Money saved $100
Look on the bright side... Some argue that the sound blooms up here, and since the hall isn’t deep, you actually aren’t that far away from the musicians.—Marc Geelhoed
United Center
1901 W Madison St, 312-455-4500
Height of the last row of seats About 75 feet
Sightlines The dynamism of a Bulls or Blackhawks game might be easier to follow, but when it came to seeing the Rolling Stones’ arena rock show, not even Mick Jagger’s signature sashay could help us distinguish one prancing, shaggy-haired skeleton from the others.
Crowd You’ll be joined by the very old, the very young, the lazy and anyone else who doesn’t have the funds, the high-speed Internet connection or the time to camp out for tickets.
Money saved About $50
Look on the bright side... You’ve got a wall to lean back on in case the game turns out to be a snoozer, or in the Stones’ case, if they break into one of their uninspiring covers like “Dancin’ in the Streets.”—Martina Sheehan
Civic Opera House (Lyric Opera)
20 N Wacker Dr, 312-332-2244
Height of the last row of seats 83 feet from the floor of the orchestra level
Sightlines The view is interrupted only by the atmospheric haze in between you and the distant stage.
Crowd If there’s riffraff at the opera, we were it.
Money saved $145
Look on the bright side... It still sounds gorgeous.—Ruth Welte
U.S. Cellular Field
333 W 35th St, 866-769-4263
Height of the last row of seats 116 feet
Sightlines The upper deck hovers above first, home and third, so the field is laid out at your feet.
Crowd It ranges (wildly) from quiet, middle-aged couples who know every last stat to gung-ho, shirtless guys huskily shouting their sage, evenly considered play advice.
Money saved $56
Look on the bright side... When the home-run fireworks soar, they’re practically at eye level.—Novid Parsi
Wrigley Field
1060 W Addison St, 773-404-2827
Height of the last row of seats 77 feet
Sightlines You lose sight of high pop flies and any action in foul territory on your side, but you do get to see the gorgeous symmetry on the emerald carpet blah, blah, that baseball purists can’t stop blathering about.
Crowd The beer, it is enjoyed up here.
Money saved $40
Look on the bright side... You are unlikely to be hated by Cubs fans forever because you leaned onto the field to try to catch a foul ball.—Joel Reese
