Recent Articles
Stage Buzz: Preview • Pitchfork Festival 2021 Undercard Picks
Canceled and delayed by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Pitchfork Fest returns to Union Park September 10. 11 and 12  on a crowded fall festival weekend. You’ve read about their celebrated headliners (St.Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Erykah Badu); now take a look at some of our favorite undercard performers. DEHD On their 2020 […]
Stage Buzz: Live Review and Photo Gallery • Colin Hay at Park West
Colin Hay Park West, Chicago, IL Sunday, August 29, 2021 Review by Jeff Elbel, photos by Philamonjaro Colin Hay has spent decades building his brand as one of popular music’s premier solo acoustic entertainers and all-around raconteurs. His performance benefits from a miraculously ageless voice, fluid and dexterous guitar playing, and stories that overflow […]
Stage Buzz: Preview + Photo Gallery • Greta Van Fleet at Huntington Bank Pavilion
Greta Van Fleet Friday, September 3rd Huntington Bank Pavilion During a current stretch in the music industry when hip-hop and pop music has reigned supreme, the meteoric rise of Greta Van Fleet has proven to be an anomaly unto itself. Pulling heavily from the 1970’s rock canon aesthetic, the accusations of derivativeness have been plentiful. But […]
Cover Story: Ministry • “My House is My Art”
Any other modern bandleader would be a tad nervous, if not downright filled with floor pacing anxiety. But not calm, cool, and collected Svengali Al Jourgensen. Sure, his notorious, pioneering industrial outfit Ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year by — gulp! — heading out on post-lockdown, but mid-Delta-variant tour, which hits Chicago […]
Media: September 2021 • “The Big ’89 to Hollywood”
Kris Erik Stevens’s arrival in Chicago in the late ’60s involved a bit of serendipity. “I was on my way from San Francisco to a gig I had just taken in Pittsburgh, and I stopped in Chicago along the way to see an old buddy of mine, Lyle Dean, who I had worked with […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz – August 31-September 5 • Björk, Pinegrove, 311, Hanson
Phish’s “I Saw It Again” virtual tour continues this week with two shows from the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountainview, California (August 31 and Sep. 1) and a three-night stint at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado (Sep. 3 – 5). Get tickets and details for all shows here. Old Crow Medicine Show […]
Photo Gallery: Doobie Brothers at Huntington Bank Pavilion
 Ed Spinelli captured the 5oth anniversary tour of The Doobie Brothers birthday tour that yolked two eras of the band — the Tom Johnston-led band of the early 1970s, and the even more popular R&B influenced Michael McDonald-led version of the late ’70s. The near sell-out performance was as inspired as you might expect (perhaps […]
Stage Buzz: Review and Photo Gallery • Wilco, Sleater-Kinney at Pritzker Pavillion
Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, NnamdĂŻ Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Chicago, IL Saturday, August 28, 2021 Review by Jeff Elbel Photo Gallery by Curt Baran Saturday’s performance at Pritzker Pavilion was Wilco’s first hometown show since December 2019, when the band supported 2019’s Ode to Joy album at the Chicago Theatre. After 20 months of waiting, Jeff […]
Stage Buzz: Photo Gallery • Korn with Staind at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Two titans of hard rock’s Nu Metal movement descended on Tinley Park’s Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Friday. Korn and Staind, torchbearers that flat out owned the genre in the late 90’s, have hit the road together for a tour that’s bringing the down tuned heaviness to the late summer Shed’s across the country. The two acts […]
Cover Story + Podcast : Rise Against • “Mission Statement”
For the members of Rise Against, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the live event industry in 2020 provided something wholly unfamiliar for the band: downtime. “It’s kinda madness, when you look back on it all and think about what we did, and then managed to create this band and all the albums we […]
Stage Buzz : Livestream Buzz August 24-August 29 • Callaghan, Pearl Jam, Buckcherry, Wilco
Mt. Joy performs live from Mission Ballroom in Denver, Colorado this Tuesday, August 24 at 9 PM. Get tickets here. Dead & Company’s virtual summer tour continues this week with live performances Darien City, New York (August 25th) andSaratoga Springs, New York (August 27) at 6 PM. Tickets on sale now. This week’s […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz August 16-22 • Darius Rucker, Dead & Company, Tune-Yards, Switchfoot
Darius Rucker returns to Ryman Auditorium for his annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital benefit concert. Stream the event this Tuesday, August 17, at 7:30 PM via Mandolin. Get tickets here. Watch David Cook perform at Red Rabbit Studios in Nashville during his livestream this Wednesday, August 18, at 7 PM. Tickets are available here. […]
Stage Buzz: Photo Gallery • Hella Mega Tour – Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Weezer, The Interrupters
The demise of Rock music has arrived? Well, it was all evidence to the contrary when the Hella Mega tour showed up at Chicago’s Wrigley Field Sunday. Green Day, Fall Out Boy (making a homecoming appearance), and Weezer all brought their alt-rock jukebox catalogs to the famed, unquestionably sold-out Northside ballpark. The unseasonably mild weather […]
Spins: Jeff + Ping • The Threefinger Opera
Jeff Elbel + Ping The Threefinger Opera (Marathon Records) A few years ago, Chicago-area musician Jeff Elbel experienced a crushed nerve ending that denied him the use of two fingers on his left hand. This is bad news for someone who not only fronts his own band, the expansive Jeff Elbel + Ping but sits […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz • August 10-15: Phish, Lil Wayne, Brandi Carlisle, Better Than Ezra
Phish’s “I Saw It Again” tour continues this week with two shows in Hershey, Pennsylvania August 10 and 11 and three shows in Atlantic City Beach, New Jersey starting Friday, August 13 – Sunday, August 15. Tickets are available here. Emery performs their second album, The Question, in its entirety during the “The Question Digital […]
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