Filtering by Category: Photos

Live Recap: Regina Spektor's Return to London at Royal Festival Hall

July 19, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

It’s around 8PM on Saturday night, July 15th and singer-songwriter Regina Spektor has just taken the stage at the pristine Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre. A seated auditorium sitting just along the River Thames, the venue had a stern air of formality about it, but Spektor quickly lightened up the mood by asking the audience “Can we just pretend we’re at a basement pub and chill the fuck out?”

I wasn’t quite sure what type of energy to expect from the musician playing a solo show (her first show in London in six years), but her opening statement quickly lightened the mood and set up a tone for a relaxed show as she began to play her song “Folding Chair” to follow up her introductory performance of “Shalom Aleichem” (a song centered around the Hebrew greeting meaning "peace be upon you.”)

Early on in the set, Spektor also let the audience know that she’d recently suffered a back injury, but a friend of hers had helped her recover from the injury enough to push on with the shows. Considering she was injured and carrying out these shows with just herself, a microphone and her piano, I figured the show might lean on the shorter side, but Spektor dazzled the audience with a nearly two-hour performance that featured songs from across her long discography.

Spektor’s stage presence was a beautiful balance of a rehearsed performance mixed with the casual nature of friends jamming together—similar to the laidback vibes of a basement pub gig. When she messed up a part of the piano (to be honest, I wouldn’t have even noticed the slip if she hadn’t called it out), Spektor told the crowd “I practiced! The hotel people are probably mad at me [from practicing so much]. We’ll just skip that part!” She also told the audience she was going to try her song “Somedays” even though she wasn’t confident in it, but she managed to play it successfully. Afterwards, Spektor joked that she felt like a “kindergartner with a finger painting.”

While she may have jokingly minimized her craft, Spektor continued to enchant the audience with her sweeping vocal performance and dynamic manner of playing the piano; there were times her vocals were theatrical and times that she’d hammer on the top of the piano or clap to add a percussive element to her melodies. The crowd joined in on the clapping for those moments when makeshift drums were needed.

Speaking of crowd participation, around half way through the show, Spektor told the audience that standing up and squatting made her back feel better, asking everyone, “Will you guys get mad if I do three squats?” She invited the crowd to join her, and myself and the majority of the audience stood up to squat along with the singer. “I think the pub became a gym,” Spektor joked.

To give herself a break from sitting at the piano, Spektor stood up to perform a couple of light-hearted A capella songs “Reginasaurus” and “Silly Eye-Color Generalizations.” Another non-piano moment included a surprise guest appearance from musician and producer Leo Abrahams, who joined Spektor to play a few songs on guitar.

Eventually, Spektor wrapped up the main part of her show with her huge hit “Fidelity,” which she introduced saying “This one I should know in theory, but theory and practice are different.” That may be true, but she knocked the performance of the song out of the park, earning a standing ovation from the entire auditorium at the end of the song.

Spektor returned for a single-song encore of her song “Samson,” also on her 2006 album Begin to Hope.

If you missed out on the show, check out photos from the performance below, and see where you can catch Regina Spektor on tour near you here.

0 Likes

categories / Reviews, Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / Regina Spektor, London, Royal Festival Hall, Live Show, Live Review, Live Recap, Photo Set, Concert Photography

Live Recap: Bastille's Bad Blood X Tour Resurrects Their Landmark Album

July 18, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

“Every day it passes, faster than the last did, and you’ll be old soon, you’ll be old.”- “Weight of Living, Pt. II” by Bastille. These lyrics about the passage of time as you get older rang true for me back in 2013 when Bastille first released their debut album Bad Blood, but they definitely hit even harder when you realize the album is now 10 years old. A decade that felt both fleeting and like a lifetime.

To celebrate this decade landmark of their number one album, Bastille members Dan Smith, Chris “Woody” Wood, Kyle Simmons, and Will Farquarson announced last year that they’d embark on a“Bad Blood X” summer tour around the UK, kicking off Friday, June 30th at Newmarket Racecourses and ending July 23rd at Ludlow Castle. The premise of the tour (you guessed it) being that the band plays their entire debut album in full at these gigs, along with a few other fan favorites from their discography.

As someone who has been a fan of the band for over ten years (fun fact: I saw them perform for the first time on Bastille Day in 2013), the news of the tour conjured up waves of nostalgia and memories of seeing the group perform this album on the original Bad Blood tour(s) in venues ranging from Lincoln Hall in Chicago to Radio City Music Hall in New York. I got the chance to attend their Bad Blood X show in Leeds on July 13th, which was the eve of Bastille Day and the release of the 10 year anniversary edition of the record.

The sold out show took place at Millennium Square in the heart of Leeds, with support from Etta Marcus and Orla Gartland. Singer-songwriter Marcus took the stage first with her 4-piece band to perform a handful of songs, including “Smile” and “Salt Lake City.” The latter got a big cheer and applause from a few fans who had traveled from Salt Lake City to attend the Bastille tour. I’d recommend listening to Etta Marcus if you’re a fan of Faye Webster, Samia, or Julia Jacklin.

