Tag: featured
Photo Gallery: Riot Fest 2021 • Day One
Riot Fest returned to Douglas Park after their 2020 COVID-19 sabbatical with a first: a bonus day (adding to its usual 3-day format) for multi-day ticket buyers and other VIPs. Despite several high profile COVID-related cancellations – the norm in this weird environment, the Riot Fest crew assembled a genuinely worthy day of music featuring […]
Stage Buzz: Photo Gallery: Megadeth/Lamb of God/Trivium/Hatebreed • Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
After their unplanned pandemic 2020 sabbatical, Megadeth and Lamb of God arrived healthy and intact in Tinley Park last night. Both bands were seemingly overjoyed; they were finally getting to tour even at the halfway point of their grueling 27-date North American jaunt. If you can find a band more at the top of their […]
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 […]
Stage Buzz: Review and Photo Gallery • Wilco, Sleater-Kinney at Pritzker Pavillion
Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, Nnamdï 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: 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 […]
Hello My Name is… John Doe of X
To calm, cool, and collected X anchor John Doe, it’s all about how you see the world these days. Some artists may have dreaded all that enforced 2020 lockdown time as a curse, but, homebound apart from his bandmates in Austin, he viewed it as a blessing, a creative windfall, even though X had […]
Cover Story: Chvrches • “Screen Team”
On the surface, Todd Strauss-Schulson’s 2015 horror-comedy The Final Girls was a prescient showcase for then-young acting talent, like Vera Farmiga’s sister, Taissa, future Silicon Valley star Thomas Middleditch, and the always-hilarious Adam DeVine, along with the relatively veteran Malin Akerman – all working overtime to sell the surreal plot, wherein Farmiga’s Max Cartwright character is […]
Stage Buzz: Live Review and Photo Gallery – James Taylor and His All-Star Band and Jackson Browne • United Center
James Taylor and His All-Star Band, Jackson Browne Thursday, July 29, 2021 United Center, Chicago, IL The third time’s the charm. Originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, the long-anticipated tour by James Taylor and His All-Star Band featuring Jackson Browne’s opening set was bumped to June of this year by the pandemic. Opening […]
Stage Buzz: Photo Gallery • Sammy Hagar and The Circle • RiverEdge Park
Sammy Hagar and The Circle (featuring Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham and Vic Johnson) July 18, 2021 RiverEdge Park Aurora, IL RiverEdge Park in Aurora hosted Hagar and friends on a near-perfect July summer evening. The set-list was stacked with Van Halen (Sammy era faves naturally), and Hagar’s solo hits. Van Halen’s “Right Now” […]
File: Chicagoland Record Collectors Show • Sunday July 18th
After 16 months of pandemic restrictions, the Chicago Record Collectors show – the largest vinyl and CD show in the Midwest – returns this Sunday, July 18, at the Best Western Hillside. Show founder John Govi kept tabs with hotel management during the pandemic, coordinating when it would be safe to bring the show […]
Photo Gallery: R.E.O. Speedwagon and Head East at RiverEdge Park Aurora
While the pandemic continues to affect indoor attendance to some degree, outdoor events are returning with gusto. Aurora Mayor Richard Ervin kicked off RiverEdge Park’s outdoor concert season last Thursday, welcoming “the pride of Champaign,” R.E.O. Speedwagon to the venue with fellow prairie state alums, Head East as openers. As expected, an evening of massive […]
Hello My Name Is…Billy
You’ve got to hand it to storied Cult guitarist Billy Duffy — he doesn’t bury the lede when it comes to late-breaking news stories. Only a minute into a recent phone call to discuss Coloursound — the ephemeral side project he and Alarm vocalist Mike Peters launched, then abandoned with a single album back in […]
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