Recent Articles
Show Recap & Photo Gallery: Tesla at Arcada Theater
It was lights out at the Arcada Wednesday as Tesla hit the stage, kicking their set off with “MP3,” from their acclaimed album Simplicity. The enthusiastic sold-out crowd definitely got their money’s worth with a selection of tunes from Tesla’s 30 years. Fan favorites “What You Give,” steamrolled into “Save That Goodness,” “Ed’s Med,” and […]
File: Double Door Evicted (Updated)
Legendary Wicker Park music venue Double Door was officially evicted from its longtime home at 1572 N. Milwaukee Avenue today. The club’s owners, including partners Sean Mulroney and Joe Shanahan, have been battling landlords Brian and Harry Strauss to stay in the building they’ve occupied since 1994 until a suitable new location could be found. […]
Media: February 2017
Bill Cochran was drawn to music radio for the same reason most people are. “I just love music,” he admits. “I’m a music fan – almost a music geek. Since childhood discovering new music was always a joy for me. I grew up in Oklahoma, listening to a radio station with a format, as […]
Recap and Gallery: Frank Turner at HOB Chicago
How fortuitous that Frank Turner’s 2017 tour would kick off just as this country faces the aftermath of one of the most contentious elections in our nation’s history. The English folk-punker’s musings have always leaned toward the political, so it seemed all to apropos that he’s still out supporting his most current release Positive Songs […]
Photo Gallery: Alkaline Trio at Metro
With Matt Skiba moonlighting as an official member of Blink-182, for a minute there Chicago thought we had almost lost Alkaline Trio. With 3 sold-out shows at Metro, Skiba and crew proved that there’s still no place like home. Katie Hovland captured them live for IE on night 3.
Q&A and Gallery: Tedeschi Trucks Band
Florida’s legendary Tedeschi Trucks Band, led by married blues guitar greats Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, are in the midst of a 3-night run at the Chicago Theater. IE’s Ed Spinelli talked to Derek as he readied his all-star band for their stay on State Street. IE: How was your approach on (the new album) […]
Photo Gallery: The Tubes at Tailgaters
Like many IE readers the first time I ever saw Fee Waybill, he was dressed as a carnival barker in an early MTV video. The Tubes took the stage at Tailgaters with Waybill dressed in a black Zoot Suit, black hat, and white tie belting out the words to Chuck Berry’s “Never Can Tell.” Through […]
Stage Buzz: Tribute Weekend!
January usually means snow and cold in Chicago and reduced touring schedules for a lot of bigger bands. It also opens up tour dates, which means national tribute bands get to showcase their wares to fans. This weekend a couple of acclaimed tribute acts from opposite ends of the musical spectrum will hit the stage […]
Sweet Home: Ronnie Baker Brooks
Don’t call it a comeback. Although it’s been an entire decade since Ronnie Baker Brooks has released an album, his presence in the blues industry during that time has been ubiquitous. “I produced Eddy Clearwater’s album, West Side Strut, I did a compilation with Johnny Castro, I co-produced my dad’s last album and I’ve been […]
Spins: Rush, Frank Zappa Reissues
Rush 2112 – 40th Anniversary Edition (Universal Music Enterprises) Bassist Geddy Lee has described Rush as “the world’s biggest cult band.” Among the trio’s most devoted followers, you’ll find fans claiming any one of the Canadian prog-rock powerhouse’s twenty albums as their favorite. To the world at large, however, it all comes down to 1976’s […]
Stage Buzz: U.D.O. at Concord Hall
Former Accept and current U.D.O. vocalist Udo Dirkschneider is saying farewell to his former band’s material with his Dirkschneider band’s live album, LIVE — Back To The Roots Tour. The album features 25 classic Accept tracks performed by his U.D.O. band in their native Deutschland on April 2nd, 2016. The live album and current Farewell […]
Feature: Bash & Pop
Say what you will about the record industry death harbinger known as Chinese Democracy — The New York Times once called it “the most expensive album never made” — the 2008 GN’R album without Slash and Duff that has somehow maintained its footing in the fickle populist rock vocabulary. Who would have guessed that Slash […]
Photo Gallery: Patti Smith at the Riviera Theatre
Photographing one of his most anticipated shows to close 2016, IE’s Ed Spinelli captured the poet of punk, Patti Smith Friday at the Riviera. On her birthday, performing her groundbreaking debut album Horses. Whoa. We’re going to need her wisdom more than ever in 2017. Here’s what he captured on night one of her two-night […]
Cover Story: AFI
Davey Havok would like to take a vacation. He really would. But at this point – as the AFI bandleader and latter-day Renaissance man grapples with one of the busiest schedules in show business – he very well might have forgotten how. Rest and recreation are for other rockers – not him. “Two months off […]
Media: January 2017
2016 was a rough year. We lost some of our favorite musical and pop culture icons. But we also lost some beloved members and former members of Chicago’s media community. I had the opportunity to interview a few of them, and for those I never met, I reached out to some of their former […]
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