ANCHR kicked off the weekend with a sold out show from Dayglow and Ritt Momney at The Riviera Theatre.

The musical project of Jack Rutter, better known by his alias Ritt Momney, and his bandmates took the stage at the Uptown venue at 7:30 to an already-packed crowd. As the band performed songs like “HEADSTART” and “Sometime” from their 2021 album Sunny Boy, the audience members listened attentively and often sang along. When it came time for Ritt Momney to perform their well-known cover of “Put Your Records On” by Corinne Bailey Rae towards the end of their set, everyone cheered loudly and even more people joined in on singing along.

Next, the stage was set for Dayglow and the energy buzzing around the Riviera was palpable. The stage design had a sleek, minimalist feel to it, and a screen in the background remained blank until the headliner’s set began. Similarly to Ritt Momney, Dayglow is the project of a solo singer-songwriter, backed by a full band. Founded by Sloan Christian Struble, the Dayglow project began releasing music in 2017 with the debut album Fuzzybrain. Since then, Struble has released three studio albums under the moniker Dayglow, with the most recent being People In Motion, which was just released in early October and contains the tracks “Radio” and “Then It All Goes Away”—which were the first songs performed on Friday night.

As soon as the first note rang out, there was a sense of mutual joy that flowed back and forth between the band members and the audience— the crowd loudly echoed the lyrics that Struble sang through his wide grin, and the floor shook with the weight of a sold-out room dancing. Colorful lights and visuals swirled across the screen onstage, and the audience mirrored that by donning glowstick jewelry and bouncing bright balloons around the room.

Struble’s gratitude for the special evening shined across his face as he performed, but he also made sure to vocalize his appreciation several times throughout the night, first by saying “Tonight sold out, so that’s pretty cool. I love Chicago so much, and I’m so thankful for you being here” after the first few songs of the setlist.

The positive party vibes continued throughout the set, particularly when Dayglow covered the classic “Funkytown” by Lipps, Inc., which Struble introduced by saying “alright Chicago, let’s keep dancing!” The audience greeted that sentiment with loud cheers, and they kept up their part of the bargain by dancing nonstop. The setlist featured another couple of covers, including “Robot Rock” by Daft Punk and “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon, but the crowd seemed the happiest when they heard their favorite Dayglow songs. Struble and his bandmates did a wonderful job of curating songs from their full discography, making sure to go back to the early days. “When I was 17 years old, I made an album in my bedroom called Fuzzybrain,” Struble said before performing the record’s title track. Another fan favorite of the evening was “Can I Call You Tonight?” from that same record, which also happens to be Dayglow’s most streamed single.

All in all, the night was jam-packed with positive energy and the performance embraced the entire audience with an evening of escapism. I left the show as a bigger fan of Dayglow than when the show started, all thanks to the captivating nature of Struble’s on-stage demeanor.

Do yourself a favor and get tickets to Dayglow’s next show in your area—tour dates here— and take a look at the gallery from Friday’s show below.