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Live Recap: mxmtoon with Chloe Moriondo at House of Blues

May 11, 2022 / Malik Moore

This past weekend, mxmtoon ended the week with a bang stopping by Chicago's very own House of Blues along with Chloe Moriondo.

Chloe and her bandmates started off the night filling the venue with pink and blue lights that covered every inch of the House of Blues. The highlights of her set were closer to the end of her time on stage as she performed one of her most popular songs" I Want To Be With You" and even a new surprise song titled “Hellhounds," which gave us a more electric and synthy song compared to her more " ghost pop" sound. They loved interacting with fans from the stage, whether it be conversations about things about her beloved dog Sammy or shout outs to listeners throwing up "little hand hearts" as they referred to them.

The main event mxmtoon was up next. The crowd roared as Maia followed her bandmates on stage and greeted everyone in attendance. She started off playing her most streamed song “Falling for U” which gained popularity in the summer of 2019 after blowing up on Tik Tok. She continued her set with a diverse collection of songs from her entire discography, including the upcoming album called Rising, which has an announced release date of May 20th. mxmtoon discussed important topics such as coming out to her family and de-stigmatizing medicine in between her songs with an audience full of support and understanding— so much support that she was given a pride flag and wore it around her shoulders for a number of songs and the crowd cheered as she did.

Overall, it was a wonderful night for the pop genre with these talented artists jam-packing the House of Blues. Next time they come around Chicago they will for sure need a bigger stage! Check out the photo recap of the evening below, and see where you can catch mxmtoon next here.

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categories / Music, Gigs, Photos, Reviews
tags / mxmtoon, Chloe Moriondo, Photo Gallery, Photo Set, Live Show, Live Recap, House of Blues

PHOTOS: The Lemon Twigs With TCHOTCHKE at Lincoln Hall

May 08, 2022 / Cat Florea

This past Thursday night, The Lemon Twigs rocked Lincoln Hall alongside TCHOTCHKE. Check out the photo recap of the evening below, and see where you can catch the band on tour next here.

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categories / Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / The Lemon Twigs, TCHOTCHKE, Lincoln Hall, Live Show, Photo recap, Photo Set

Live Recap: Fontaines D.C. and Just Mustard at The Vic

May 08, 2022 / Rachel Zyzda

This past Friday night, Fontaines D.C. played their biggest show yet in Chicago, in honor of their new album Skinty Fia.

The evening kicked off with a support set from Just Mustard, who hail all the way from Dundalk, Ireland. While they were a long way from home, their name felt very fitting in Chicago, as we’re known for having just mustard on our Chicago-style hot dogs (shout out to Dan from Partisan Records for pointing this out in the box office line). The five-piece group, fronted by vocalist Katie Ball, had a similar sound to Fontaines D.C. and combined shoe-gaze with post-punk genres. Also like Fontaines D.C., Just Mustard is slated to have a new album out this year. The sophomore album called Heart Under will be out May 27th, and the band performed the single “I Am You” during their show, alongside some of their earlier material. Just Mustard’s songs had moody and emotive vibes to them, and the lighting during their set complemented those tones.

As the stage changed over for Fontaines D.C., a huge backdrop with the band’s name hung from the back of the stage and more and more fans buzzing with excitement packed into The Vic Theatre. I first saw Fontaines D.C. at SXSW Festival in 2019 and I remember them being my favorite new band during the fest, so I was eager to see them again now that they’ve got three albums under their belt— including their debut Dogrel and 2020’s A Hero’s Death. As the band burst out onto the stage, vocalist Grian Chatten came out swinging with a sense of urgent torment— he briskly paced the stage, slammed the microphone stand against the stage floor and frantically gestured for the crowd to put their hands up. The set began with some familiar favorites from their first two albums, like “A Lucid Dream” and “Hurricane Laughter” before mixing in some of the new material from Skinty Fia, like their single “Roman Holiday” and the record’s title track. While the new tour was definitely celebrating the latest album, the last time Fontaines was in Chicago had been the fall of 2019, so they made sure to also highlight some of the songs from their 2020 album that they never got to tour here.

