The All American Rejects, The Maine, and Andrew McMahon performed on Wednesday, December 11th to a packed Aragon Ballroom as part of Q101’s annual holiday show, Twisted Xmas. Check out photos from all of their sets below and check out photos from the first night of Twisted Xmas here.
Franz Ferdinand performed on Tuesday, December 10th to a sold-out Aragon Ballroom, alongside almost monday and Cage The Elephant as part of Q101’s annual holiday show, Twisted Xmas. Franz Ferdinand’s hour-long set journeyed through their musical catalog, performing some of the hits from their earlier albums as well as some brand-new material off their upcoming album The Human Fear —out January 10th, 2025. See the full setlist below, along with photos from their set and view their upcoming tour dates here.
Setlist:
The Dark of the Matinée
No You Girls
Night or Day
Walk Away
Build It Up
Evil Eye
Do You Want To
Hooked
Michael
The Doctor
Love Illumination
Take Me Out
Ulysses
Audacious
This Fire
The actor/musician brother duo of Nat and Alex Wolff, FKA The Naked Brothers Band, derived their music from a Nickelodeon show that the brothers starred in earlier in their lives.
The pair are currently on tour with Billie Eilish for her Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour for a string of dates including the two-night stand in Chicago. Coming from a different generation, I wasn’t too entirely familiar with their music, but was equally excited to see what the Brothers Wolff had to offer knowing that artists put in the effort to choose their openers— I figured Billie had her reasons. I’m grateful for the phrase “ a picture is worth a thousand words” because I feel like my photos captured tens of thousands of words encapsulating the amount of entertainment to duo emitted in just the short time allotted for an opening act.
The United Center is definitely no small feat to conquer as an opener and I’ve seen many solid openers in the past not make the mark or hold the crowd’s attention, and that wasn’t the case for last night’s performance. That had a commanding presence and easily connected with the crowd, who let’s face It we know had only Billie on their minds. Some of the fans had even been camping out since Sunday and others were still in their tents on a cold rainy Chicago night for their line spot in the morning for tonight’s show. Nonetheless, both Nat and Alex held nothing back and showcased how they’re not only brothers or actors, but also rockstars.
Check out the full gallery of their performance below, and see where you can catch them on tour next here.
On Friday, May 17th, Say Anything returned to Chicago to perform their landmark album ...Is a Real Boy in full to honor the 20th anniversary of the record.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Max Bemis, alongside the full band, had reunited to perform at Riot Fest in Chicago last September, but this show at Aragon Ballroom was Say Anything’s first headline show here since playing The Metro in 2017. While Aragon Ballroom is a significantly larger venue, fans came out in droves to experience the nostalgia of these twenty-year-old songs and completely packed the room even before it was time for the headline event.
The concert setlist stayed true to the album’s tracklist, and the show kicked off with the introductory track “Belt.” The live performance even included the spoken word introduction from Bemis saying “And the record begins, with a song of rebellion!” The audience immediately launched into fervent dancing and singing along with Bemis, that continued throughout the show.
Before playing the third track “The Writhing South,” Bemis took some time to address the crowd and mention the 20th anniversary celebration. "The weirdest part about that, it’s not the nostalgia, it’s not surreal— it’s that I’m only turning 20 myself this year, and I just don’t understand physically how that happened,” he joked. I have to say as someone who listened to these songs on repeat in high school, it definitely felt a little surreal to be hearing them performed all these years later.
For me and for so many of the audience members, every single song on the tracklist has specific memories tied to them, and they’re all so iconic in their own ways, but there were a couple of moments when the crowd amplified the energy they’d been exhibiting all night. During "An Orgy of Critics" I spotted my first crowdsurfer of the night, which was particularly impressive for this concert—considering the audience was made up mostly of millennials and Gen X. Just before playing track 9, "Every Man Has a Molly,” Bemis told the crowd “I wanna hear you guys sing as loud as humanly possible” and the audience obliged by singing the entire first verse before the band fully kicked in. The fans showed off their chorus-like singing again for “I Want To Know Your Plans,” which Bemis performed as a solo acoustic number at the start of the evening’s encore. Bemis introduced the set’s final song “Admit It!!” by telling the audience “We’re gonna put everything we’ve got into this last one” and the band definitely fulfilled that promise to send the evening off on a high note.
