Filtering by Category: Gigs
PHOTOS: Big Thief at Tralf Music Hall 6.29.17
Photo gallery of Big Thief at Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo New York on June 29th, 2017.
Listen to Big Thief's new album Capacity in full below. Chicago, catch them at Millennium Park on July 17th, as part of the free summer concert series.
Can't get enough Big Thief? Check out our review of their set at TNK Fest 2017 here.
LIVE: (Sandy) Alex G with Japanese Breakfast and CENDE at Bottom Lounge
Collaborations and (unexpected) crowd surfing seemed to be a common theme at Wednesday night’s sold out (Sandy) Alex G concert at Bottom Lounge. Kicking things off, Brooklyn based CENDE got the early crowd warmed up. Towards the tail end of their set, they brought out Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast for the first cross-lineup collaboration of the evening.
After CENDE left the stage, the room continued to fill in as Zauner and her band quickly set up for their own set. When 7:30 struck, an undeniable wave of energy swept through the room during the first notes of Japanese Breakfast’s introductory song. The crowd remained attentive and supportive as the band moved through their performance of old favorites and new tunes taken from the upcoming album Soft Sounds From Another Planet, out July 14th on Dead Oceans. Zauner introduced one of the new ones, “Road Head,” about halfway through the set, which got the crowd cheering and intrigued by the title. Zauner also set the scene for Japanese Breakfast’s latest single “Boyish”, telling the crowd to imagine you were at prom with a disco ball illuminating the room, and your crush makes a beeline for you...only to pick the person next you. During this friend-zone anthem, Zauner’s dreamy vocals rang out, her blunt and relatable lyrics echoing through the venue. The mellow mood picked back up with the viral song “Everybody Wants To Love You,” with the crowd screaming along to the call-and-response style chorus and moshing. As Zauner gave a shout out to CENDE and (Sandy) Alex G for being the best tour mates before leaving the stage, the crowd displayed an unwavering display of appreciation for Zauner’s heartfelt narratives and easygoing stage presence.
Lightening things up and taking the energy to another level, (Sandy) Alex G and his band took the stage to “Life is a Highway” around 8:30PM, and the crowd packed in even closer to the stage. “Judge” from the new album Rocket led the formal setlist of the evening, with Giannascoli (the full name behind ‘G’) starting off standing center stage with his guitar. The violinist of the group joined Giannascoli in his center-stage spot during the third song of the evening “Bobby,” which he released as a co-lead single with “Witch” back in March. Shortly after performing both of these debut singles from Rocket, Giannascoli moved over to the keyboard posted up next to his mic stand to perform a few tracks from his 2015 album Beach Music, like "Bug" and "Kicker." As the set progressed, the energy of the crowd only amplified, with Giannascoli hopping down from the stage at one point to join his fans in the pit, and some of the audience crowd surfing. Although he has diverse sonic range that goes everywhere from lo-fi to country, an Alex G concert is one of the last shows you’d expect to see crowd surfers. The performance drafted such an electric energy that it didn't exactly feel out of place, though.
At just about 9:30, Giannascoli and his bandmates left the stage, part one of the set drawing to a close. The group soon returned for a request-based encore, including crowd favorite “Brite Boy,” which guest starred Zauner of Japanese Breakfast again. The fact that the group is able to take requests and keep the setlist fresh for each show displays their raw talent and steep musicianship.
To ensure you don’t miss out on your own unique (Sandy) Alex G set, spiked with collaborations from the equally brilliant Japanese Breakfast and CENDE, head here to get tickets to the remainder of the tour! To hold you over until these bands make their return to Chicago, check out the photo galleries below.
Japanese Breakfast
(Sandy) Alex G
Listen to Rocket here:
PHOTOS: Mamby On The Beach Saturday Highlights
We got to attend the beautiful Mamby on the Beach Festival 2017 with our pals at JBTV. Check out the highlights of Day 1, featuring SHAED, Phoebe Ryan, Raury, Local Natives, and MGMT...as well as the stunning atmosphere and friendly people at the fest!
You can view these photos on JBTV's Facebook Page as well!
