PHOTOS: Mr. Fantasy at Bottom Lounge
The sensational Mr. Fantasy brought his debut album Fantasyland to life onstage at Bottom Lounge on Thursday, July 23rd—closing out his inaugural tour, aptly called the “Sexy Little Tour.” The show featured his self-titled viral hit “Mr. Fantasy,” along with several of his other groovy tunes like “Only Girl” and “Catapult.” Fans donned disco-themed outfits (similar to the one Mr. Fantasy sported) and danced along with the star throughout his hour-long set. See photos of the performance below, and be sure to follow along with England’s finest here.
PHOTOS: Jeff Rosenstock with Beach Bunny at Metro
Jeff Rosenstock and his live band (AKA Death Rosenstock) have taken over the legendary Metro in Chicago for a whopping 9-night residency. Each night has featured a different support act, ranging from Mustard Plug to Beach Bunny—with Dan Andriano (of Alkaline Trio) and Sidney Gish still to come during the remaining nights. You can nab tickets for just $25 for the final night here, and check out photos from Wednesday night with Beach Bunny below.
Outside Lands Music Festival 2026
Outside Lands Music Festival returns to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco from August 7th-9th. ANCHR will be onsite at the fest, so stay tuned for our thoughts on the must-see sets and key takeaways from the festival weekend. Tickets are sold out but you can sign up for the wait list on the site also check out their night shows after the festival.
Live Recap: James Blake at The Salt Shed; Great Times at the Trying Times Tour
James Blake returned to Chicago on Monday, June 8th, bringing his Trying Times Tour to the Salt Shed stage.
Backed by a live band, Blake took the stage just before 9PM— fittingly kicking off his show with the first song from Trying Times, entitled “Walk Out Music.”
The setlist featured a mix of the newer material from the aforementioned album and fan favorites from deeper in Blake’s discography, but no matter what he and the band played, his incredible vocals remained a consistent force throughout the night. Blake alternated between being stationed at his keyboard in the middle of the stage, wandering the stage instrument-free and occasionally playing guitar. “Don’t get too excited. I’ve got four chords,” Blake told the audience when he picked up the guitar to play “Make Something Up” from the new record. During the quieter and raw moments when it was just him and the piano, Blake’s vocals had a spotlight on them, but they never once wavered. It’s incredible to witness how Blake covers iconic songs like “Godspeed” by Frank Ocean and “A Case Of You” by Joni Mitchell and completely makes them his own. During the live performances of both of these tracks, the room remained so transfixed on the singer’s performance that you could hear a pin drop.
Of course, there were also crescendoing moments that contrasted with the softer songs. Take “Limit To Your Love”— another cover (this one by Feist)— or “Doesn’t Just Happen” for example. The bass was so visceral during those songs that you could physically feel it in your chest, even standing in the balcony of The Salt Shed. Blake also encouraged the crowd to sing along early on in the show. Before playing “I Had a Dream She Took My Hand,” Blake told the crowd “I don’t know who spread the rumor about me, but I actually love it when people sing along at my shows”— alluding to the rumor that he doesn’t like audience sing alongs.
Blake also took a few moments to get vulnerable with his fans during a few different moments in the set. Before playing the title track of his newest record, he told the crowd about how special the album was to him. “Every artist says that about every album they put out so that doesn’t really mean anything. But it was a rough time, it was trying times. This is the song that really cemented it, it’s called ‘Trying Times.’” He also opened up about his venture into being an independent artist, before he played his first song he released independently, “Thrown Around.”
One other aspect of the show that I appreciated as a fan was that James Blake didn’t have any elaborate production rigs for his show. This allowed us as the fans to really connect with his pure talent and focus on the music rather than any shiny distraction tactics. Blake also addressed that decision, telling the crowd, “I don’t normally play venues this big. I hope it’s alright there’s not a screen behind me showing my face at all times. It’s a vanity decision, and a cost one as well.” He further drove the point of connecting directly with the fans following that up by saying, “I’m gonna play a song now that means a lot to me, and I hope you’ll sing along”—and everyone obliged to sing along to “I’ll Come Too.”
The show wrapped up with a 3-song encore, including the beloved single “Retrograde” and the aforementioned Joni Mitchell cover, before ultimately wrapping up with “Say What You Will.”
Check out photos of the Chicago show below, and see where you can catch James Blake on tour next here.