Orla Gartland took the stage next with her drummer and bass player, who were rocking Harry Styles and Taylor Swift t-shirts respectively. Gartland had supported Bastille at two earlier gigs on the tour, and it was clear she’d already gained some new fans in the Bastille community, as I saw several fans singing along to her songs like “Pretending” and “Why Am I Like This?” Gartland introduced the latter saying “This is a song about basically being in your own head” and the song seemed to be a crowd favorite. Towards the end of her set, the singer had everyone in the crowd singing along when she did a medley of different cover songs, including bits of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

With the crowd properly warmed up by Marcus and Gartland, the crew got to work setting the stage for the main event. The Bad Blood X stage included street lamps on either end and other bits reminiscent of their OG Bad Blood era, including a hoodie with a wolf on it and Converse shoes that lead singer Dan Smith used to wear during those early days of touring. Just before 8:45PM, the onstage screen flashed an introductory scrawl of “Bad Blood X” in Smith’s handwriting before fading into a montage of video clips from previous tours. While fans eagerly awaited the band to enter the stage, they saw moments ranging from celebrating Woody’s birthday to Will asking the band if they know how to say “goodbye” in Dutch to a younger Dan singing their hit “Pompeii.” The video clip of “Pompeii” transitioned into the band entering the stage and launching into playing the anthemic tune, which felt a little surreal to hear as the first song of the night. I’m pretty sure every time I’ve seen Bastille, they’ve closed with “Pompeii”— but with playing the album in full, fans got to hear it at the start of the set this time.

Next up on both the album and setlist; “Things We Lost in the Fire,” which saw the entire audience clapping in time to the drumbeat of the chorus. After this song, Kyle Simmons addressed the crowd to let them know from time to time they’d be seeing old “embarrassing” videos of their early tour days up on the screen, which were captured by their friend and videographer Tom Middleton. Simmons also mentioned that he and Smith had studied at University of Leeds, which added to the full circle moment and fit the theme of revisiting a part of your past life.

Following the performance of the album’s title track, the audience got another stroll down memory lane with another clip from Middleton’s tour archive. The clip revealed an unglamorous moment of touring; changing a flat tire on the way to a gig. These interludes of past tour footage occurred a few more times throughout the show, but the most beloved seemed to be the video of Farquarson getting a tattoo of the words “Bad Blood” in Texas to commemorate the album going to number one on the charts, which got a loud laugh from the audience.

The video interludes weren’t the only moments of the Bad Blood portion of the set that nodded to the band’s past. They made sure to bring back many traditions tied to these songs —for example, Woody left his drum set to come to the front of the stage to lead the crowd in swaying their arms during “Overjoyed” and holding up their cell phone lights during “Oblivion.” One tradition that has remained since day one is what has been deemed the “Flaws walk” by fans—which is when Smith hops off the stage during the performance of their first single “Flaws” to walk and dance his way through the audience. The song has remained a staple in their setlist, even on the tour for their fourth album Give Me The Future, so Smith has kept up the Flaws walk for years. On the night of the Leeds show, Smith started on the house right side of the crowd, made his way all the way to the back of the square, and re-entered on the left side. Quite the feat considering the size of the audience and the venue, but Smith has always impressed me with his ability to maneuver through frenzied crowds. Smith also impressed me with his ability to jump up and down while singing just as much as he did in the early days, but I did notice he swapped out his Converse shoes for more sensible New Balances.

Bastille’s performance of their debut album on this tour wasn’t just a redo of their early songs, it was a revival and a chance for them to breathe new life into the music they once performed as novices, now as seasoned performers. While they still had plenty of callbacks to their beginning days in 2013-2014, the 2023 tour also introduced more advanced production aspects and more live band members, including multi-instrumentalist Charlie Barnes (who has been a touring member of Bastille since 2015) and vocalists Bim Amoako and Senab Adekunle.

Another pleasant change with touring Bad Blood 2.0 was the addition of the song “Weight of Living Pt. I” to the setlist. Before playing the song to close out the first part of the set, Smith told the crowd that this track “really dates” the album because it was a hidden bonus track on the record, which isn’t a common feature on records nowadays. Prior to this tour, Bastille had only played Pt. I of “Weight of Living” a handful of times—the first time being in 2017, well after the album’s original tours. The live version of this song sounded incredible with extra vocal support from Bim and Senab.

Kyle Simmons, Dan Smith, and Charlie Barnes of Bastille

The entire band left the stage at this point, returning promptly to perform other fan favorites for part two of their set. A graphic on the screen reading “Beyond Bad Blood” marked the transition into music from other eras. “Good Grief” and “Send Them Off!” from their second album Wild World were both featured during this portion—the latter being fan-voted by a poll on the band’s Instagram Stories the morning of the gig. “The Draw,” which was a song featured on the (super) extended version the debut album called All This Bad Blood, had been played by Bastille on past tours, but this time around fans got to see Smith perform it on guitar, giving it a little extra edginess. We also saw Smith on guitar for the performance of the band’s 2020 single “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???”—but the real star of the show during that song was Barnes, whose showmanship was on full display as he jumped and flipped around the stage.

Smith then addressed the audience to tell them they’d like to “finish with a party” before launching into their hit collaboration with Marshmello “Happier.” Smith stood up onto the barricade rail for this song, balancing on it like a tightrope as he walked from one end to another, at one point holding the microphone out to a fan to sing part of the chorus. The party vibes continued with “Million Pieces” from their album Doom Days, which Smith introduced by saying “This is our attempt at a rave song, but as usual it has to be about the world fucking falling apart.”

Smith walking along the barricade during “Happier”

True to their word, Bastille rounded off the set with pure party vibes by playing “Of The Night” and “Shut Off The Lights.” During their performance of the former (which is a mashup cover of 90’s tunes “Rhythm is a Dancer” and “Rhythm of the Night”) Smith once again recalled a tried and true tradition at their shows by asking everyone to crouch down just before the chorus, then jump up and down with him during the chorus. During the final song of the show, Smith and his bandmates sang “shut off the lights, we don’t need them to dance” and dance we did.