As the set continued on, Chatten never lost his sense of urgency and intensity— at some points he slapped his own face, riled up the crowd and even stepped onto the barricade from the stage. The room was already filled with adrenaline but the band’s explosive stage presence made their show even more of a spectacle.
The first part of the set finished with “A Hero’s Death” and then the band left the stage to applause and immediate pleas for an encore. The break between the main set and encore seemed to take several minutes, but when Fontaines D.C. retuned, they were accompanied by several choir singers to perform “In ár gCroíthe go deo” with layered backing vocals. The encore then wrapped up with “Boys in the Better Land” and the single “Jackie Down The Line” from the new album. The song made for the perfect end to the night because it has a vintage post-punk feel yet it showcases a more polished and developed sound from the group.

Check out photos from the evening below, and see where you can catch Fontaines D.C. next here.

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categories / Reviews, Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / Fontaines D.C., Just Mustard, Live Recap, Live Show, Live Music, Photo recap, Skinty Fia, Partisan Records, The Vic, Jam Productions

Live Recap: ELIO with Abby Holliday at Schubas

May 02, 2022 / Alice Guan

Nashville based singer-songwriter Abby Holliday opened Sunday evening sporting a pair of tri-colored high-top Converse. Holliday was accompanied by her boyfriend, Seth. She introduced him right before they performed “Better By Now,” making a disclaimer that her “sad songs” are not about him, and that she now writes happy songs, resulting in cheers from the audience. The warmth of the venue can be felt as they tuned their guitars in between every gentle melodic ballad. As they strummed their guitars in harmony, it felt as if they were taking us through a foggy mountain range on an early summer morning.

As the night went on and the venue got fuller, the crowd was hyped up by ELIO’s drummer and guitarist. ELIO, whose real name is Charlotte Grace Victoria, jumped on to the stage after being welcomed by cheers and applause. She began her set with a relatively new song, “Typecast,” followed by the first ever ELIO song that was released just two years ago, “My Friends Online.”

While taking a break to sip some water, ELIO commented on the energy in the audience, noting that it was “almost as good” as her hometown show in Toronto. She asked the audience if she could take a couple photos with them, and after snapping some selfies, she noticed her phone was on low battery, leading her to ask: “does anyone have a charger?” This prompted the audience to cheer, as they knew they were about to hear “Charger” live for the first time.

The high energies continued until she kicked her band members off the stage, and picked up her electric guitar for a stripped version of “Waste of Emotion,” before welcoming her band members back on stage and closing the night with “@elio.irl.”

The show in its entirety took the audience from Abby Holliday’s mournful sounds to ELIO’s electric and whimsical tones. Despite the musical differences, both acts were able to engage and charge the audience with enthusiasm and playful conversations.

Check out the photo recap of the evening below, and see where you can catch ELIO next here.

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categories / Gigs, Music, Photos, Reviews
tags / ELIO, Abby Holliday, Live Recap, Photo Set, Live Show, Schubas

Live Recap: Big Thief with Kara-Lis Coverdale at The Riviera

April 28, 2022 / Alice Guan

This past Monday night, Big Thief kicked off the week with a concert at The Riviera Theatre in honor of their new record Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You.

Canadian composer Kara-Lis Coverdale kicked off Monday evening with her classical yet electric sounds. Surrounded by the headliner’s instruments, she kept her set up simple with only her electronic music boards. With neon pink lighting filling throughout the entire venue, Coverdale’s set was meant to hypnotize you. She played forty five minutes of her spellbinding chimes, before the lights went back to normal, and the stage was set for Big Thief.

Charging the venue with warm yellow lighting, members of Big Thief stepped onto the stage one by one, with lead singer Adrianne Lenker stepping up last. About six songs in, Lenker, sitting off to the right side of the stage in a chair, acoustic guitar leaning on her lap, made a slightly shaky confession that, as a result of sleeping on the move during a packed touring schedule, her back was injured. For that reason, she decided to play a more restrained, acoustic show and try out some new songs. The show was still on track but showed signs of falling apart. There were some false starts to songs, the bass was barely audible on some songs, and the band showed signs of very justifiable fatigue.

