Tag: featured
Photo Gallery: Le Tigre • July 15 • Chicago
Le Tigre The Salt Shed Chicago, IL July 15, 2023 Recap and photos by Curt Baran If the revolution isn’t going to be televised, at least Le Tigre has made certain its soundtrack will be danceable. Rising from the ashes of Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna left minimalist punk rock in her rearview mirror to find […]
Cover Story: Hozier • Beautiful Language
It might not have swept over him like some Hokusai-impressive wave. But Irish folk-rocker Andrew Hozier-Byrne — who records and performs as simply Hozier — has been caught in the subtle currents of spiritual change since he turned 33 this March. It’s the fabled Christ age, when your proper career trajectory is clearly revealed to […]
Stage Buzz: Heavy Chicago Festival at Avondale Hall • Chicago
Chicago’s Avondale Music Hall will be hosting a brand-new metal festival, Heavy Chicago, over two weekends this fall. Beginning on Saturday, October 28, Chicago’s beloved Trouble will be kicking things off with its first local show in five years. “It has been far too long since our last Chicago show, but as we all know, […]
Live Review and Photo Gallery: American Music Festival – FitzGerald’s • Berwyn
American Music Festival FitzGerald’s June 30 – July 3 Berwyn, IL Reviewed by William Tokash Photos from Day One, Three, and Four by Curt Baran FitzGerald’s iconic American Music Festival in Berwyn, commenced on 4th of July weekend, celebrating its 40th year, making it one of the longest-running and storied music festivals in the country. […]
Hello My Name is Tommy Stinson
Some folks just attract trouble magnetically. Take ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, for example — when the coronavirus hit him, post-lockdown, it smacked him upside the scruffy head and just kept knocking him senseless. “That was horrible, and I’m still reeling from it,” the rasp-throated rock rapscallion recalls from his rustic home in upstate New York. […]
Anniversary Albums: Tears for Fears • The Hurting
Tears for Fears The Hurting (40th anniversary Abbey Road remaster LP) (Mercury/UMC) For a band with its staying power and following, Tears for Fears’ catalog is brief. By all reports, it isn’t a lack of work ethic that suppressed productivity – it’s the internal quality control exercised by principals Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. The […]
Media: July 2023 • Catching up with Mr. Wert
After more than four decades in the media business as a sales manager/general manager/vice president for places like WLS-TV, The Loop AM & FM radio stations, NBC-5 Chicago, and the Tribune Company, Larry Wert considers himself semi-retired. “But I’m working way more than I should be, considering I’m semi-retired,” he admits. “I’m working on […]
Stage Buzz: Between the Buried and Me, Anita Baker, NASCAR Music
Between the Buried and Me are known for their high-concept albums that create thematic sagas within their discography. Their rich storytelling will be on full display when they perform their acclaimed 2012 album The Parallax II: Future Sequence in its entirety this Friday, June 30 at House of Blues. Thank You Scientist and Rivers of […]
Spins: Flaming Lips: The EPs
The Flaming Lips Hypnotist vinyl EP Fight Test vinyl EP Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell vinyl EP (Warner Records) Released in conjunction with the Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 20th-anniversary campaign, these three EPs add to the picture of The Flaming Lips’ surging power during a period of peak creativity while simultaneously edging […]
Live Review and Photo Gallery: The Cure at United Center • Chicago
The Cure United Center Chicago, IL June 10, 2023 Live Review by Ashley Perez Holingsworth; Photos by Curt Baran Seven years to the date of their 2016 Chicago appearance, The Cure returned for another stunning show in the Windy City. The post-punk elder statesmen delivered a phenomenal 31-song set at United Center filled with classic hits, […]
Photo Gallery: Dead & Company – Night One • Wrigley Field • Chicago
Dead and Company Wrigley Field Chicago, IL June 9, 2023 Recap and photos by Curt Baran To paraphrase one of their songs: Is this the moment when the music finally stops?!? Dead and Company, the collective hexad comprised of former Grateful Dead members, has hit the road on what is being billed as “The Final […]
Live Review and Photo Gallery: Love and Rockets at Riviera Theatre • Chicago
Love and Rockets The Riviera Theatre Chicago, IL Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Review by Jeff Elbel. Photos by Curt Baran. Few would have begrudged the reason, but many festival ticketholders were crestfallen when singer Peter Murphy stepped away for rehabilitation treatment and pulled the plug on Bauhaus’ summer tour soon before last year’s scheduled date […]
Live Review and Photo Gallery: Taylor Swift • Night 3 • Soldier Field • Chicago
Taylor Swift Soldier Field Chicago, IL June 4, 2023 Review by Riley Vernon. Photos: Aubrey and Riley Vernon Just when you think she’s peaked, Taylor Swift keeps climbing. The global powerhouse dazzled Soldier Field by wrapping up the final night of three sold-out Chicago shows on her highly anticipated “Eras Tour.” It’s been a long […]
Stage Buzz Q&A: Ultra Q at Metro • Chicago
When Jakob Armstrong decided to end Mt. Eddy, the band he formed in high school with brothers Enzo and Chris Malaspina, later joined by Kevin Judd, and regroup as Ultra Q, he wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. Weeks away from the release of Ultra Q’s debut album, he still […]
Cover Story: Moby • Liberating Me
If you had the luxury of compiling a wish list of gab-gifted guests for the Perfect Dinner Party, you could do a lot worse than inviting techno-jazz-pop-ambient-symphonic Renaissance man Moby. Personally — without even touching on his four-decade, genre-jumping musical career— he has a true wealth of achievements to discuss, including his photography […]
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