After all the dancing I did at this show, I found myself in McDonald’s afterwards with several other concert attendees getting their post-gig fuel. The best conversation I overheard while waiting for food was a man singing “they put the chips in the fryer fryer fryer” to the tune of “Things We Lost in the Fire.”

A wise band once said “does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?” And with Bad Blood X, the changes are there with the increase in the size of their fan base, the newest live band member additions, the more supportive sneakers, and Smith’s stage demeanor, but the changes signify growth and the joy of living. Here’s to hoping we see the band when they’re older and full of (more) stories to be told for Bad Blood XX.

If you missed out on the shows in the UK, the band will be playing one US show for Bad Blood X in Los Angeles on August 25th. Check out all of their upcoming tour dates here, and see the full gallery of the Leeds show below.

2 Likes

categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs, Music
tags / Bastille, Bad Blood, Bad Blood X, Leeds, Etta Marcus, Orla Gartland, Live Recap, Live Review, Concert Photography, Photography, Photos

Live Recap: Les Claypool with The Budos Band at Salt Shed

July 06, 2023 / Dora Segall

Someone threw up in a trashcan near the stage four songs into the opener for Colonel Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, but that didn’t put a damper on what was definitely a memorable reunion tour stop at the Salt Shed.

The crowd was more or less what I expected–an assortment of middle-aged people, some younger, about two thirds men. “White trash,” my friend assessed, although I saw some more sophisticated weirdos as well as people donning dreads.

Budos Band made for a killer first set. The band’s uncategorizable sound melded Afro-funk with hard rock and a number of other influences. Perhaps the most memorable of the group’s small army of members was Robert “Bobby” Lombardo. The drummer put his entire body–and curtain of long hair–into his congas, pausing only to run across the stage and hype up the audience. Lombardo was joined by an army of other instruments, including two trumpets and a saxophonist. The music they churned out was delightfully dissonant, yet upbeat.

Between Budos Band and the Frog Brigade, I headed to the bar for a drink, where I received a free sticker from the man ahead of me in line. I ran into him the next day and learned that he’d traveled all the way from Vegas to see Budos Band open for Les’s band. The sticker he gave me depicted a frog with strawberry-textured skin and a little leaf-and-stem hat. Frogs were, for obvious reasons, a motif throughout the evening; the venue wasn’t selling Frog Brigade’s signature amphibian hats, but several fans showed up in handmade ones—My favorite was a mother-daughter pair with foam visors, and cute little cartoonish eyes drawn on.

The Frog Brigade came out full-force with its cover of “Thela Hun Ginjeet,” a bass-heavy rendition that showcased Les Claypool’s fittingly frog-like dancey playing style. Les’s hammered out more than two hours of originals and covers, most of them a part of its regular, live arsenal. The group dedicated the middle chunk of its set to Pink Floyd’s “Animals.” The more exciting parts of the set, though, for me at least, were the Primus-adjacent tracks Les had penned himself. He donned his signature pig mask for “Precipitation,” conjuring delightfully freakish melodies from an upright, electric bass as the band played along. It was the kind of song I imagine someone would write if asked to put Animal Farm to music.

Joining Les in the Frog Brigade were a xylophonist, drummer and keyboardist in their uniform of army fatigues. Sean Lennon took his usual place as Les’s right-hand-man guitarist. Skerik was out of commission for the first leg of reunion tour due to a shoulder injury, so saxophonist Frank Catalano, whom Les stage named “Ballpark Frank” for reasons I cannot recall, filled in.

The Frog Brigade wrapped up after 11 with bouncy, funky “One Better,” a Les Original, followed by a two-song encore. After a bottleneck out of the venue across a floor crunchy with abandoned beer cups, audience members had the chance to smoke and chat outside over a venue-curated queue of hardcore 90s music. I opted to head out, passing burger and whippit vendors on my way to my car–ah, Primus fans.

Check out photos from the show below, and see where you can catch Les Claypool on tour next here.

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs
tags / Les Claypool, The Budos Band, Salt Shed, Live Recap, Live Review, Photography, Photo Set

Live Recap: Counting Crows with Dashboard Confessional at Ravinia Festival

June 26, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

The Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional kicked off the weekend with an incredible show at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park on Friday, June 23rd.

Prior to the music kicking off with Dashboard Confessional around 7PM, music fans arrived to the Ravinia site as early as 5PM to settle in and have a pre-concert picnic on the lawn. Before Chris Carrabba and his five band members began their set, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows took the stage to tell everyone to “get off the lawn” and come join them in the pavilion for the main event. The audience continued to trickle in as Dashboard Confessional started their set with a throwback to 2006’s “Don’t Wait.” During performances of their songs, Carrabba’s fun-spirited stage presence shone through in the way he sang and carried himself, but it was during the between-song banter that his personality really came across. Before playing their third song of the night entitled “Belong,” Carrabba told the crowd that he had the opportunity to wander around the lawn earlier in the evening and meet some people, including one young girl named Emma. Carrabba pointed out Emily in the crowd, and shared that this was her first concert ever before dedicating the song to her.

Throughout the rest of the set, Carrabba weaved in anecdotes about the songs that the band was about to play, including a story about kissing a girl from Chicago under the Williamsburg Bridge before “Remember to Breathe” and telling the crowd that he’d seen the new Spider-Man movie before playing “Vindicated” since that song was used in Spider-Man 2. Most of the set was well-received by the audience, but everyone seemed particularly excited about the performance of “Stolen” and the hit “Hands Down,” the latter of which closed out the show. Dashboard Confessional’s set was a perfect and nostalgic start to the evening; I remember being in high school and listening to some of these songs and it was incredible to get the chance to form new memories with these songs at this concert.

