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PHOTOS: Otoboke Beaver at Thalia Hall
On Sunday, February 26th, Otoboke Beaver played a rowdy, sold out show at Thalia Hall. If you missed it, see photos below and see where you can catch them next here.
PHOTOS: Fall Out Boy with Games We Play at Metro
Last week Fall Out Boy returned to the Metro stage for a legendary hometown show, in honor of announcing their new album So Much (for) Stardust.
Check out photos of the evening also featuring Games We Play below, and make sure to snag tickets to Fall Out Boy when they’re back playing Wrigley Field on June 21st.
PHOTOS: Whitney and Liam Kazar at Thalia Hall
Whitney returned to Thalia Hall from December 21-23rd for a three-night residency to round out 2022. Check out photos from the first of three nights, featuring support from Liam Kazar below.
Live Recap: Pond and Cryogeyser at Metro
On Tuesday night, Metro hosted a packed house for Pond, with support from Cryogeyser, in honor of Pond’s latest studio album 9.
Cryogeyser kicked off the evening with their dreamy blend of shoegaze and lo-fi rock, which played out in front of colorful screen projections. The LA-based trio composed of Shawn Marom, Zach Capittifenton, and Samson Klitsner have been supporting Pond for their entire North American tour, and their musical style was very well-received by Pond’s fanbase at the Chicago show. Cryogeyser released their most recent EP called “timetetheredtogether” in 2021, and their setlist included songs like “Foreigner” and “Sonic Peace” from the EP.
Finally, it came time for Pond to return to the stage in Chicago for the first time post-pandemic—with their last show here being in 2018. Lead vocalist and guitarist Nick Allbrook wasted no time getting reacquainted with their Chicago fans, as he left his spot on stage to jump over the barricade into the crowd during the performance of “America's Cup,” the first song of their set. During the commotion of Allbrook joining the audience, a fan in the front row ended up with a bloody nose, but she remained in good spirits about it and stayed in her spot so as not to miss a minute of the show. Allbrook rejoined his bandmates back on stage for “Rambo,” another newer track off their 2021 album 9, but he continued to roam about the stage and found himself back amongst the audience for the third song “Human Touch” (fitting that he’d want to be in the crowd for that one).
Following the commencement that featured a lot of Pond’s newest songs, they revisited some earlier material, like “Sweep Me Off My Feet,” which happens to be one of my personal favorites from their 2017 record The Weather. Throughout the show, the band kept it dynamic with their colorful lighting that illustrated each song, for example a warm golden lighting illuminated the band when they performed their song “Daisy.”
As the show progressed, Pond brought their music to life in a multitude of different ways— from Allbrook jumping into the crowd to vocal effects and the flute that Allbrook played during “Burnt Out Star,” there was never a dull moment. Before the band performed another one of my favorites, “Paint Me Silver,” Allbrook told the room “here’s one for your hips” and everyone joined in dancing along. The fun came to a close with a two-song encore featuring “Medicine Hat” and “Don't Look at the Sun or You'll Go Blind.”
Check out photos of the show below, and see where you can catch Pond next here.
Live Recap: Foals with Inner Wave and Glove at The Vic
The Vic hosted two back-to-back shows from Foals, Inner Wave and Glove this past Friday and Saturday night.
I got to catch the second and final show of the two-night run on Saturday night, with the evening’s performances kicking off with Glove from Tampa, Florida. I had the chance to see Glove last year at The Hideout, but it was great to see them take their show to a bigger stage and crowd. Glove’s signature synth-heavy and edgy music was complemented by moody red and purple stage lighting. One thing that really sticks out about Glove on their recorded music is the fact that band members Rod Wendt, Brie Deux, Michelle Primiani and Justin Burn take turns on vocals, and that same rotation carried over into their live performance. Their setlist featured a majority of their debut album called Boom Nights, including tracks like “Glass” and “Pressure.”
Next up, LA’s Inner Wave continued to get the crowd warmed up with their mix of funk, psychedelic and surf rock sounds. Similarly to Glove, Inner Wave’s stage lighting complemented their music style— rainbow colored lights and hazy fog synced up to their trippy and bright tunes. It was a cold night in Chicago on Saturday, but it felt like Inner Wave brought their sunny energy to the room. The audience eagerly soaked all of it in, but they particularly seemed to love the song “Take 3” from the 2021 album Apoptosis.
Eventually, it was time for the main act of the night, Foals. The Vic had filled up, and the excitement of the room felt palpable as the intro music for Foals began to ring out into the room. The stage setup included an extensive lighting display in the background, and the lights strobed in time to a booming bass track that literally shook the room; it was like the physical manifestation of anticipation. Finally, Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan, and Jimmy Smith took the stage along with their touring bandmates and launched into the first song of the night “Wake Me Up” from their seventh album Life Is Yours.
Life Is Yours was just released in the summer of 2022, so the setlist definitely contained a lot of the newer tracks like “2001” and “(summer sky),” but Foals made sure to perform many songs from their earlier days as well, and the band didn’t keep the audience waiting for too long to revisit their roots. “We’re gonna play a couple of old tunes,” Yannis Philippakis told the audience before playing “Balloons” and “Olympic Airways” from their debut record Antidotes as the fifth and sixth songs of the evening.
