Stage Buzz: Twisted Xmas, August Burns Red, Sumo Cysco, Steel Panther
Sumo Cyco
Q101’s annual holiday tradition, Twisted Xmas, returns this week with a lineup of shows at Aragon Ballroom you don’t want to miss. First, The Black Keys, with support from Local H and ALEXSUCKS, will perform on Tuesday, December 5, followed by a performance from Lovejoy with White Reaper and Brigitte Calls Me Baby on Wednesday, December 6th. On Thursday, December 7, Bleachers take the stage with MisterWives and Sincere Engineer. Young the Giant with The Gaslight Anthem and Little Image will close out the week on Friday, December 8. Get tickets here.
Pennsylvania five-piece, August Burns Red, have roots firmly planted in the metalcore scene they started in, but by the time they reached their sixth album, Rescue & Restore, they began sonically exploring outside of the genre and challenging themselves with different instruments and textures they’d never used before. The result paid off, as it’s now one of the most critically acclaimed releases. The band will celebrate the tenth anniversary of this pivotal album with a full performance of it at Concord Music Hall on Tuesday, December 5, at 5:30 PM. You can still get tickets here.
The timing couldn’t be more right. With last month’s final Beatles single, “Now and Then,” dropping in stores and online, and their enhanced and reissued “Red” and “Blue” greatest albums re-released, Steven Kikoen’s Beatles tribute band Abbey Road arrives at Des Plaines Theatre on December 7 is timely. For Kikoen, who also fronts several other original and all-star cover bands, this project is a labor of love for arguably six of the hardest-working musicians in Chicago. Yolking a cast of award-winning and sought-after string and brass ensemble players, the show will include the orchestral component of the band that performs both the hits and Beatle deep-cuts you may not hear at a look-alike show.
Sumo Cyco is one of Canada’s best-kept secrets. Fronted by the colorful Skye Sweetnam, the band leaves you stunned with their high-energy performances and their chaotic blend of punk, metal, hard rock, and pop rock. If you want to see them for yourself, catch them supporting Nonpoint with (Hed) P.E. and VRSTY at Bottom Lounge on Sunday, December 10th at 7 PM. Tickets are available here.
Heavy mock-rockers Steel Panther arrive at their home away from home locally at The Forge in Joliet on Tuesday, December 12. The band has taken its cues from hair-metal bands of the ’80s for nearly two decades with a comedic twist. Like other bands using comedy and serious songwriting chops and tight musicianship (like the Rutles/Beatles era), the band’s catalog is as good or better than the bands they’re mocking. Touring in support of their sixth studio album, On The Prowl, Steel Panther will likely blow the roof off at the Forge. They always do.
-Ashley Perez Hollingsworth and David Gedge
Category: Stage Buzz