Next up, Counting Crows took the stage to a completely packed pavilion, beginning their set with “Sullivan Street” off their debut album August and Everything After. From there, they jumped to perform “If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead” from their 2002 album Hard Candy before turning up the heat by playing their massive hit “Mr. Jones” as the third song of the night. Most bands wait to play their biggest hits until the end of their set, but I admired the bolder move and appreciated the electrifying energy of the audience dancing and singing along to the tune.

With so many great songs under their belt, it really felt like the entire setlist was just hit after hit, but there were definitely more mellow moments over the evening. For example, the very next song after “Mr. Jones” was the ballad “Colorblind,” which is still a favorite of mine, but features a dramatic piano-driven melody that starkly contrasts with the swingy, upbeat tempo of the previous song.

Similarly to Carrabba, Adam Duritz’s stage presence and between-song banter showed off his dynamic personality. Duritz would sometimes illustrate the lyrics of his songs with hand motions and body movements, essentially like an interpretive dance to help contextualize the words— for example he shrugged when he sang the line “I don’t know” in “Round Here” and he reached his arm out when he sang “I’m covered in skin” during “Colorblind.” There was also a frequent change up in the vocal cadence or inflictions of Duritz’s live performance, in comparison to the recorded versions of these songs, that added more texture to the live show. Then of course, Duritz’s sense of humor was on display whenever he took a moment to speak to the audience—whether it was the tale he told about “getting to crazy from crazy” when he was waiting for the muse behind “Washington Square” to write him back, or the way he mimicked a Chicago accent to describe how the audience sounded singing certain parts back to him.

To wrap up the main part of the set, Duritz performed (yet another hit) “A Long December” from the piano. The band quickly returned for an encore that began with “Hanginaround,” which featured a guest appearance from the entirety of Dashboard Confessional. The energy really soared with the epic, big band moment of having everyone onstage together. “Time and Time” again had been on the evening’s setlist, but it got unfortunately got cut and the encore ended with “Holiday in Spain,” which Duritz deemed as “our lullaby to you.”

Overall, the concert was filled with a lot of nostalgia, but all of the timeless hits made for a night of new memories you can’t forget.

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

0 Likes

categories / Reviews, Gigs, Photos
tags / Counting Crows, Dashboard Confessional, Live Show, Live Review, Live Recap, Ravinia Festival, Summer Concerts

PHOTOS: Temples with Post Animal at Metro

June 20, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

Temples and Post Animal kicked off the weekend with a performance at Metro on Friday, June 16th. Check out photos of the show below, and see where you can catch the tour next here.

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Photos
tags / Temples, Post Animal, Metro Chicago, Metro, Live Music, Concerts, Concert Photography

Live Recap: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Bring Their Residency Tour to Salt Shed

June 15, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

This past Sunday night, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard returned to Chicago for the first of their three-night sold-out residency here at the Salt Shed.

Despite it being nearly mid-June, the weather was unseasonably cold and windy, but that didn’t stop King Gizz’s dedicated fan base from coming out in droves. Amongst the jackets and beanies I saw walking into the Shed, I saw some folks wearing wizard hats and even someone rocking a lizard costume in homage to the band.

It’s been a few years since I last saw King Gizz here, and in that time they’ve released more albums than I can count on two hands, so I wasn’t sure which songs to expect on their set list. Many of the fans in attendance on Sunday night were planning on attending multiple nights of the tour (either in Chicago or elsewhere), but even they wouldn’t really know what to expect as KGWL has the tendency to change up their set from show to show.

On Sunday, the music kicked off with “Pleura” and “O.N.E.” from the 2021 album L.W. Just before launching into the third song of the evening, the band invited an audience member, whose name we learned was Seb, onto the stage to introduce the next song. Standing next to band members Joey Walker and Stu Mackenzie and their dual microphone stand, Seb commenced the performance of “Nuclear Fusion” by growling the song title in a similar fashion to what you can hear on the studio version. Seb’s short-but-sweet guest appearance got a raucous round of applause from the crowd.

From the jump, audience members began moshing and crowd surfing, but their energy only amplified when Mackenzie took a moment to thank everyone for coming out and braving the gnarly weather, adding “the best way to stay warm is to move your body.” Later on in their set, I stood on the Salt Shed’s balcony and got to take in the aerial view of the giant mosh pit, at one point even getting to witness a circle pit.

Throughout King Gizz’s two-hour set, they mixed in a lot of diverse musical styling and genres, but for the most part it swayed jam band-esque, which is fitting because the band jokingly dedicated one of their songs to John Mayer. Mayer was in town the same weekend for shows with Dead and Company, but if you ask me, I’d much prefer to watch “The Grateful Gizz” in concert! KGWL added texture to their live performance by peppering in flute (played by Mackenzie) and saxophone (played by Ambrose Kenny-Smith) on some of the songs. The evening closed out with a performance of “Boogieman Sam” from the 2019 album Fishing for Fishies.

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

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Photos, Reviews
tags / King Gizz, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Live Recap, Live Music, Salt Shed

Take the Moment and Taste It: A Live Recap of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour at Ford Field

June 13, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

Picture this; you’re standing in a sold out stadium surrounded by sparkling and sequined-out Swifities, getting ready to watch Taylor Swift perform an over-3-hour show—*record scratch, freeze-frame* You’re probably wondering how we got here. Cut to Taylor Swift sitting at the piano, mid-Evermore set, telling the audience about the many albums she released since her last tour and during quarantine (Lover, Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights). “People were like ‘Are you sure you want to put all these albums out? You won’t be able to tour on the individual album and there’s so many albums you’ve made and you haven’t been able to tour’ and I was like, I have a plan. It’s called The Eras Tour,” she told the crowd, revealing the mastermind scheme behind her current tour that started March 17th in Glendale, AZ and will wrap up the U.S leg on August 9th in Los Angeles, CA.