PHOTOS: Bleachers Forever at Salt Shed
Live Recap: Kevin Morby's Back in Chicago and We're Feeling It
On Tuesday, June 2nd, Kevin Morby returned to Chicago to play a sold out show in support of his new album Little Wide Open. While he’s performed in the city many times in the past, this was his first time on the legendary Metro stage.
After an opening set from Chicago’s own Liam Kazar that got the crowd warmed up and feeling good, Morby and his bandmates made their way onto a stage that had been decked out in cheery sunflowers as a callback to the cover art for Little Wide Open. Amongst the live band members was Kazar, pulling double duty for not only this show, but the entirety of the tour. Kazar was joined by Cochemea Gastelum, Cole Berggren, Camellia Hartman and Dom Billet to bring Morby’s songs to life.
Donning glitter on his cheeks and a customized denim-on-denim ensemble that featured painted-on artwork related to the singer (like the sunflowers from the album cover or the Kansas City logo as a nod to his hometown), Morby launched into the set with “Natural Disaster” from his latest album. The first several songs on the setlist leaned heavily into the new material, including the singles “100,000” and “Die Young,” but Morby told the crowd that he and the band were going to play some classics before they transitioned into his earlier music.
After playing “This Is A Photograph,” Morby took some time to address the packed audience. “I’ve been hearing about this venue for so long. I’ve never been in this venue, never even seen a show here. I’ve always wanted to come—thank you all so much for coming tonight. It means the world! It’s an honor to be up here.” Sitting on one of the amps on stage, the singer started to riff the chorus to Djo’s “End of Beginning,” singing “And when I’m back in Chic—just kidding, this song is called ‘Five Easy Pieces'.’” The moment got a good chuckle from the crowd, but personally I’d love to hear a full cover of the tune by Kevin Morby! The momentum of the night only continued to soar during that song, with Morby meandering around the stage, sans guitar, and eventually making his way offstage and down to the barricade to sing face-to-face with fans in the front.
Throughout the night, we were treated to several extended jams of the songs being performed, allowing us to relish in the magnitude of talent of each of the musicians onstage. For example, Gastelum played the flute and saxophone on different songs, and Hartman played violin in addition to the keys and backing vocals, really giving a rich depth to the live performance of these songs.
The sold-out crowd was also delighted by a one-off rendition of Morby’s “Bittersweet, TN”—which was done as a duet with Erin Rae on the album. However, during his Metro show, Morby explained that he’s invited a friend from each city on the tour to perform a song with the band every night. “They’re one of my favorite songwriters ever, I’ve known this person for over 20 years and truly, one of my favorite songwriters in the world,” he said as he introduced Alynda Segarra from Hurray for the Riff Raff to join him for the live duet.
Another special Chicago-only moment during the show came just before the last (pre-encore) song of the night. Prior to playing “Coat Of Butterflies,” Morby told the audience that he got really into Jeff Buckley when working on his 2022 album This Is A Photograph, so it was only fitting that he dedicate a song to Buckley in the venue where Buckley’s “Live in Chicago” performance was filmed—way back in 1995. “I was writing in Memphis and I became obsessed with the man. I wrote this song about him, so we don’t usually play this one, but we’re gonna play it tonight! This one’s to Jeff Buckley,” he told the crowd.
The band left the stage after that song to demands for an encore, and we didn’t have to wait long for a return to the stage. The set officially concluded with a 2-song encore featuring “Beautiful Strangers” and “Dorothy.”
By the end of it, Morby and his bandmates played for over 90-minutes, and the Metro audience loved every second of it. Besides the sunflowers on stage, there really wasn’t any fancy production elements to the show, but Kevin Morby and his band are such talented musicians that they don’t need any bells and whistles to put on a phenomenal show. The tour continues throughout North America this month, before heading across the pond to Europe— grab your tickets here and see photos of the Metro performance below.
PHOTOS: Warm Love Cool Dreams 2026
Warm Love Cool Dreams Festival returned over Memorial Day weekend at The Salt Shed. Check out photos from Day 2 of the fest, featuring Tobacco City, Being Dead, Moin, Toro Y Moi, Whitney and Courtney Barnett below.
Riot Fest 2026 Lineup Announced
Riot Fest announced their lineup today, including headliners of Tool, Twenty One Pilots, Pierce the Veil, and Alanis Morissette. Aside from the headliners, we’re looking forward to catching many more of these bands including The Format, Twin Peak, Pup, The Beths, The Chats.
