Live Reviews
Earth live!
Earth The Note, Chicago Friday, April 25, 2008 “Dude, I’m bored,” announced a friend of a friend in a Venom-themed Boris T-shirt. “Are you guys going to leave soon?” It was a damned good question. After six songs of blandly introverted, lightly amplified twang, many at the quaint Wicker Park bar were starting to come […]
International Pop Overthrow Wrap-Up
International Pop Overthrow Various clubs, Chicago April 15th – 27th, 2008 Back in 1998, when David Bash organized the first International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles, he probably couldn’t have imagined how much his low-budget, annual celebration of power pop would flourish. By 2001, International Pop Overthrow, named after a Material Issue song and album […]
Iron And Wine live!
Iron And Wine Vic Theatre, Chicago Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Just as bookends maintain a shelf’s order and organization, the breathtaking opening and closing numbers of Iron And Wine’s tour-closing show on Tuesday – the second of a two-night stand in Chicago’s Vic Theatre – kept the rest of the set list from going off […]
Counting Crows — Double live!
Counting Crows To preview his upcoming interview with Adam Duritz in the May issue of Illinois Entertainer, we shipped Jaime de’Medici to a pair of outposts to catch Counting Crows getting intimate.
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend Metro, Chicago Sunday, April 6, 2008 Vampire Weekend rolled into a sold-out Metro on Sunday night – quite a jump from the quartet’s last local appearance at Schubas – but such is the result of the hype machine’s ever-churning gears.
Shelby Lynne live!
Shelby Lynne Park West, Chicago Saturday, March 29, 2008 Since winning the Best New Artist Grammy in 2000 for I Am Shelby Lynne (her sixth album, natch — still mind boggling), Shelby Lynne seems to be wandering through the musical landscape in search of an identity. After the Memphis-soul vibe of I Am, she took […]
Ray Davies live!
Ray Davies Chicago Theatre, Chicago Tuesday, April 1, 2008 No one can ever credit Ray Davies as being a prolific solo songwriter: at age 63, he just turned in his second proper full-length offering, Working Man’s Café (New West). But for fans of his time in The Kinks, a fairly thin individual catalog meant spending […]
Louis XIV, What Made Milwaukee Famous live
Louis XIV, What Made Milwaukee Famous Metro, Chicago Saturday, March 22, 2008 When Louis XIV picked up steam in 2004, it was on the road alongside The Killers and Von Bondies, and quickly led to a deal with Atlantic Records. Even though the industry was riding the resurrected garage and dance rock crazes to excessive […]
Stephen Malkmus live
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Vic Theatre, Chicago Friday, March 21, 2008 The patchwork wall between indie rock and jam bands came crashing down Friday night, as a plodding Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks burned holes through the Vic stage with their eyes.
Justice live!
Justice Riviera, Chicago Thursday, March 20, 2008 Somewhere in the midst of Justice’s whirlwind set last Thursday at the Riviera, it became difficult to distinguish exactly what song the electro duo were performing off their 2007 breakthrough album †. Good thing that was hardly the point.
The Raveonettes live!
The Raveonettes Double Door, Chicago Tuesday, March 18, 2008 At this point in The Raveonettes’ career, Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have inarguably established themselves and their sound — specifically, feedback-drenched fuzz pop with a healthy mix of ’50s love songs and The Jesus And Mary Chain as their primary influences.
Springsteen live!
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Bradley Center, Milwaukee Monday, March 17, 2008 When Bruce Springsteen and the recently reconvened E Street Band kicked off his Magic tour last fall, the set lists leaned heavily on the new album, along with the signature mix of deep cuts and a handful of hits. Though little […]
The Gutter Twins live
The Gutter Twins Metro, Chicago Friday, March 7, 2008 It isn’t entirely accurate to print The Gutter Twins show happened Friday the 7th, because, in actuality, the outfit didn’t take the stage until well after 1 a.m. Saturday morning. Then again, a so-late-it’s-almost-early performance is hardly surprising, given the nocturnal aesthetic of the talent.
Clutch live!
Clutch Metro, Chicago Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Clutch have been called a lot of things in their 15-plus years together, including hardcore, hard rock, alt-rock, nu-metal, and stoner metal. Truth is though, all those labels are more the result of industry and label types trying to squeeze Clutch into changing musical tastes than they are […]
Bon Jovi live
Bon Jovi United Center, Chicago Saturday, February 23, 2008 The boys in Bon Jovi never fail to capitalize on the periphery fluff that made them household names. Sure, now-classic songs “Wanted Dead Or Alive” and “You Give Love A Bad Name” from 1986’s chart topping Slippery When Wet fanned the flame of their popularity, but […]
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