Rewinding the clock back a few hours, it’s around 5 PM on Saturday, June 10th and I’ve just arrived at Ford Field in Motown (aka Detroit) following a road trip from Chicago, where the Eras Tour had just stopped the previous week for three sold out shows. As I make my way into the stadium, I’m surrounded by a sea of fellow fans ready to witness the second and final night of Swift’s shows in Detroit. While I trek through the massive venue to my seat, I observe all of the stunning and clever outfits that the audience is sporting; there’s everything from elaborate hand-sewn costumes modeled off of some of Taylor’s iconic Grammy Awards show looks to jewel-coloured sequins in every hue to funny shirts that say “It’s me, hi, I’m the husband, it’s me” (which were being rocked by several supportive Swiftie hubbies). There was a mix of excitement and anxiety in the air, like the entire crowd was holding their breath until the show they’d been anticipating for more than six months would finally kick off. While fans anxiously awaited for the support acts to warm up the stage, many were either standing in the (very long) merch lines throughout the venue, or watching some of the behind-the-scenes footage from music video shoots that was being played on the stage’s screen.

Around 6:25 PM, the stadium lights dimmed and singer-songwriter OWENN took the stage. OWENN started off his entertainment career as a dancer and choreographer working with many well-known artists, including none-other than Taylor Swift herself when he danced with her on the 1989 and Reputation tours and starred in the “Lover” music video. Regardless of his rich history with Swift, OWENN quickly won over the audience during his short-but-sweet set while he played a handful of his songs, including “Baby Girl,” “Show Me,” and “Rest Of My Life.” Fans showed their appreciation by holding up their cell-phone lights and swaying during some of the songs. Before he left the stage, OWENN made sure to thank Taylor for having him on the tour, saying, “She could've chose anyone, but she chose me. I’m so thankful to Taylor.”

After a very quick turnaround time, Norwegian musician Marie Ulven Ringheim, better known as Girl in Red, came in hot, opening up her set with the song “You Stupid Bitch.” Many of the audience members stood up from their seats and joined Girl in Red by dancing and singing the words to the upbeat song. Ringheim primed the crowd for the rest of her performance, saying, “I was here last night and what I witnessed [from Taylor] was fucking fantastic. I’m gonna give you the 1% that I can do of her show.” Girl in Red’s set length might have only been a sliver of the stage time that Swift had, but I’d say she gave it a whole lot more than 1%-- Ringheim completely captivated the stadium, running around the massive stage as she performed songs like “Bad Idea” and “Serotonin.” In the latter track, Ringheim sings “I'm running low on serotonin,” but that statement couldn’t have been less true for everyone in attendance, based on the beaming smiles I saw around me. “It’s been a pleasure. I’m Girl in Red, thank you to my band, crew, and Taylor. She is the coolest person in the world and I can’t wait to see her show again,” Ringheim told the crowd to wrap up her performance.

At this point, the room swelled with palpable anticipation. During the final changeover before the main event, fans hurried to top up their refreshments or take pictures in front of the Eras Tour backdrop on the stage. Finally, the song “Applause” by Lady Gaga rang out through the house speakers and the screen onstage began to display a countdown clock that started at 2 minutes and 23 seconds. The clock ticked down second by second, in a moment that both felt like a lifetime and a quick blink of an eye, and fans screamed along with the final ten seconds.

And just like that, right before 7:55 PM, Swift’s dancers appeared onstage carrying a bouquet of pastel-colored parachutes while an introductory medley of her catalog played through the speakers. Donning a glistening bodysuit and matching boots, the singer emerged from behind the parachutes to sing out the opening lines of “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” as the start of her Lover portion of the show. Fittingly, the chorus of the track begins with the lyrics “It’s been a long time coming,” making it the perfect song to open a tour that’s been five years in the making. The set moved onto the hit “Cruel Summer” next, a song that everyone scream-sang along to– especially during the bridge. Leading up to that iconic moment of the song, Taylor told the audience, “Detroit, we have arrived! The very first bridge of the evening. Now what do we do when we arrive at a bridge such as this, Detroit? Oh, we scream it!” Throughout the show, Taylor’s musical performance was complemented by beautiful and often-complex visual aids that appeared both on the background screen and stage itself, but that wasn’t all that this show delivered. Taylor, as well as her dancing crew, often mixed in theatrical elements into the performance. A prime example of this was done before she performed the third song of the night, “The Man.” Swift told the audience that they were making her feel “very powerful” and like “I get to play a sold out show at Ford Field” as she kissed her biceps and slipped on a blazer, mimicking the power play that society often attributes towards men. In just these first few moments of the show, Swift’s movements were already creating a physical representation of her songwriting, a theme that continued throughout every era. During this first portion, fans also got to hear “You Need to Calm Down,” “The Archer,” and of course, the album’s title track. Before singing “Lover,” Swift gave a detailed thank you to her support acts, recalling her history with OWENN and telling everyone how much she loves Girl in Red’s last album. The additional details in her appreciation for the support is just one of the ways that Swift showcased the dedication and thoughtfulness she poured into this tour. While the tour dancers slow-danced around the stage, the audiences’ wristbands light up like glistening Christmas lights, almost like an homage to the song’s opening lyrics “We can leave the Christmas lights up til January.”

