Live Review: Billy O’Neill • Liar’s Club • Chicago

Brassneck | April 4, 2026 | 0 Comments

Billy O’Neill (of oh my god)

Liar’s Club

Chicago, IL

Friday, April 3, 2026

Live Review and photos by Jeff Elbel

Good Friday saw the welcome return to Chicago of erstwhile local hero Billy O’Neill. The singer and bassist visited Liar’s Club to reacquaint his former hometown audience with songs by theatrical post-punk band oh my god.

O’Neill appeared in a priest’s collar and welcomed a crowd populated with old friends and longtime fans. “It’s the best Friday I’ve had in a long time,” he said, as the band launched into “Everything is Good” from the 2001 album Well (a song revisited on 2007’s Fools Want Noise). Like the scene described in the song itself, the concert began like old acquaintances picking up a conversation after a long time apart.

O’Neill’s reconnection with the oh my god catalog is a response to a longstanding desire by a devoted underground following. The new chapter casts the band’s well-crafted art-rock songs in a different light. Instead of distressed Hammond organ sounds, O’Neill’s lyrics on songs like emotional rollercoaster “The Unbearable Pageant” are now answered by the mustachioed Jamison Fernandez’s punk-metal guitar. Joshua Varichak guided musical twists from the drum set. Augmenting the power trio for the first time was Jim Licka on shimmering mellotron.

The familiar elements included O’Neill’s supple and expressive baritone voice and his bass guitar, which was occasionally enhanced via a ProCo Rat pedal for sinewy lead lines on songs including the suitably titled “Volatile.” O’Neill cast himself as the song’s self-absorbed character. “So, if I’ve ever been mean or a jerk or all about myself, gimme a break,” he said slyly as the song careened to its caustic conclusion.

The show was only the core band’s third outing. Occasional rough spots showed that the band is still dialing in its interplay, but the spirit was overwhelmingly positive. The wild-eyed O’Neill and upbeat Fernandez constantly made faces at the crowd and appeared to be having tremendous fun.

The crowd quickly caught the energy and responded in kind. 17 years have passed since oh my god’s final album, The Night Undoes the Work of the Day, but the assembled attendees had clearly held the music in their hearts. The whipsaw changes of “Get Steady” led to a soaring singalong chorus. Stirring ballad “February 14th” had the crowd swaying to the song’s portrait of heartbreak balanced by lingering gratitude. Real tears were glimpsed among the audience.

Among the set’s most affecting moments was the deconstructed opening movement of the pocket epic “There Goes the World…,” leaning into O’Neill’s haunted, unadorned melody. O’Neill and Fernandez led the crowd in stomping out a resolute beat followed by Varichak’s crashing entry into the song’s turbulent conclusion. O’Neill’s lyric expressed eager anticipation and fleeting experience with disappointment in its wake. “Here it comes, here it is, there it goes,” he repeated in a defeated but relatable mantra.

Despite honest expression of heavy emotion in such artful songs, the overall mood was one of joyful celebration and camaraderie.

The goodwill was underscored by the presence and support of former oh my god bandmates. While O’Neill served a communion of ‘Nilla Wafers to willing supplicants, Varichak donned a nun’s habit and danced as early drummer Zach Nold joined the band for a spirited “Action” and energetic “The Beauty of Servitude.” Zach Verdoorn (who supported oh my god tours in the 2000s as a versatile auxiliary musician) spun records between sets in his guise as Cloudstomper. Former oh my god organist/co-writer and current Claudettes bandleader Johnny Iguana was in the crowd as well.

The band’s personality and potential were on display as the set unfolded. As the ensemble continues to build its repertoire of familiar favorites, it will be interesting to see the group return with the anticipated inclusion of fresh material as a new chapter in the story of oh my god.

– Jeff Elbel