No matter which era of their discography Foals was performing though, the band members continued to display a great sense of camaraderie that translated into them sounding exceptionally great. As great as Foals’ records are, there’s an extra layer of magic at their live gigs. Philippakis constantly kept the crowd engaged by pacing the stage, jumping around, and at points even venturing out into the audience himself with his guitar. He also took a short break from performing to quickly sign some vinyl for fans in the front of the crowd, showing his gratitude for the audience. Just before wrapping up the main part of their set, Philippakis told the fans “I don’t know about you guys but we had a fucking good time tonight.” It was clear from the overwhelming cheers that everyone in the room was in agreement with that statement.
The performance ended with a three-song encore featuring “Snake Oil,” “Inhaler,” and “Two Steps, Twice.” Make sure to check out photos from the Saturday show below, and see where you can catch Foals next here.
Live Recap: Beabadoobee with Lowertown at The Riviera
This past Tuesday night, The Riviera Theatre hosted a loud and exciting show from Lowertown and Beabadoobee in the most recent show of the Beatopia Tour.
The evening began with the talented, New York-based duo Olivia Osby and Avshalom (AKA Avsha) Weinberg of Lowertown. I’ve been a fan of these two since 2019 and I was so excited when I saw they were coming to open for Beabadoobee in Chicago. They absolutely blew away the audience and definitely gained a lot of new fans while performing songs of their latest project entitled I Love to Lie (which is one of my favorite albums from this year.) Olivia and Avsha performed as if they’ve been on the stage a hundred times with their respective turns performing. The song that got the biggest applause was the 2020 single “Best Person You Know.” It sealed the dynamic pair’s amazing set and they couldn’t have chosen a better song.
With the stage warmed up and the crowd ready, Beabadoobee was up next to take the stage. With her arrival came an uproar so loud my ears were ringing after. She broke out into “10:36,” which the audience caught onto immediately. There wasn’t a single song the crowd didn’t latch onto within seconds. That’s something i haven’t seen a lot of so I knew her fans were not casual. While I enjoyed her opening song, I just can’t go without mentioning her performance of “Apple Cider.” That song evoked a reaction out of me I haven’t felt since I saw Saba at the Aragon Ballroom in May. The performance was even better than the recording on Spotify. I don’t know what she did to compete with herself but I was delighted to see how much fun she was having on stage while the audience roared along with her.
Lowertown and Beabadoobee were the perfect pairing for this show, from the mosh pits that formed while Lowertown killed their time on stage to the girls I saw absolutely dying when Beabadoobee introduced herself. Everyone in the theatre was having the time of their lives, especially me.
I can’t wait to see these talented artists take the stage again in Chicago because after this show, I am a bigger fan than I already was. Check out photos from the show below, and see where you can catch the tour next here.
Live Recap: Carly Rae Jepsen and Empress Of at Aragon Ballroom
This past Saturday night, Carly Rae Jepsen wrapped up her North American “So Nice” tour with a phenomenal show at Aragon Ballroom, also featuring Empress Of as the support.
I’ve been a big fan of Empress Of, the musical project of Lorely Rodriguez, since 2016, when I heard her single “Woman Is a Word,” so it was exciting to see her playing such a big room. Empress Of’s set began with Rodriguez’s DJ first taking the stage to hype up the audience, and Rodriguez quickly followed. Empress Of started off performing “Save Me” from her 2022 EP of the same name, and continued to weave in songs from her three albums. The set also included a cover of “Man’s World” by Marina. All throughout her performance, Rodriguez mesmerized the crowd with her fluid and poetic dancing.
As it got closer to the time of Carly Rae Jepsen’s performance, The Aragon Ballroom was overflowing all the way to the back wall of the venue with eager fans ready for the main event—this was Jepsen’s first time back in Chicago since 2019, and the majority of the audience members were decked out in neon colors, sequins and glitter to celebrate the special occasion. The sparkle of the crowd really added to the positive mood of the show.
The stage design featured fluffy clouds and huge stars as the backdrop, as well as a round screen that resembled the sun or the moon. To kick off Jepsen’s set, the screen projected a video of a talking moon, which welcomed the band onstage for the first song, “This Love Isn't Crazy” from the 2020 Dedicated Side B. Jepsen and her bandmates were rocking sequins that coordinated with many of the audience members’ outfits, and she kept the excitement high by setting off confetti canons as early as the first song.
The setlist featured many songs from Jepsen’s 2022 album The Loneliest Time, like “Joshua Tree, “Sideways,” and “Western Wind,” but she and her band performed a whopping 28-songs, allowing the crowd to journey through her entire discography. One of those highlights was of course the massive hit “Call Me Maybe” from Jepsen’s 2012 album Kiss— the entire audience sang along so loudly it was actually difficult to hear Jepsen singing in the back of the venue over the sound of the crowd. Jepsen put on a great performance through and through, continuing to dance and move about the stage with high energy that persisted through the entire show, and that was only enhanced by her stunning stage production. The confetti canon was put to use a few other times, and Jepsen even did an outfit change about halfway through the set. Another fan favorite of the night was the title track of the 2022 album, “The Loneliest Time,” which has garnered massive popularity lately thanks to a TikTok trend.
See where you can catch Carly Rae Jepsen on tour next here, and check out the photo gallery of the evening below.
Live Recap: Dayglow with Ritt Momney at The Riviera
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.
