ilentertainer's Latest Posts
Faun Fables, Festival preview
Faun Fables | Festival Schubas | Empty Bottle, Chicago Friday, August 15 | Monday, August 18, 2008 Two psych folk groups, both female-fronted and predominantly female-filled, and each with some level of connection to Drag City (Faun Fables is on the label; Drag distributes Festival’s music) play Chicago within three days of each other. We’re […]
Scars On Broadway
Scars On Broadway Scars On Broadway (Interscope) He might not like it, but from here to forever, any music Daron Malakian creates outside of System Of A Down will be compared to that band. That band who, in less than a decade, scored five platinum records, three no. 1 records, and redefined the rules of […]
Chrome Division reviewed
Chrome Division Booze, Broads And Beelzebub (Nuclear Blast) If anyone in heavy metal deserves to kick back and have a good time, it’s Chrome Division guitarist Shagrath. His full-time job fronting Dimmu Borgir, after all, demands he be dead serious all the time about Satan, pentagrams, corpsepaint, The Lord Of The Rings, and hating your […]
Lollapalooza ’08 roundup!
Lollapalooza Grant Park, Chicago Friday, August 1 — Sunday, August 3, 2008 It takes a certain type of person to do the whole three-day festival thing. The lines, the prices, the sun . . . the portable toilets. It’s not easy, or always fun. Lucky for IE we have Andy Argyrakis, Jamie De’Medici, and Timothy […]
Lolla 2
SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 Dierks Bentley Perhaps Dierks Bentley missed the memo that Country Thunder festival was in Wisconsin (and last month no less) because when he showed up at Lollapalooza, he presented nothing but the slickest commercial packaging of the genre. Though the guy can make the ladies go wild (“Every Mile A Memory”) and […]
Lolla 3
SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 Kid Sister Early in the day Sunday, Chicago rising star Kid Sister braved the brutal heat with Flosstradamus (with J2K on vocals and Autobot on the decks). Kid Sis bounded through an energetic set that was all dance moves and ridiculous banter. Despite her forthcoming debut, Dream Date, not dropping yet, she […]
Rod Stewart & Bryan Adams live!
Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates Tuesday, August 5, 2008 If you think he’s sexy, Tuesday night’s Rod Stewart concert at the Sears Centre delivered enough ass-shaking, primping, and shimmying to salve any libido thirsting for a piece of the soccer enthusiast-turned-crooner. And if there was any doubt Stewart relishes his role as […]
Bodies Of Water preview
Bodies Of Water Schubas, Chicago Thursday, August 7, 2008 Call them a darker, more sinister companion to England’s the Magic Numbers, minus the whole brother/sister pairing, sunshine-on-your-shoulders attitude masking deeper scars.
Rue Royale preview
Rue Royale Schubas, Chicago Friday, August 8, 2008 Well Chicago, Rue Royale is leaving. Yep, less than a year after releasing its breathtaking debut full-length, the group bids farewell with this Schubas gig. But in all fairness, it was never really “ours,” anyway.
Amos Lee preview
Amos Lee Park West, Chicago Monday, August 11, 2008 Though it’s a prevalent theme on his newest record, Last Days At The Lodge, struggle hasn’t been much of factor in Amos Lee’s musical career so far. That’s not to trash talk Lee or brand him a dislikable silver spooner, only to say if he doesn’t […]
Cover Story: Judas Priest
Judas Priest Nostradamus: Priest’s Prophetic Project Who could have predicted a band who’ve been around since the beginning of time (more precisely, since the inception of heavy metal) would produce such an audaciously ambitious project? Judas Priest’s Nostradamus is a 23-track, double-CD concept album. Unlike the central figures in other such releases like Pink Floyd’s […]
Coldplay live!
Coldplay United Center, Chicago Wednesday, July 23, 2008 “I was there” means so much more when whatever’s happening isn’t choreographed. Coldplay’s constant reminder that they were recording Wednesday’s performance for a DVD completely hijacked any notion of spontaneity, leaving the impression the crowd was already watching the video.
Neil Diamond live!
Neil Diamond United Center, Chicago Saturday, July 26, 2008 There are two distinct sides to Neil Diamond’s musical personality — the legitimate singer-songwriter or the ham-fisted Vegas crooner — and usually his latest album hints at what vibe will be predominant on tour. Thankfully 2008’s Home Before Dark leans in the much more astute direction […]
Dokken preview
Dokken First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Tinley Park Sunday, August 3, 2008 Because it’s protocol for some rock critics to hate, or pretend to hate, anything associated with ’80s metal, some of you will surely accuse us of ripping on Dokken’s Lightning Strikes Again (Rhino) simply because of their hair metal roots. The IE editorial staff, […]
Cross Examination preview
Cross Examination Reggie’s Rock Club, Chicago Monday, August 4, 2008 Ironically, the tour calling itself Thrash And Burn that stops at the Pearl Room in Mokena Monday night is not be the thrashiest show in Chicagoland that evening.
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