Monthly
Pitchfork Music Festival 2024 • Day One
Pitchfork Music Festival Union Park Friday, July 19 Chicago, IL Recap and photos by Curt Baran The Pitchfork Music Festival has secured itself a reputation as being the “farm league” of fests, to borrow a baseball term. They cultivate the newest talent, and then those bands or artists move onto the larger stages. Some even […]
Pitchfork Music Festival 2024 • Day Three
Pitchfork Music Festival Union Park Sunday, July 21 Chicago, IL Recap and photos by Curt Baran Arguably, the third day of P4K features some of the weekend’s highlight performances Model/ Actriz annihilated the fourth wall during their set, and Mannequin Pussy continued to prove that they are simply one of the best live bands on […]
Photo Gallery: Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller Band at Wrigley Field • Chicago
Def Leppard Journey The Steve Miller Band Wrigley Field Chicago, IL July 15, 2024 Recap and photos by Curt Baran The Northside’s shining diamond turned itself into a Wayback machine. To see the names Def Leppard, Journey, and The Steve Miller Band on the marquee would’ve had one believing it was a “World Series of […]
Media: July 2024 • 45th Anniversary of Disco Demolition: A Loop Insider’s Story
In the heyday of the late ’70s and early ’80s, Loop (WLUP, 97.9 FM) was owned by Congressman Cecil Heftel of Heftel Broadcasting. The president of Heftel Broadcasting was Tom Hoyt. A few photos of Hoyt appear in my book The Loop Files, as do a few stories told by him during his Heftel […]
Photo Gallery: Santana with Counting Crows • Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre • Tinley Park
Santana with Counting Crows Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre Tinley Park Saturday, June 29, 2024 Recap and gallery by Curt Baran Two titans of the San Francisco Bay Music scene touched down in suburban Tinley Park this past weekend. ‘60’s legend Carlos Santana, who, at age 76, may have spent the majority of his set playing […]
Photo Gallery: Sarah McLachlan • Huntington Bank Pavilion • Chicago
Sarah McLachlan Huntington Bank Pavilion Chicago, IL June 11, 2024 Recap and photos by Curt Baran If you closed your eyes, it was as if you’d been transported back to 1994. Sarah McLachlan began singing “Possession” from her Fumbling Toward Ecstasy album from that year and it sounded as if her voice had been cryogenically […]
Photo Gallery: Khruangbin • June 7 • Chicago
Khruangbin The Salt Shed Chicago, IL June 7, 2024 Recap and photos by Curt Baran Few celebrate summer like Chicago. It seemingly takes forever to arrive and vanishes in an eye blink. So, when an evening presents itself as the perfect combination of weather and soundtrack, it feels like an absolute victory. Such was the […]
Feature: Kula Shaker • Spiritual Relationships
“Not dead YET.” For better or worse, that has become my patented gallows-humored, post-pandemic response to anyone who casually inquires how I’m doing. Based on the hilarious Monty Python Death Cart scene in The Holy Grail, I’ve found it to be a good way of underscoring the […]
Photo Gallery: The Damned at Concord Hall • Chicago + Bonus Live Review from The Gothic Theatre • Denver
The Damned Concord Music Hall Chicago, IL June 2, 2024 Recap and photos by Curt Baran Although they’ve maintained a core of usual suspects, The Damned have certainly endured a revolving door of both personnel changes and musical directions. This is not entirely surprising, considering the UK band is now entering its FIFTH decade as […]
Media: June 2024 • 100 Years Of The Big ’89
This year, WLS-AM 890 is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a radio station. It’s really been three radio stations during that time. From 1924 to 1960, WLS served the farmers of the Midwest. Since 1989, it’s been a conservative talk radio station. But for 29 glorious years (1960-1989), it was the biggest Top-40 station in […]
Cover Story: Kerry King • Solo Time
Five years since Slayer played what was to be the band’s final gig on November 30, 2019, on their Farewell Tour during a hometown show at the Forum in Los Angeles, guitarist Kerry King has resurfaced with the release of his first solo album, From Hell I Rise (via Reigning Phoenix Music). Recruiting former Slayer […]
Photo Gallery: Angel at Arcada Theatre • St. Charles
Angel with Sabbath Nights Arcada Theatre Saturday, May 18 St. Charles Ed Spinelli captured the ’70s hard rock stalwarts Angel with Sabbath Nights at the historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles.
Photo Gallery: The Decemberists with Ratboys at Salt Shed • Chicago
The Decembrists with Ratboys The Salt Shed Chicago, IL May 21, 2024 Recap and photos by Curt Baran Portland, Oregon’s The Decemberists haven’t released an album in eight years, a veritable lifetime in the record industry hourglass. Well, all that’s about to change. The band is set to release As It Ever Was, So It […]
Photo Gallery: Social Distortion & Bad Religion at The Riviera Theatre • Chicago, IL
Social Distortion/Bad Religion Riviera Theatre Chicago, IL May 20, 2024 Recap and photos by Curt Baran There was a time when just simply being a punk was dangerous. I mean, you could get your ass kicked just walking down the street!” Social Distortion singer Mike Ness shared this walk down memory lane during his band’s […]
Photo Gallery: Devo at Riviera Theatre • Chicago
Devo at the Riviera Theatre Chicago, IL Saturday, May 11, 2024 Recap and photos by Jeff Elbel New Wave pioneers Devo brought their Celebrating 50 Years of De-Evolution Tour to a full house of spuds and energy-domed mutants at the Riviera Theatre on Saturday. The career-spanning set list was packed with crowd favorites. Singer and […]
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