See the full lineup below, and be sure to snag your tickets here. Riot Fest takes place in Douglass Park from September 18-20th.
The Top 10 Takeaways from Twin Peaks' Thalia Hall Takeover
On Thursday, May 14th, Chicago’s own Twin Peaks made their triumphant return to the Thalia Hall stage to begin their resurrection residency—which at the time was slated to be an 8-night straight run, but ended up extending to 9 nights. Prior to the return, the last time that the full band had performed all together onstage in Chicago was on November 30th, 2019 at the Empty Bottle. The pandemic put live music on hold for some time, but even with it back up and running, Twin Peaks remained unheard from. While the five members of the band (Cadien Lake James, Clay Frankel, Jack Dolan, Colin Croom, and Connor Brodner) have all explored other creative and musical endeavors during this time, there was still a void left in the Chicago music scene without having them back as a unit.
I was lucky enough to attend 6 of the 9 comeback shows, and after I got home on the first night, I made an Instagram post of some clips from the concert and referenced an Andy Bernard quote from The Office, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them." Again, this isn’t to say the Chicago music scene hasn’t still thrived while Twin Peaks was on hiatus, but the 9-day residency, which I’ve deemed “Peaks Week Plus,” felt like a return to the good old days.
Whether you were one of the fans who attended every single night, one of the shows, or watched the live stream from afar, we can all agree that this stretch of sold-out shows was magical and a much deserved welcome back to the band. Reflecting back on the experience, I put together my top 10 takeaways and highlights from the week.
#1: Getting The Band Back Together is the Move
Obviously this week-plus span of shows highlighted that Twin Peaks is beloved by Chicagoans and fans globally, so it was great to have Cadien, Clay, Colin, Connor, and Jack back as a full crew, but this residency included a few other special reunions to mark the monumental occasion. On the first night of the run, another cherished Chicago act NE-HI reunited to open up the show. Fronted by Jason Balla (also of Dehd and Accessory), NE-HI released their farewell EP called X Y Z nearly 7 years ago to the day, on May 8th, 2019. I wish that I could have bottled up the feeling of the excitement and buzz in the room when they opened up the show at Thalia Hall with their song “Since I’ve Been Thinking.” The song begins with the lyrics “It’s been awhile,” and while it has been about 9 years since NE-HI opened for Twin Peaks during their NYE run at Thalia Hall back in 2017, it felt like we had all time traveled back to that moment. It felt like being back at home after a long time away.
Speaking of homecomings, we also got the first full-band performance from Pool Holograph in four years on Saturday, May 16th. Pool Holograph was founded in Chicago, but since frontman Wyatt Grant relocated to Asheville, NC in 2020, the project has mostly continued with solo performances from Grant. While it’s unclear if the NE-HI reunion was a one-night only occasion, Pool Holograph has confirmed there’s a lot more from them in the works. They released their new single “Melody Cage” last week from the upcoming record called Evergreen Arcade, and hopefully we can expect some more full-band shows in the pipeline.
Last but not least, we also witnessed a reunion of the OG Post Animal lineup on Thursday, May 21st— more on that later.
Twin Peaks performing on Saturday, May 16.
#2: Wyatt Grant and Drew Ryan Prove that Analog Art Does it Best
In addition to opening up the show on Saturday with his band Pool Holograph, Wyatt Grant also partnered up with fellow artist Drew Ryan to produce live art projections during the entire string of performances. Stationed at the back of the venue’s main floor, the duo projected in-the-moment art backdrops each night that correlated to every song on the setlist. For example, during the song “Butterfly,” they showcased different images of butterflies on the stage backdrop, and they switched up the images depending on the night. During other songs, they used a variation of other creative techniques— Ryan would put up real-time rubber stamps of various images and phrase, and Grant would swirl around colorful glitter in a bowl of water to make for an iridescent display. On the last night, which was dubbed “The Angel’s Share,” the pair projected angel cut-outs that included the letters of “Twin Peaks.”
As someone who has been feeling very AI-fatigued lately, it was so refreshing to see visual artists crafting these brilliant and unique displays on the spot each night, and continuing to change it up as the setlist varied. Moments like these are a reminder of why we need to keep the human element of creativity.
Drew Ryan and Wyatt Grant in their projection “booth” during the song “Making Breakfast.”