Featured
LIVE: Elliot Moss at Baby's All Right 6.24.17
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Elliot Moss graced the stage at the legendary Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night. As soon as you walked into the 280-person venue, an eerie yet calming sense hung in the air, a vibe that closely matches the mood in some of Moss's tunes. The singer has described his main goal as taking the listener through an unworldly experience, and Moss did just that this past weekend, using his electro-pop sound and ethereal vocals. Throughout the night, he kept the talking to a minimum and focused on delivering a show that left the audience hanging onto every chorus and craving more.
Elliot Moss at Baby's All Right 6.24.17
Kicking things off with “High Speeds” from his debut album, Moss quickly opened up, revealing himself in his songs. Raw, unfiltered emotion comes through in all of his songs, especially during a live performance. With his endless talents, Moss effortlessly goes through each song with his piano and guitar with such passion, that it’s hard to not feel the same emotions he tries to portray through his songwriting. Song’s such as “Even Great Things” and “Slip” deal with issues such as the loss of a loved one and depression. Although the topics are dark, Moss delivers it in a way that shows both sides to each situation, and he's managed to turn the pain into a way for his listeners to cope.
Moss's therapeutic and hypnotizing set consisted of songs from both his first album “High Speeds” as well as his new EP “Boomerang”. By the end of the night, the crowd was begging for an encore. Once again, Moss did not disappoint and delivered with “I Can’t Swim” and “VCR Machine”.
Leaving the venue, the room buzzed with positive remarks about the performance that had just transpired. There is no doubt that there are only good things coming for Moss this year as he continues to tour. You can check him out on the rest of his tour here.
The Set List
- Highspeeds
- Faraday Cage
- Closed Loop
- Falling Down and Getting Hurt
- Plastic II
- Even Great Things
- Slip
- Best Light
- 99
- About Time
- Big Bad Wolf
- Without the Lights
- I Can’t Swim
- VCR Machine
Can't get enough of Elliot Moss? Check out our interview with him here.
PHOTOS: Rooney at Lincoln Hall 6.22.17
Rooney rocked Lincoln Hall on Thursday evening last week, as part of their Ultrasonic Summer Tour. Check out the full photo gallery below!
The Setlist
I'm Shakin
Blueside
Second Chances
That Girl Has Love
Tell Me What You've Learned
Can't Get Enough
Don't Be a Hero
Not in my House
Why?
Day 2 Day
All or Nothing
My Heart Beats 4 U
Where Did Your Heart Go Missing?
All The Beautiful People
Stay Away
You can check out the rest of Rooney's tour dates here, and listen to their latest single "Second Chances" below!
PHOTOS: Bassel & The Supernaturals at Taste of Randolph
Gallery of Bassel & The Supernaturals at Taste of Randolph Festival this past weekend.
Photos: !!! at Taste of Randolph
!!! (Chk Chk Chk) at Taste of Randolph Festival this past weekend.
Eaux Claires Day 2: The Highlights
The second day at Eaux Claires 2017 carried even more collaborations and improvisations, which make up the core of the festival. Although there had been a potential thunderstorm brewing all day, the rain held off until the evening, which is when the festival organizers had to improvise with the schedule. Tune in to find out which artists teamed up on Saturday, who played surprise sets, and how the fest made up for the change in schedule.
The Creek Acted as a Collaboration Hub
Just like Day 1, The Creek stage opened on Saturday with a People Mixtape set. The second volume of People Mixtape remained instrumental and came across as a genuine jam session between friends (which is what a lot of the performances at Eaux Claires really are). After entrancing the group with the 1PM mixtape set, Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon returned to same stage only a couple of hours later, to perform as Big Red Machine. For this collaborative set, Dessner and Vernon were joined by even more of the acts playing the festival, like s-t-a-r-g-a-z-e and Mouse on Mars. With their jam-packed line up and debut of new music, Big Red Machine was able to draw a huge crowd to one of the festival's smaller stages.