Taylor Swift performing “Lover” // Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management

To signify the transition into the next era, the stage backdrop displayed a golden rain shower to get the audience feeling fearless. During this seamless transition, Swift quickly changed her outfit backstage to one that was reminiscent of her look during the original Fearless timeframe in 2008 (we of course got Taylor’s version of the record in 2021). Swift performed the album’s title track to kick off this portion, playing the song on a silver gem-bedazzled acoustic guitar that matched her dress. The stage itself also coordinated with this theme– the graphics displayed the image of an acoustic guitar in the center of the stage floor. The 3-song Fearless era of the show also contained “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” both of which had the crowd scream-singing along.

Next, the timeline jumped all the way to 2020 for Evermore, the second album that Taylor released that year as a sort of sister album to Folklore. To signify the whimsical, witchy nature of this record, the visual transition displayed images of a dark forest. Swift performed “'tis the damn season” wearing an orange and gold dress, eventually adding on a winter-green cloak for the second song of this set, “willow.” The woodsy visual effects evolved throughout the Evermore moment, at some points casting the illusion of fire and at other times displaying snow-covered trees. No matter what was happening on the screen behind Taylor and her crew, the production elements were so well done that it left little to the fans’ imaginations– we were all able to experience the scenes that Taylor paints for us with her words right there on the stage. Most of the songs that Swift performed from Evermore have a toned-down, folksy mood that meant fans were just regularly singing along (and not scream-singing along). That is, until we got to the bridge of “champagne problems,” one of the album’s singles that Swift performed on a custom-decorated piano that fits with the forest aesthetic. Before we got back to the scream-singing part of the set, Taylor took a break to talk to the audience again, letting us know she was recovering from a “tiny cold” and recalling the very first time she performed at Ford Field, back in 2006 when she sang the National Anthem before a Detroit Lions game. Despite still recovering from that cold, Swift’s vocals sounded strong and stunning throughout the show, even during the more vulnerable moments like her piano performances. Back to “champagne problems,” the audience gave the bridge of that song their all, yelling the lyrics “‘She would've made such a lovely bride/What a shame she's fucked in the head,’ they said” back to Taylor. The enthusiasm of the crowd in that moment didn’t go unnoticed; after finishing the song, Swift surveyed the room with tearful eyes filled with gratitude. The moment of gratitude was met with the audience chanting “Taylor!” to which the singer said “You guys are such nice people, thank you so much.”

Taylor Swift in her Evermore Era// Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management

The Evermore set ended with a dramatic performance of the ballad “tolerate it” before moving into what I consider to be the most epic transition of the night. To signify the jump to 2017 for the Reputation album, flashes of a hissing snake appeared on the stage’s screen, while sounds of echoing high-heel clacks poured out of the speakers. Not only is Reputation a highly-adored album in the fanbase, but the shift into these songs also meant an uptick in the overall tempo of the music from the previous set, and you could feel the audience’s excitement to pick up the pace. The set kicked off with the album’s opening track “...Ready For It?” which the crowd loudly confirmed they were, in fact, ready for it with overbearing screams. Taylor launched into the quick-tempoed first verse of the song and the hype built up even more. Next up in this era, Swift performed one of my all-time favorites “Delicate.” It’s become a tradition for fans to yell “1,2,3 let’s go bitch!” right after the introduction of the song before the first main verse, and Taylor fed into that tradition by counting up to 3 with her hand ahead of the chant. Other highlights of the Rep set included the pinnacle of “Don’t Blame Me,” when Swift hits her signature high note (again, while being ill!) and the bridge of the ultimate revenge track “Look What You Made Me Do.”

“In my *Reputation* Era”/ Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management

The high-energy bled into the quickest of all of the eras sets, Speak Now, which was solely represented by the song “Enchanted.” Despite being only one-song, this moment was still pivotal in the performance. The lyrics “This night is sparkling, don't you let it go” pretty much sum up the magic of this Eras tour. Also, Speak Now was originally released in 2010, but Taylor announced during her show in Nashville earlier in the tour that the Taylor’s Version of the record will be released on July 7, 2023, so there may be more of this album showcased during the last leg of the tour following the re-release.

Speaking of re-releases, the next segment of the show took us back to 2012 if we’re talking about the original…But if we’re talking Taylor’s Version, the timeline takes us to November of 2021, when Taylor blessed us with her special re-recorded version of Red, including a few “From The Vault” tracks. This era was introduced to us with one of the dancers entering a silent stage, breaking up the stillness by opening up a red box that played clips of the hits from Red that were not included in the set that followed. The main performance kicked off with Taylor, alongside her dancers, taking the stage wearing a top hat and sequin shirt that read “Who’s Taylor Swift Anyways? Ew.” to poke fun of some of the hate comments she’d received online during the Red timeframe. Another huge tradition of this Eras tour is that every night, Taylor’s team handpicks a lucky fan to stand at the end of the stage’s runway while she sings “22,” and at the end of the song, Swift kneels down to gift her hat to the chosen fan. For the performances of the hits “We Are Never Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” Swift also ditched the shirt to sport a red and black romper to coordinate with the album’s colors. The audiences’ wristbands also flashed red throughout these songs to tie into the color coordination. The pinnacle of this portion happened during the 10-minute version of “All To Well,” which was one of the “From The Vault” versions of the re-release. I’m not exaggerating when I say singing along to every single lyric of this song was just as cathartic as an hour-long therapy session. During “All Too Well,” confetti was shot into the stadium to represent the “Autumn leaves fallin' down like pieces into place” and “the first fall of snow,” which added a multi-sensory element to the theatrical touches of the performance.

