LONG - but all my thoughts and such:
No setlist surprises, same as Detroit but we got Something Fast
01 Afterhours (intro music)
02 Crash & Burn
03 Ribbons
04 Train/Detonation Blvd
05 Flood I
06 Marian
07 Alice
08 Giving Ground
09 This Corrosion
10 Anaconda
11 We Are the Same, Susanne
12 Summer
13 Dominion
14 Still
15 Logic
16 Neverland
17 Flood II
18 Something Fast
19 Vision Thing
20 Lucretia My Reflection
21 Top Night Out
22 Temple of Love
Miles - no, light years better than the 2006 Chicago show. Great crowd - started off a bit slow but things really picked up around Giving Ground and Dominion. From that point on the crowd was really hyped, lots of cheering, lots of singing along (course I was 2nd row, right in front of Chris so I didn't see much of the back of the room) 2006 seemed like it had a lot of people there "to be seen" - not so much this year. Very mixed crowd - young darklings, old goths, emo looking kids, punks, normal looking people. Lots of black. Lots of cheers, lots of dancing up front except for a couple guys standing next to me who still completely still and just stared at the stage all night - didn't even really see them cheer. Everyone seemed to be having a great time - I would have been first row up against the barrier but that was filled up by young emo/goth kids as soon as we were let in, they claimed their spots and didn't move, can't say I blame them. The place was packed, not sure if it was sold out or not though.
The band sounded GREAT to me, they were just as loud if not a bit louder than Hypernova - yes, Von's mike could be turned up a bit but it wasn't nearly as bad as I was led to believe based on some recent reports. He sounded fantastic - no howls or anything, but his voice and singing sounded great. Chris wasn't overpowering with the backing vocals either. I thought Summer and Flood 2 were absolutely stunning - the unreleased songs, especially Susanne and Summer were very well received too. Lucretia rocked the house hard - and I take back what I said before about not caring for the new live arrangement of Logic, it was great. Von was pretty animated, especially the second half, about the same time the crowd really got into it. No jumping about the stage but lots of arm gestures and moving around the stage, mostly center but moved closer towards Chris to the right a few times - looked down at the crowd in my direction a few times which often drew cheers, also made everybody take out their damned cell phone to try to get pics too.
Very foggy, but not overwhelming - but, again, I was pretty close so maybe I could see more than others. It seemed to come in spurts - it would clear a bit, then a burst of heavy fog, Von would move back into it and then emerge out of it again. Not quite the nonstop super thick fog I remember from the last time. Not really any banter - all of the following is just based on what I thought I heard, while I could hear the singing quite clearly anything else was a bit mumbled - early on he said something like "just play the game" I think - I think during "Alice" right before the chorus he said something about singing it in case he forgot the words (or something like that - in any case we obliged and sang "Alice, don't give it away!" because the band did not) During the first few beats of Anaconda a girl shouted "Anaconda!" and he said something like "what's it called again?" - before Vision Thing "this is called no more years" - he made one or two other comments but I couldn't make them out at all.
Hypernova were great - wish I would have picked up a CD at the show, but I plan on picking one up soon. Ran into one of them as I was headed towards coat check to get my jacket, he looked like he was headed somewhere so we didn't chat much, I just said great set, glad I got to see you guys - he looked a bit surprised when I tapped him on the shoulder to stop him and thank him for playing, but said thank you and was very nice. And their tour diary on their Myspace is interesting - pictures and a few comments and such for each show. During the last song the singer did pull out a camera and take some pics of the crowd and of the band themselves - presumably for said tour diary.
Other bits and pieces that don't really have much to do with the show but are all a part of my night:
Ended up on the guest list - I had added Ben and Chris as friends on Myspace and said looking forward to Chicago - turns out Ben was online so he replied and we shot a few messages back and forth, he was looking for advice about where to go in Chicago (Sunday night, night before the show - him and Hypernova) Since I don't live there I couldn't help much but I did name off some places I was somewhat familiar with - he said if I needed any guest list that it would be no problem. My boyfriend and I already had tickets but I took him up on it in case we were able to get some other people to go - but no one could on such short notice, even though it would have been free, so we ended up just using our tickets.
I hope it got taped - I didn't think about it until way too late to do it (as discussed in the Taping Help thread) - now that I know it isn't too difficult I am looking into getting a recorder when I've got the money, for future shows, Sisters or not.
My purse was checked pretty well, even the small zippered pocket, but I had a small makeup bag in my purse that wasn't checked at all - I probably could have put something in there. So now I know how I could get something into a show - my makeup case inside a purse has never been checked. My coat pockets and pants were run over with a metal detector but not actually checked, I wasn't even patted down, was a bit surprised.
My gin and tonic before the show was pleasantly strong - quite strong actually, which is good considering how much I paid for it. That along with the building excitement got me quite giddy.
Dean (the guy that runs the merch table right? I think I read on here he was a friend, from Leeds? I'm not for sure that's his name but whoever he is...) was very nice as usual, friendly and talkative. The only girly tour shirts left were larges - I commented that I was picking up extra for people who didn't get them at earlier shows, he said yeah, they didn't show up until late but then everything with this band was just so damn weird all the time anyways, it couldn't ever just be normal.
I was tempted to ask about the supposed video he recorded from the 2006 tour and what happened to it but didn't - there were people waiting behind me so I got my stuff paid and left.
Not that anybody cares but our drive home was - interesting. No problem getting out of Chicago or to the toll road or anything, but once we got farther east and hit Indiana the weather got bad - lake effect snow, the first real snow of the winter. Instead of a two hour drive it was closer to three before we got home - the last CD I put in the player was Some Boys Wander By Mistake - we hit the worst of it (very low visibility - we couldn't see the road but we were right behind a semi so we just followed it at around 20 mph - super slick road, blowing snow) right as Afterhours started, and got out of it as it ended. Not important but watching the blowing snow in the darkness, couldn't see anything around us but the semi truck's lights ahead, with that song - it was gorgeous actually, I found myself holding my breath, but then I wasn't the one driving the car.
And as we neared our exit - we were already going pretty slow, the toll road was pretty clear but there was quite a bit of snow on the off ramp - as we tried to get onto it we hit a slick spot and did two complete spins on the road - thankfully the truck and cars behind us were a good half mile away. We straighten out and do make it off the road onto the ramp before they get there, and I'm laughing hysterically. But we made it home safely.
So in summary - a GREAT night! I had an absolute blast, they rocked the house, downtown Chicago was nice if a bit cold (but only my second time walking around down there - I'm more familiar with the north side) It was way better than I expected, based on recent reports of sound issues and my own 2006 experience - go see it if you can! I wish I could have seen more than one on this tour, they've really got it together and put on a great show!
Still a bit giddy and high from the whole experience.
...with the wind in our face and our arms open wide...
), and his review consisted of a handful of text messages that he sent to me at about 12:30 a.m. my time, whilst I was *trying* to get to sleep! 
Hopefully it wasn't overkill - but I had such a great time I wanted to describe it all in detail.
Which I actually find rather surprising because I was thrilled with it, and the crowd energy seemed good - I'll admit I was a bit disappointed in 2006 (still enjoyed it though) but this year they blew me away - so I don't think it's fanaticism clouding my judgement. 
But I thought I didn't recognize much because it was newer goth stuff which I don't really keep up with unless The Birthday Massacre count 
- but apparently it wasn't - but in any case - the songs I did recognize I was happy with, you really can't go wrong with New Order, Ladytron, Iggy Pop - the other stuff I wasn't thrilled with.