Eaux Claires curators Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner performing People Mixtape Vol. 2
The Sad Saxes Joined This Is The Kit
This Is The Kit once again made it onto the highlights list. After an incredible performance at the Flambeaux stage on Day 1, This Is The Kit now moved their set into the woods at The Oxbeaux Stage on Saturday. Once again joined by Aaron Dessner, the three piece of Kate Stables, Rozi Plain, and Jamie Whitby-Coles were also joined by The Sad Saxes. Although the two groups were working together on the fly, with Stables at one point explaining to the saxophone choir how she envisioned their contribution, the collaboration paired perfectly and sounded well-rehearsed. At Eaux Claires, there's never any shortage of really talented musicians going with the flow to make something special together. At the end of the mesmerizing set, the crowd gave a standing ovation.
Kate Stables of This Is The Kit performing at The Oxbeaux
Jenny Lewis Packed the Sparreaux Stage
Featured as an "Artist in Residence," Jenny Lewis was never officially on the 2017 lineup. On Friday, a set named "Jenny Lewis and Friends" appeared unannounced in the app, set to occur at 3:30 on one of the smallest stages, the Sparreaux stage. Well before the start of the set, an overflowing crowd camped out to be able to see this special, last-minute set. Lewis described herself and her friends as "Hawaiian psychedelic swing band" from Minneapolis, called Econo Lodge. The set opened with an improvised performance before moving into the crowd favorite "Just One Of The Guys."
Jenny Lewis at her surprise set
Feist Played Her Entire New Album
Shortly before Feist was set to take the stage, Eaux Claires narrator Michael Perry took the stage to announce a change in schedule. "There's only one thing we care about more than art," he said, adding that they would be improvising some schedule changes due to safety concerns with the incoming storms. Feist ended up getting a 15 minute extension on her set, which she used to play her new album Pleasure from start to finish. Between the songs, Feist would explain her vision behind the lyrics and compositions, vividly describing one song as the chase scene in a movie. She ended her set by singing out her appreciation for the crowd and her excitement over seeing Paul Simon perform later.
Feist performing before the rain hit
The App Revealed Paul Simon and yMusic's Set List
Paul Simon's set at the festival acted as the debut performance of a collaboration with yMusic. Although this set had originally been bumped up to 7:30 from 8:30 with the oncoming storms, a downpour hit the festival during Danny Brown's set. When Simon and the yMusic ensemble eventually took the stage around 8PM, the official festival app paired with the setlist, announcing the songs as they started. Similarly to Bon Iver's performance last year, festival goers were able to keep up with the order of songs in real time.
Paul Simon performing with yMusic
The Festival Organized an After Party After Wilco
The collaborations and surprises don't end there--Day 2 also featured a set from Field Report at The Decorum, and after a stunning performance from Wilco that closed out the festival, it was announced on Bon Iver's Twitter that some of the evening's cancelled performances from the smaller stages were being moved to the Lismore Hotel in downtown Eau Claire. Sets at The Lismore included Mouse on Mars and Velvet Negroni.
Wilco closing out the night
While the festival may be over for this year, we'll soon be posting photo galleries and interviews with The Autumn Defense and This Is The Kit from the weekend. Stay tuned for those and start counting down the days until Eaux Claires 2018!
Words and Photos by Rachel Zyzda
Eaux Claires Day 1: The Highlights
On Friday, June 16th Wisconsin's beloved Eaux Claires festival returned in full force, with its signature artist collaborations, surprise sets, and art installations involving crowd participation. Although there were many highlights, Friday undoubtedly belonged to Francis (of Francis and The Lights). Read on to find out what surprises day one entailed, which traditions carried on, and how Francis stole the show with not one, but four appearances.
Early Arrivers Got a Special Show at The Creek
If you're an EXC veteran, you know that the formal schedule is never really the full list of all of the performances, and that live collaborations and guest performers are what make Eaux Claires so special. So naturally, going into day 1, the 12:15 slot on The Creek Stage labeled as "People Mixtape Vol. 1" sparked some curiosity. Sure enough, at 11:45 the app sent out a notification that the performance would include Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner, the curators of the fest. (Side note: if you read our preview of Eaux Claires, you know that the app is a must.) The intimate set for the early festival arrivers featured what Vernon and Dessner described as a "work in progress," but the performance went over so smoothly. Francis also joined the band for the first half of the set, disappearing towards the end for a reason that was also revealed in the app notifications.
