Photo by: Wallo Villacorta
Over the weekend I went on a binge of shows. Thursday through Sunday I was at a Chicago venue checking out some good music. Here is a recap/review of the shows I attended…
Thursday - Big Smith @ Schuba’s
“Neo-hillbilly’s”, Big Smith truly embrace the Ozarkian culture, playing an organic mix of Bluegrass, Americana and roots folk. Fellow Ozarkian’s, Ha Ha Tonka, cover their hoedown anthem, ‘12″ 3-Speed Oscillating Fan’. Their presence and their music made we wish we were all sitting on a big wood porch, passing some moonshine, dancing our boots off.
Friday - Death Cab for Cutie @ The Riviera
As mentioned before, I have been through bouts of Death Cab addiction and though I haven’t been listening to them much as of late, to see them live has been a priority of mine. I was pretty bummed when they announced their fall tour with the closest stop to Chicago being 150 miles away on a Sunday night. This would prove to be false! Death Cab had indeed scheduled a show in Chicago, not open to the general public, but to Northwestern University students. Thanks to a good friend, I found my way into the show and gratefully so! The audience proved to be a factor during the first half of the show, chatting away about Johnny fucking Suzy, at times towering the sounds of the band. Death Cab kept with the high energy, eventually seizing the audience and silencing the chatter. Front man, Ben Gibbard, has recently ditched the black frames and about 40 pounds and taken on the roll of big-chops rock star. Ben and crew had a lively stage presence and turn it up on every tune. The night ended with the climactic “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, topping off one hell of a show. Check these guys out live asap.
Saturday - The Whigs & The Kooks @ The Riviera
The Whigs fucking rock. I have been following this band for years, seeing them in front of some pretty small crowds. Wasn’t sure how they would handle a bigger crowd, but they tested to be well suited for the match, melting faces with their fiery Southern 90’s rock. Lead singer, Parker Gispert, gets raunchier with every show I see them. As for brit-pop rockers The Kooks, the lead singer was wearing a white turtle neck. Enough said.
Sunday - Pinback @ Bottom Lounge
Needless to say I was worn thin by Sunday evening. I had hopes of going to the Fleet Foxes show at Metro, but that was sold out. Great thing about Chicago is on any given day, there are plenty of good shows happening around town. The new Bottom Lounge opened about 5 months ago and I had yet to see a show there. My friend’s brother happened to be Pinback’s touring sound guy and they were playing Bottom Lounge, for one of the bigger shows to date for the relatively young venue. I was turned on to Pinback’s most recent album, Autumn for Seraphs, earlier this year. This album is a collection of tightly grooved indie rock that adds a bit of a bounce to your step. I have been really digging this album and was excited to see how it translates to a live show. Bassist, Zach Smith, has an interesting style, playing chordal bass parts rather than your typical bass grooves. Smith and lead singer/guitarist Rob Crow compliment each others styles with very square structured parts and firm songwriting. Unfortunately my wick had burned down and I had to leave about half way through the show. Pinback are great live, but check out their albums first, they have been around for 10 years and have a lot of material, most of which I am not too familiar with.
Next stop, The Warfield in San Francisco to see Kings of Leon this Friday…