#3: Just Because You’re in Your 30s Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Rock
The members of Twin Peaks started playing together as teenagers, but now that they’re in their 30s, they still rock just as hard. Not only were they able to maintain their lively stage presence as they played 9 consecutive sold-out shows without a single night off in between, but their energy seemed to ramp up as the residency continued. They played a double set on the finale night that included a whopping 40-songs! Through it all, Cadien Lake James kept up with his signature head banging for nearly the full 90-minute sets. He could teach a masterclass in neck strength and stretching because whatever he does to keep up that fluidity and mobility needs to be studied! Here’s to Twin Peaks following in Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ footsteps and continuing to rock until they’re 80.
On a personal note, I also spent the most time in the pit than I have in years at these shows. As a concert photographer, I so often go to shows with my camera as my security blanket— I shoot the first three songs from the photo pit, then go hang out in the back of the balcony away from the thick of the crowd. By going to some of these shows without my camera, I got to experience being back to my roots in the midst of it all as an admirer of live music. I even crowd surfed every night that I attended with the exception of Saturday, which is something I hadn’t done in about 5 years. There’s just something about the Twin Peaks pit that pulls you in like a magnetic force. If crowdsurfing were an art form, then consider Twin Peaks my Yoko Ono.
Twin Peaks performing on Friday, May 22nd- featuring one of the many crowd surfers
#4: We Will Not Make It, Not Without You
Speaking of being in the pit, the sense of mosh pit hospitality at these shows was some of the best I’ve ever seen. Fans worked together to keep one another safe and comfortable during the show, lifting each other up to surf and doing their best to make sure no one fell down. If they did, they picked each other up. I also have to give a huge shout out to the security at Thalia Hall, especially those who worked behind the barricade, catching audience members as they crowd surfed to the front.
Aside from the sense of safety during the shows, there was also a sense of natural camaraderie that permeated throughout the venue each night. I saw a lot of my current friends at these shows, reunited with familiar faces I haven’t seen in years, and met new folks by chatting with them about their fellow admiration of Twin Peaks. Several of the new people I met had traveled in from out of town to witness the occasion, but it felt like we were all at home together once the band hit the stage.
The pit in action on Friday, May 22nd.
#5: That Stars Hallow Small-Town Feel in Chicago
The camaraderie between fans wasn’t the only bond present during these shows. Even though Chicago is a massive city, and a lot of people attended these shows, there was an air of small town familiarity. Think fictional towns like Stars Hollow and Tree Hill—or dare I say, even Twin Peaks— where all the characters are interwoven together one way or another.
The five core members of Twin Peaks exuded chemistry onstage that comes from their decades of friendship outside of making music together, but they also had an array of talented friends joining them each night. Every night, the band was joined by Justin Vittori on backup percussion, as well as Sima Cunningham, V.V. Lightbody, and Sofia Jensen on background vocals (and flute from V.V. Lightbody).
Similarly to how we saw Wyatt Grant of Pool Holograph pulling double duty of visual artist and opening band on Saturday night, we got to see V.V. Lightbody open the show on Tuesday, May 19th and Sofia Jensen play with her project Free Range on Monday, May 18th. We also saw Finn Wolfhard join the band for backing vocals on “Butterfly” and “What Up Dawg” on the finale night, and he opened up the show on Wednesday, May 20th. Wolfhard was also spotted crowdsurfing various nights of the week.
Aside from the outrageously talented friends who double-dipped some nights, Twin Peaks made sure to spotlight other local talent by having a different band support them each night. Additional support included NE-HI, Lifeguard, Neptune’s Core, and Post Animal.
Finn Wolfhard and James Swanberg performing “What Up Dawg” along with Twin Peaks.
#6: “Our Friend Jeff”
While we’re on the subject of local legends, Twin Peaks brought out “our friend Jeff,” as in the legendary Jeff Tweedy, during the encore portion of their show on Tuesday, May 19th.
Tweedy joined the band on guitar and guest vocals to perform a cover of the Faces song “Glad and Sorry” as well as a version of his own band Wilco’s song “Spiders (Kidsmoke).”
Going back to the small-town feel of the Chicago music community, it was very special to witness the cross-generational Chicago greatness during this live collaboration. The Monday and Tuesday night shows were also live streamed, so fans across the globe were able to join in on this moment if they had a live-stream ticket.