Later, Lenker launched into a new, folksy song, a John Prine-esque waltz with humorous lyrics about fine dining demons and “multi-grain” tastes. She started audibly playing with vocal deliveries, and the band, heeding her cue, loosened up. Every time she finished the song’s refrain, the crowd erupted into cheers. Within one song, Big Thief appeared to regain their confidence and take advantage of this slightly different type of show.

The show ended up being a welcome mix of loose and stripped down renditions of songs off their new album, lesser played favorites from previous projects, and trial versions of new songs. By the time the band reemerged for a two song encore of their most back to back rip-roaring bluegrass songs, they more than proved that they could turn a slight setback into an unexpected but incredible night.

Check out photos of the evening below, and see where you can catch the tour next here.

All photos by Alice Guan, words by Nat Scholl and Alice Guan

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categories / Photos, Gigs, Music, Reviews
tags / Big Thief, Kara-Lis Coverdale, The Riviera Theatre, Live Recap, Live Music, Photo recap, Photo Set

Live Recap: Snail Mail with Joy Again at The Riviera

April 18, 2022 / Rachel Zyzda

This past Thursday night, Lindsey Jordan, AKA Snail Mail, made a highly anticipated return to Chicago in honor of the sophomore album Valentine.

The night kicked off with a set from Philadelphia’s Joy Again, who got the crowd warmed up with their mix of indie pop and surf rock sound. A highlight of their set was when they performed their single “Looking Out for You,” which has been popularized on Tik Tok and garnered millions of streams. If you haven’t checked out Joy Again yet, I’d recommend if you like The Frights, Vundabar, and Surf Curse.

Next up, it was time for Snail Mail to hit the stage here for the first time since their Pitchfork Festival performance and Pitchfork after show in 2019. It’s always a special moment to take in the energy and excitement of fans being reunited with their favorite artists for the first time post-Covid, and the reunion between Jordan and the eager fans in the front row surged the venue with contagious joy. As Jordan and her bandmates took their places on a stage decked out with flowers and Cupid statues to coordinate with the second album’s title, a huge grin lit up her face while she began to sing the album’s title track “Valentine.” The show continued on with a few new songs from the 2021 album, marking the live debut in Chicago for “Ben Franklin” and “Glory” before Jordan and her band began to weave in fan favorites from her 2019 debut Lush as well. During some songs, the crowd was singing along so loudly that I could hear their singing over Jordan’s own vocals.

The setlist also contained some deeper cuts, like “Thinning” from the 2016 “Habits” EP, but no matter what they were playing, Jordan exuded a sense of comfort being back on stage and she radiated happiness to be playing music with her bandmates. During the performance of “Light Blue,” the bandmates left the stage and Jordan performed the track solo on acoustic guitar, bringing a gentle sense of calm to the room. The show was jam-packed with a lot of music, so Jordan didn’t spend too much time bantering between sets, but she did take a moment to soak in the aesthetics of The Riviera Theatre. “This is a beautiful venue. Even soundchecking in here was a great honor,” she said. The energy continued to amp back up as the band performed a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins “Tonight, Tonight,” which felt especially fitting for this show since we were in The Pumpkins’ hometown.

If you missed out on the concert, check out our photo recap of the evening below, and see where you can catch Snail Mail next here.

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categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs, Music
tags / Snail Mail, Joy Again, Valentine, Photo recap, Photo Gallery, Live Review, Live Recap, The Riviera Theatre, Matador Records

Live Recap: Wolf Alice with Charlie Hickey at The Club at Stage AE

April 02, 2022 / Sarah Wilson

How do you spend a great Friday night? The Wolf Alice show with opener Charlie Hickey, that’s how.

First up singer/songwriter Charlie Hickey. A fantastic voice and great vibe this is another example of why you don’t want to skip the opener. Fresh off his appearances in SXSW this year, Hickey has booked a few dates on the Wolf Alice tour. He’s got a debut album called Nervous At Night due out in May too, which you can pre-order here.

Headliners Wolf Alice were up next. Why this band was playing the Club stage last night and not the big room is beyond me! This band is so hard to categorize with their complex mix of sound and energy. Slipping from manic to mystic and back again, the band carries their show. The set list was heavy on tracks from the new album Blue Weekend, but the crowd responded just as well to the new work as the tried and true. The evening closed with “The Last Man on Earth” as one of two encores.

