Stage Buzz
Gipsy Kings preview
Gipsy Kings Ravinia, Highland Park Friday & Saturday, August 17 & 18, 2007 Great music speaks no language. Although any Bob Dylan fan will tell you lyrics matter, rhythm and melody make our hearts flutter with the same intensity as the loveliest piece of poetry. Just ask Beethoven.
June preview
June House Of Blues, Chicago Friday, August 17, 2007 Baby steps. Chicago-area pop punk upcomers June made a snappy, if predictably safe debut album in If You Speak Any Faster (Victory), but while their mothers could pick them out of an emo police lineup, the rest of us do not have it so easy. Thankfully, […]
Sons Of Azrael preview
Sons Of Azrael The Note, Chicago Friday, August 17, 2007 In a scene where boundaries can’t be pushed hard enough, Sons Of Azrael nonetheless try to be the fastest, loudest, heaviest, and darkest.
Shameless Hours preview
Shameless Hours 2007 Stage 83, Lemont Saturday, August 18, 2007 The third-annual Shameless Hours festival continues to carve out its locals-only/Chicago punk niche.
Electro Mayhem preview
Electro Mayhem Congress Theatre, Chicago Friday, August 10, 2007 It’s hard to keep up with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. If he isn’t on tour with the Crüe or starring in his own reality TV show (“Tommy Goes To College,” “Rockstar Supernova”), he has a new side project to promote.
Chuck Ragan preview
Chuck Ragan Metro, Chicago Thursday, September 9, 2007 By now, we’re pretty used to the whole rock-band-dude-mellows-out-for-a-unplugged story, so former Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan releasing an acoustic record isn’t too surprising.
Danbert Nobacon preview
Danbert Nobacon The Hideout, Chicago Thursday, August 9, 2007 Danbert Nobacon might have gotten knocked down when his group Chumbawamba disintegrated in 2004, but the vocalist and keyboardist got back up again with the release of The Library Book Of The World (Bloodshot). Of course “Tubthumping” gained a new lease on life with the pursuit […]
The Rentals preview
The Rentals Metro, Chicago Tuesday, August 14, 2007 There’s The Return Of The Rentals and then there’s the return of The Rentals.
Tafoya’s Lost Boyzz preview
Tafoya’s Lost Boyzz Champs, Burbank Friday, August 3, 2007 Chicago, 1979. Jane Byrne was mayor, the drinking age was 19, and The Boyzz from Illinois were the shit. Chicago was a scary place and the Boyzz were even scarier. A loud, bluesy biker band from the ‘burbs who were gonna be huge. It didn’t happen. […]
The Winter Sounds preview
The Winter Sounds Ronny’s, Chicago Friday, August 3, 2007 A common and valid criticism of The Winter Sounds’ Porcelain Empire (Livewire) is that the mix has the warmth of a toilet bowl (hence the title?). Opener “Windy City Nights” is probably the cleanest cut on the album, a double-timed shot drawn from Interpol’s bag of […]
The Sippy Cups preview
The Sippy Cups Lollapalooza, Chicago Friday, August 3, 2007 Saturday, August 4, 2007 When I was a youngster I remember stretching my Walkman headphones over my sister’s swollen, pregnant stomach hoping the Megadeth (Peace Sells . . . But Who’s Buying) coming from those cans would help make my future niece a lifelong music lover.
Nile & Chthonic preview
Nile, Chthonic Pearl Room, Mokena Tuesday, August 7, 2007 Here’s the thing about Ozzfest 2007: The lineup is lame. Maybe the festival lost what credibility it had left a few years ago when Sharon Ozzbourne publicly sabotaged legends Iron Maiden during their last night on the tour, or maybe they couldn’t get many “names” this […]
Tegan & Sara preview
Tegan & Sara Lakeshore Theater, Chicago Tuesday, August 7, 2007 The angular haircuts. The high-pitched, nasal vocals and seamless harmonies. It must be twin singer-songwriting team Tegan & Sara.
Ra Ra Riot preview
Ra Ra Riot Beat Kitchen, Chicago Thursday, July 26, 2007 Ra Ra Riot supposedly hadn’t even practiced when they booked their first gig – an example of how rapidly things took off for the Syracuse chamber pop group. Barely more than a year after forming, Riot had all the hippest rock publications all but fist […]
Bat For Lashes preview
Bat For Lashes Schubas, Chicago Friday, July 27, 2007 She has Thom Yorke’s seal of approval, and really that’s quite a feat in itself. In addition to rock’s favorite falsetto-drenched experimentalist, Natasha Khan (a.k.a. Bat For Lashes) has won over a slew of heavy-hitting musicians with her debut, Fur And Gold (Caroline/Echo), including Björk, Pulp’s […]
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