Jeff Tweedy joining Twin Peaks for “Glad and Sorry.”
#7: The Most Epic Live Version of “Dirtpicker”
My favorite thing about live music is that no two performances are ever exactly the same. Even if a performer miraculously manages to hit all the same notes in exactly the same way every time, the audience members can shift the vibes and the tone of a performance just as much.
Well on Thursday, May 21st, Post Animal delivered the most epic live version of their song “Dirtpicker” and the audience reaction only amplified the experience. As I alluded to earlier, the original six members of Post Animal reunited for their opening set, with Joe Keery joining his bandmates Dalton Allison, Matt Williams, Jake Hirshland, Wes Toledo, and Javi Reyes onstage to perform “Last Goodbye” and the aforementioned “Dirtpicker.” For the epic conclusion of their set that night, Post Animal was also joined by Cadien Lake James and Finn Wolfhard for some backup shredding on guitar, as well as Justin Vittori on percussion. The crowd went wild for the supergroup, and Jake Hirshland stage dove into the crowd during the song.
Post Animal joined by Cadien Lake James, Finn Wolfhard and Justin Vittori.
#8: Setlist Shuffles, including Sunken Sunday
Along with guest appearances that made for one-off live versions of fan-favorite tunes, Twin Peaks also made sure to spice up the show each night by shuffling around their setlists. They had a core group on songs that made the cut nearly every time, if not every show, like “Butterfly,” “Shake Your Lonely” and “Walk To The One You Love,” but they always made sure to shuffle the order around to keep the audience members on their toes.
They also sprinkled in some rarities and deeper cuts on occasion. These shows were a comeback from hiatus as well as a celebration of the 10-year anniversary of their album Down in Heaven, but that didn’t stop them from showcasing work from the entirety of their discography, including the 2013 album Sunken. On Sunday, May 17th—better known as “Sunken Sunday,” the band closed out their set by performing the 8-song album in full, featuring fan favorites like “Baby Blue” and “Boomers.”
#9: The Angel’s Share
On Wednesday, May 20th, Twin Peaks announced they’d be extending their Thalia Hall takeover for one final night on Friday, May 22nd. They deemed the night “The Angel’s share” and announced that they’d be playing two full sets without a support act. In the Instagram post that made the announcement, the band wrote “Inspired by our friend Ben @kramerkramer , the concept of an Angel’s share, is that he who helps with the task should enjoy a reward. ‘In practice with the dudes: if you came to the grocery store with me to grab provisions, not only did you help set the menu, but you got an Angel’s share - a candy bar, a bag of chips - something that was yours, not the group’s. A small, important motivation.’ This is our Angel’s Share for you, Chicago. We love you.”
On the Thursday night prior, which was originally slated to be the last performance, Cadien gave what he called a “wedding speech” to express his and the band’s appreciation for everyone involved throughout the process of planning and performing the shows. He wrapped up the speech before the band played “We Will Not Make It (Not Without You),” which Clay then dedicated to the audience, but the true dedication and display of gratitude from the band came the following night when they performed 40 (!!!) songs.
When you think about it, most bands do an encore of 1-3 songs at a show. Twin Peaks did an entire encore performance of two full sets with their Angel’s share show. Halfway through the residency, they could’ve decided to stick to their original plan to end the run after the eighth night to get a much deserved night of rest, but the demand and the love was so strong that they added on the final show at the last minute. They did this in celebration of the city that champions them and the community that they built.
One of the angelic backdrops on Friday, May 22nd.
#10: Thalia Hall’s New Reigning Champions
Piggybacking off the last takeaway, the 9-night and 10-set stretch of shows without a single break in between show nights is not only a testament to how much Chicago adores Twin Peaks, but the love that the band has boomeranged back to their hometown. Twin Peaks poured their heart and souls into planning and playing these shows, and you could feel their devotion and the care they put into the production in every aspect. The sheer stamina to fully rock and leave it all on the stage night after night was something truly magical to witness and this event is something that will live on forever in the history of the Chicago music scene.
Twin Peaks broke the record for most consecutive nights played at Thalia Hall (and even got Championship rings from the venue), and here’s hoping they might be up to topping themselves with more shows in the future.
For now, you can continue to bask in the glow of Peaks Week Plus with my photo galleries of Night 3 and 9 and tune into the 10th anniversary version of Down In Heaven.