The cathartic moment of “All Too Well” // Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management

With everyone’s emotions still at a peak, the show journeyed into the Folklore phase, bringing us back to the first quarantine album that Taylor released in 2020. A spoken word version of the song “Seven” eased us into the cozy cabin that contains these songs (figuratively and literally because the new stage set up included a full-size A-frame cabin). Swift made her entrance to this portion laying on the roof of the aforementioned cabin, draped in an off- white, flowy gown to sing the album’s opening track “the 1,” a song that was co-written and produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. Following the introductory song, Taylor moved into the cabin saying “we have brought the Folklore cabin to Detroit.” She further elaborated on the significance that the cabin plays in the world of these songs, saying, “I started writing Folklore about two days into the pandemic. Folklore was a state of mind for me. I could escape to this forest in the middle of the woods. It became this imaginary vacation spot.” This mental vacation also represented a departure from the very personal method that Taylor traditionally writes, as these songs saw her telling stories from the point of view of fictionalized characters…such as Betty, Inez and James from the song “Betty,” which was performed next.

With a total of seven songs from Folklore’s sixteen-song tracklist performed, that makes it one of the most represented albums on this tour. This era was also one of the most emotional of the night, with most of the songs performed in a dramatic and passionate fashion by both Taylor and the dancers. Just as the writing of these songs provided an escape from the quarantine-reality that Swift experienced, the performance of them breathed life into that concept of escapism and it truly felt like we dropped into a fictional world while experiencing songs like “my tears ricochet,” “august” and “cardigan.”

The *Folklore* forest /Photo by Rachel Zyzda

As sudden as a snap of fingers, the audience was transported into the world of 1989 (the album, not the year). Taylor and her dancers brought us back to the year 2014 when she transitioned into a more pop-centric sound with iconic hits such as “Style” and “Shake It Off.” Swift performed all of these songs while decked out in an orange, sparkling two piece set and matching booties. During “Blank Space,” her dancers acted out smashing a car that appeared on the stage screen with golf clubs, an homage to the song’s music video. During “Shake It Off,” there wasn’t a single person in the 60,000-capacity stadium not singing and shaking along.

Now, the 1989 set technically wrapped up with Taylor singing “Bad Blood,” but fans were graced with one final song from that album during the acoustic stint of the evening. At every show on this tour, Taylor sings two “surprise songs” that are not included in the main portion of the setlist, and she rotates the song selection every single night. Swift sings the first of the surprise songs on acoustic guitar, before moving over to a piano set up at the end of the stage’s catwalk, and the song performed on guitar ended up being “All You Had To Do Was Stay.” Taylor introduced the track from 1989 by saying “I really don’t think I’ve ever played this song acoustic, but I love this song so much. It’s interesting cause it has this like really loud, really high sound in it” before demonstrating the signature falsetto “stay” she sings in the chorus, which instantly caused the room to dissolve into deafening screams. For the second surprise song, Taylor dove into it without any warning or introduction, which caused my heart to leap into my throat with excitement because it was one of my top three favorite songs of her’s. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the full-body goosebumps I felt hearing her sing “Breathe” from her album Fearless, which is a song that single-handedly helped me survive my first ever heartbreak.

Taylor Swift performing “Breathe.” /Photo by Rachel Zyzda

I know I mentioned earlier that the Reputation era had the most iconic transition, but I have to amend that statement to say it tied with the next transition; As Taylor got up from the piano at the end of the stage, an opening appeared on the stage floor for her to dive into. After she dives, a graphic of her swimming up to the other end of the stage appears. When Taylor returns to the stage, she’s sporting a fuzzy lavender jacket in homage to “Lavender Haze,” the first track on her most recent album, Midnights. Unbelievably, we’ve reached the three-hour mark of the show at this point, and we’ve entered the final Era of the evening. The experience both felt like it had lasted ages and had gone by in a flash.

Last, but certainly not least, the Midnights era ended the evening on an all-time high– everything from the costumes, the production elements, the dancing, and Taylor’s singing were as dazzling as the jeweled-colored lights of the audiences’ wristbands during “Bejeweled.” Just about every song performed from Midnights saw Taylor making a swift (sorry, that was too cheesy) costume transition, including the switch into a midnight blue one-piece for “Midnight Rain” that Taylor changed into under the umbrellas of her dancers. In the ultimate bittersweet moment, the show concluded with the performance of “Karma,” which featured all of the performers draped in neon-colored, glittering fringe jackets dancing under a rainstorm of confetti. The grand finale also featured toned-down “fireworks” that were essentially sparkly pyrotechnics because Ford Field is an enclosed space (which means no real fireworks!)

“Lately, I’ve been dressing for revenge”// Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management

At the end of the theatrical, emotional and extraordinary performance I felt an overwhelming sense of awe, quickly followed by a bout of exhaustion. So many concert-goers who have had the opportunity to witness this once-in-a-lifetime tour have said they felt “hungover” afterwards, despite not drinking. This shared sentiment from the attendees is enough to keep me forever astounded by Taylor Swift’s accomplishments as a musician and entertainer because she’s able to repeat this spectacle night after night. It’s obvious that a tour this massive has a huge team behind it; From the dancers, to the production crew, to the live band, there are countless people putting their blood, sweat and tears into this show, but Taylor Swift acts as the true North Star of the performance, anchoring each and every one of the moving pieces.

The albums and songs that make up the Eras Tour setlist have all acted as a soundtrack to my life during different chapters of it, and I’m so grateful that this concert is now another cherished memory that will perpetually be tied to these songs. As a society, I think we can tend to underestimate the value of pop music, but after the dedication and sheer athleticism that Taylor Swift has displayed throughout the course of this tour and her phenomenal performances, she continues to prove just how impactful pop music can be.