Relive the glory of the concert by checking out photos of the Chicago show below, and see where you can catch Say Anything next here.
Singer-songwriter Alice Merton returned to Chicago for the first time in five years to headline Lincoln Hall on Tuesday, May 14th.
The highly-anticipated return felt like both a concert and therapy session, thanks to Merton’s deeply insightful lyrics and the vulnerable anecdotes she shared with the audience between songs. And of course, there was also plenty of dancing opportunities during the hour and a half setlist.
The setlist started off with immediate intensity as the band played the introductory track “run away girl” from the singer’s 2024 EP entitled “Heron.” From there, the set ventured through a mix of the brand new EP and other favorites like “Vertigo” and “Homesick” from her albums S.I.D.E.S. and Mint, respectively.
Ahead of performing “how well do you know your feelings?” from “Heron,” Alice took some time to connect with the audience about the importance of listening to your own heart and gut when making decisions. “This song came from a conversation with a friend of mine. This friend always put other people’s happiness in front of theirs and every time I spoke to them, I felt so sad that they couldn’t voice their own opinions and say this is how I feel because they were always worried about what everyone else would think. There were so many people that said ‘next time we play a show it’s gonna be this place or that place’ and I was like but what about if that’s not what makes me happy. What if I want to have really beautiful, intimate shows where I can come out after to say hi to everyone and get to know the people that want to come to the show,” Merton told the audience. That choice to play an intimate venue like Lincoln Hall really helped create a sense of connection and camaraderie amongst the audience and with the band throughout the rest of the show.
The setlist ended on a lighthearted and optimistic note, with Alice and her band closing the main set with “Why So Serious,” which the singer confessed is a catchphrase she stole from The Joker. Merton came back for an encore of “The Other Side,” which describes the feeling of healing from a rough time. In that song, Alice sings “I'm seeing happy, I'm seeing dancin'“ and that’s exactly what I saw during her gig.
Check out photos from the Chicago show below and see where you can catch Alice Merton on the road next here.
On May 13th, British artist Craig David made a long-awaited return to Chicago to headline The Chicago Theatre.
Despite it being a rainy Monday night, fans flocked to the historic venue to see the singer perform here for the first time since 2001. As the crowd filed into their seats, a DJ warmed up them up and got the good vibes flowing. The DJ even shared with the crowd that he first got into Craig David after hearing “Fill Me In” for the first time in the early 2000’s, which I’m sure was a common thread with some of the fans in the audience.
When it was time for the main event, Craig David’s live band and backing vocalists took their places on stage first, before he eventually made his grand entrance. Immediately, the seated show-goers got to their feet and began singing and dancing.
After performing a few songs, including “What’s Your Flava?,” “Ain't Giving Up” and the aforementioned hit “Fill Me In,” Craig took some time to address the crowd and let them know he’d be journeying through a catalog of old favorites and new material throughout the show.
Craig delivered on that promise and even threw in a cover of “Show Me Love” by Robin S for good measure, as well as songs he featured on like “Abracadabra” with Wes Nelson and “Got It Good” with Kaytranada. No matter what he was singing, Craig delivered flawless vocals throughout the show, which were often complemented by his backing singers and accompanying musicians, who added a rich texture to the show’s production. The band members all got introductions and quick showcases of their talents during the song “Time to Party,” which had everyone dancing along and in good spirits.
The main set concluded with “16,” where Craig sings and raps about “doing this since I was sixteen” and it’s clear from the seamless and smooth performance that he’s mastered the craft of being an excellent performer.
The full band took a bow before leaving the stage and returning to demands for an encore. The journey concluded with “Insomnia” from 2008 and the iconic hit “7 Days.”
Check out photos from the Chicago performance below, and see where you can catch Craig David on the road next here.