Justin Vernon performing during People Mixtape Vol. 1
Francis Gave A Dance Lesson
As noted earlier, the app sent out another notification before the end of the People Mixtape performance, alerting festival goers that Francis would be teaching dance at The Decorum stage at 1 PM. The roughly 45 minute performance featured an introduction with the house dance team of the festival, delivering a moving, beautiful, and entertaining opening number. Following up their opening moves, Francis himself took the stage to many cheers to teach the crowd the "Friends" and "May I Have This Dance" dances. The crowd loved it and happy obliged after Francis instructed them to try the moved featured in these songs. This performance represents a perfect example of why Eaux Claires stands out from any other festival...the spur of the moment, unique experience added some unexpected fun into many of the festival-goers days.
Francis teaches the art of dance
This Is The Kit Teased Their New Album
The Bristol-born, Paris-based This Is The Kit provided some soothing early afternoon tunes on the Flamebeaux stage. During their set, the frontwoman Kate Stables mentioned the band's upcoming album Moonshine Freeze will be out July 7th, and they performed some of the new tracks like "Bulletproof" and the title track "Moonshine Freeze." Aaron Dessner also joined the band onstage, as he had produced their previous record and helped out by playing on the upcoming record. If you missed out of their brilliant performance yesterday, catch them again today at 2PM on the Oxbeaux Stage.
Eaux Claires curator Aaron Dessner joins This Is The Kit
Francis Asked The Crowd To Have This Dance
As the Eaux Claires evening set in, the crowd got ready for a full Francis and the Lights performance back on The Creek stage. By far one of the most packed performances of the day, the set easily could have taken place on one of the main stages, but the more intimate setting made for an incredible experience. Although the set started off slow, with Francis sitting at his keyboard, he got things moving about 15 minutes in, working the entire stage, which includes two ramps on the side. Last year, Francis closed out the festival, debuting "Friends" with Justin Vernon and a surprise appearance from Chance The Rapper. This year, he brought up his choreographer to the stage, and the crowd still went wild for the viral song. Closing out his set, Francis played his other crowd favorite "May I Have This Dance," asking some lucky audience members if they'd like to join him on stage. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience, the impromptu backup dancers were all smiles when the song finished. Francis was such a hit with his overflowing crowd that they even demanded an encore and he obliged.
Impromptu dance party during Francis and the Lights
Justin Vernon Got Pissed Off About Balloons
Following Francis's set, everyone rushed to the main stage, Lake Eaux Lune, to see the set officially labeled "Bon Iver Presents John Prine & The American Songbook." The nearly 2 hour set featured all sorts of live collaborations, surprise guests, rain...and balloons. Towards the start of the set after Jenny Lewis and Mountain Man had joined Justin Vernon onstage, Vernon called out the many balloons floating around in the crowd, admitting that they were pissing him off, if he's being honest. Despite his annoyance with the balloons, Vernon continued to deliver a magical set with the likes of The Staves, Field Report, This Is The Kit, Spank Rock...and John Prine himself. Although it started to downpour towards the end of the set, nothing could put a damper of this special performance.
John Prine Tribute
Chance Closed Out The Night With Friends
Last year, Chance attended Eaux Claires via sneak attack, showing up unannounced for the very end of Francis and the Lights' set, where we saw Chance, Francis, and Justin Vernon perform "Friends" (including the epic dance moves). This year, Chance came in full force, with his backing band The Social Experiment and a big-scale production. Just about halfway through his performance, Chance flipped the script on last year's performance of "Friends," this time inviting Francis and Justin to join his set for the performance. Before we witnessed this Eaux Claires tradition, Francis first joined Chance to perform their remix collaboration of Francis's song "May I Have This Dance," followed by "Summer Friends." After his guests left the stage, Chance continued his massive show, which included confetti during his hit "No Problem." The most special part of Chance's show was that despite the huge crowd and full blown production backing him, he performed graciously and humbly.
Chance is joined by Justine Vernon and Francis
Stay tuned for Day 2 highlights and a full gallery of all the highlights from the festival. As always, follow along on our social media for live updates throughout the day.
Word and Photos by Rachel Zyzda