I will admit that I’m slightly biased as an established Swiftie, but I truly believe that the Eras Tour is the performance of the century– unless of course Taylor eventually tops herself.

Tune into the tour setlist below, and see where you can catch the Eras Tour next here.

7 Likes

categories / Reviews, Gigs, Photos, Music
tags / Taylor Swift, Eras Tour, Ford Field, Live Music, Live Recap, Concert Review, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights, Fearless, Red, Reputation, 1989, Girl In Red, OWENN, Stadium Tour, Swifties

Live Recap: Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Sasami at Northerly Island

June 04, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sasami kicked off June with a show at Northerly Island in Chicago this past Thursday night.

With the sun still shining and the Chicago skyline in the background, Sasami and her band took the stage to warm up the crowd for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sasami quickly ramped up the energy throughout the venue with her animated stage presence, dancing and between-song banter as she performed some songs from her 2022 album entitled Squeeze. At one point in her set, Sasami joked she was playing a new song called “Chicago Ate My Asshole”— which obviously got a lot of cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Fans continued to file into the outdoor venue, and eventually it was time for Yeah Yeah Yeahs to hit the stage. With the lights dim, the band members made their way onstage as strobing lights sent out small bursts of lighting before fully illuminating lead singer Karen O and her shimmering attire. The band opened the show up with the cinematic single “Spitting Off The Edge of the World” from their 2022 album Cool It Down before moving into the more tenured track “Cheated Hearts.”

“We’re gonna fucking party like it’s Thursday Night,” Karen O told the crowd early on in the set; a statement that was met with loud cheers and dancing from the packed audience. The singer also shared that she recently recovered from “the plague” so her voice might crack a little, but her energy and vocals remained resilient throughout the entire show.

The only time the energy mellowed out was when Karen O mentioned they were going to slow it down a bit to play “Lovebomb,” another newer song their last album. The band perfectly transitioned out of the song into the adored and familiar introduction to their hit “Maps,” which received an immediate eruption in screams from the audience. The energy continued to climb for the last portion of the show, with everyone dancing to “Heads Will Roll” to close out the main part of the set. The night fully wrapped with a 3- song encore, all of which were featured on 2003’s Fever To Tell album.

Check out photos from the evening below, and see where you can catch Yeah Yeah Yeahs on tour next here.

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs
tags / Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sasami, Photo recap, Live Review, Live Show, Live Nation, Northerly Island

PHOTOS: Future Islands and Deeper at Salt Shed

May 24, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

This past Sunday, Future Islands hit the Salt Shed stage for an incredible show, accompanied by Deeper. If you missed out on the show, check out photos from the evening below and see where you can catch the tour next here.

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Photos
tags / Future Islands, Salt Shed, Deeper, Photo recap, Photo Gallery, Concert Photography

Live Recap: MUNA with Nova Twins at Salt Shed

May 19, 2023 / Rachel Zyzda

This past Tuesday night, fans gathered to catch a sold out show from MUNA, with support from Nova Twins at the Salt Shed.

I entered the shed very familiar with MUNA, having been a (number one) fan for years now, but I went into the Nova Twins’ set completely cold. It didn’t take long at all for the duo of Amy Love and Georgia South to warm me up and win me over—it was somewhere between their wildly energetic entrance to the stage, their encouragement of the audience to declare “I’m a boss bitch!” (as they sing in the chorus of their song “Cleopatra”) and Love’s request for the crowd to “open up the twerk pit” (rather than mosh pit) that I decided Nova Twins is one of my new favorites. The cheers from the audience and the smiles I saw on everyone’s faces confirmed I was not alone in my newfound admiration for the duo. Their 40-minute set contained plenty of songs from their 2022 album entitled Supernova and was chock-full of ear-splitting guitar riffs and booming bass lines.

With the crowd primed and ready now, MUNA took the stage right around 9PM. As the band launched into their hit “What I Want,” vocalist Katie Gavin abruptly stopped the song only about 30 seconds in, to call out that someone in the audience appeared to need medical assistance. Once the fallen fan received help, Gavin and her bandmates Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson, decided to leave the stage, restarting the set completely from the top so that everyone got to experience their full introduction. The sold out crowd remained rowdy throughout the show, but thanks to an overwhelming sense of camaraderie and a reminder from Gavin to look out for each other, the show carried on with only good vibes and no more incidents.

Following a whirlwind of bangers like “Number One Fan” and “Stayaway,” MUNA mellowed out the tempo slightly for songs like “Loose Garment” and “Winterbreak,” the latter of which Gavin picked up an acoustic guitar to add some richness to the arrangement. For the majority of the show, Gavin sang and danced freely across the stage, only staying stationary for the few songs she played acoustic guitar on. The energy remained high throughout the show, though, with plenty of banter and movement from Maskin and McPherson as well. Things got even rowdier during MUNA’s performance of “Anything But Me” when the band threw out horse figurines for the crowd to toss around.

In the blink of an eye it seemed, the show began to wind down and MUNA left the stage to immediate requests for an encore. The trio kept the magic going with their song “I Know a Place,” in which Gavin sings about a place where you can go, let down your walls and truly be yourself— AKA, every MUNA concert ever. For one last hoorah of the night, Nova Twins graced the stage again to join in on singing “Silk Chiffon.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, MUNA fans are some of the most accepting and joyous people you’ll ever meet, so if you get the chance to attend one of their shows, don’t miss out on the wonderful experience.

If you missed the show, check out the full gallery below, and see where you can catch the tour next here.