Overall, it was fantastic night of music from the heartfelt songs of Charlie Hickey to Wolf Alice with their kinetic sound– The only thing left to say is: get this band a bigger stage…immediately!

Check out the photo gallery of the night below, and see where you can catch Wolf Alice next here.

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categories / Reviews, Music, Photos, Gigs
tags / Wolf Alice, Charlie Hickey, Stage AE, Live Review, Live Recap, Photo recap, Photo Set, Blue Weekend

PHOTOS: The Band CAMINO with Flor and Hastings at The Riviera Theatre

March 29, 2022 / Rachel LeBeau

This past Friday night, The Band CAMINO took the stage at The Riviera Theatre in celebration of their self-titled debut album. If you missed out on the show, check out the photo gallery featuring flor and Hastings, and see where you can catch upcoming tour dates here.

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categories / Gigs, Music, Photos
tags / The Band CAMINO, flor, Hastings, Riviera Theatre, Photo recap, Photo Set, Concert Photography

Live Recap: Girl in Red with Holly Humberstone at Metro

March 27, 2022 / Rachel Zyzda

ANCHR kicked off the weekend by catching Girl in Red’s second sold out show at Metro with Holly Humberstone.

Walking into the Metro on Friday night, the air was palpable with excitement as devoted fans packed into the venue to see the indie pop songwriter and musician Marie Ulven Ringheim, better known by the moniker Girl in Red. Ringheim hails from Norway, but is currently in the midst of a sold out North American tour because she has no shortage of fans on this side of the world. I’ve been to many concerts where fans are eager to see their favorite performer, but the excited energy of this crowd was something even more intense than an average show, and it left me with an extra pep in my step throughout the evening.

The show kicked off right at 7PM with British singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone, who took the stage for a solo performance. Although Humberstone didn’t have a backing band with her, she managed to breathe depth into her songs by setting up beat loops along with playing the keyboard and guitar throughout the set. Her songs like “Scarlett” and “London is Lonely” showed off her warm and silky vocal tones, and I could hear similarities in Humberstone’s sound to Wet, Vérité, and even a little bit of Ellie Goulding’s more mellower tracks. Other than her unreleased song in the set, called “Sleep Tight,” fans in the front of the crowd joined Humberstone in singing along. Make sure to give Humberstone a follow to see what she’s up to next.

Between sets, the high energy continued to radiate amongst the audience, as everyone sang along to Doja Cat songs until Girl in Red took the stage. Ringheim and her bandmates burst onto the stage and began “You Stupid Bitch,” as flashing strobes accompanied the song’s explosive chorus while fans loudly echoed the lyrics. At the moment, the wild ride was only just beginning— while Ringheim’s style of music can be described as bedroom pop, her stage presence is anything but sleepy. A Girl in Red show combines hooky pop music with rock n’ roll stage antics, and Ringheim remained in motion, constantly bolting around the Metro stage as she performed songs from 2021’s if i could make it go quiet amongst her earlier material. Between songs, Ringheim either riled the audience up by telling them they had to go harder than the first night’s crowd, or she filled them in on behind the scenes bits about the music. After playing “i'll die anyway.,” she mentioned she had actually finished the song in Chicago years ago while on tour with Conan Gray.

I thought the show had been pretty much full speed since the kick off, but after crowd surfing at the end of “Serotonin,” Ringheim told the audience that the “slow part” of the show was officially over and jumped into her popular single “bad idea!” The momentum continued to climb further for the rest of the show. Just before the final song of the evening, a fan in the front row threw a bouquet of flowers to Ringheim, with a note that told her she’d changed the fan’s life. Ringheim joked she thought it said “changed my vibe” at first, which was fitting because the show had filled the venue with nothing but positive vibes. The night closed out with the massively popular “i wanna be your girlfriend,” which ended with Ringheim stage diving into her sea of adoring audience members.

If you missed the sold out spectacle, check out the photo recap below, and see where you can catch Girl in Red next here.

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categories / Music, Gigs, Photos, Reviews
tags / Holly Humberstone, Metro Chicago, Live Recap, Girl In Red, Photo recap, Photo Set, Live Review, Live Show