Live Recap: Winnetka Festival 2025

June 26, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

Winnetka Festival returned to downtown Winnetka on Friday, June 20th and Saturday, June 21st, featuring a jam-packed lineup of more than 20 artists across the two days and two stages.

I got the chance to catch the last part of Saturday’s festivities, arriving shortly before sunset to see Kam Franklin and her band at the Lincoln Stage. Franklin’s soulful powerhouse vocals captured the audience’s attention, and her raw, compassionate storytelling in songs like “Byrd And Shepard” pulled at our heartstrings. Before performing the song, Franklin told the crowd “It’s about James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepard. James Byrd Jr. was killed in 1998 in a dragging death in Jasper, Texas for being black and Matthew Shepard was killed in October 1998 for being gay.” In the song, she sings “Fact checker, fact fact checker/They’re trying to ban the books/But we won't forget ya” in homage to the men who suffered these hate crimes and a stark reminder that we can’t forget the tragedies of history.

Next up, Pete Yorn and his bandmates took the Main Stage on the other end of the festival grounds. Yorn opened up his set with a cover of “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)” by The Buzzcocks, which he introduced as a song from the movie Shrek. The band also sprinkled in a couple of other covers later on in the show, sharing their own version of “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order and “Atlantic City” by The Boss. In between the covers, Yorn also made sure to play a few newer tracks from his 2024 album The Hard Way, including the titular track, “Different Roads,” and “Real Good Love.” Long-time fans were also ecstatic to hear some of his earlier material like “Life On a Chain” and “Murray” from his 2001 debut album musicforthemorningafter.

While Yorn wrapped up his set, Eggy began their show that closed out the Lincoln Stage for the festival. The quartet provided the jam band vibes of the evening, performing an eclectic mix of their expansive discography. Their setlist surprisingly didn’t include much from their most recent album, 20204’s Waiting Game, but like Pete Yorn, they also threw some covers into the mix. Fans got to travel back to the 60’s and 70’s and experience Eggy’s versions of “Skin It Back” by Little Feat and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” by Crosby, Stills & Nash while the sun went down.

Last but not least, Cold War Kids wrapped up Winnetka Fest 2025 at the Main Stage. While night had fallen at last, the air was still muggy and thick with the heat of the day, but that didn’t stop fans from singing and dancing along to the hit-heavy setlist that the band delivered. Opening with the 2017 single “Love Is Mystical” from their LA Divine album, Cold War Kids then ventured through their winding discography that spans over 20 years. The band reciprocated the energy that the fans brought to the performance by jumping and moving across the stage, and the lead singer Nathan Willett made sure to express his gratitude saying, “We were at The Salt Shed last year around this time. We love Chicago, and now we love Winnetka.” After playing for a little over an hour, Cold War Kids ironically wrapped up their set by playing their song called “First” as the last and final tune of the evening and festival.

Check out more photos of the festival below, and be sure to check out the lineups for Out Of Space and Evanston Folk Festival coming up later this Summer to continue the festivities.

0 Likes

categories / Festival, Gigs, Music, Photos, Reviews
tags / Kam Franklin, Pete Yorn, Eggy, Cold War Kids, Winnetka Music Festival, Out of Space, Music Festival, Live Recap, Photo Set, Photo recap

Live Recap: Perfume Genius with Urika’s Bedroom at The Vic Theatre

June 22, 2025 / Cat Florea

Perfume Genius, the musical project of Michael Alden Hadreas, returned to Chicago on June 17th to play a stunning show at The Vic Theatre in honor of his new album Glory.

The night opened with Urika’s Bedroom performing a set that felt like stepping into a hazy, dreamy soundscape. Their music was delicate and ethereal, floating across the room in soft, shimmering layers. The light show added a subtle glow to their already atmospheric sound, making the room feel intimate and otherworldly — a beautiful, quiet beginning to the night.

Then came Perfume Genius, who transformed the stage into a strange, visceral, exhilarating performance space. From the start, the stage was framed by long, orange cords curled around like tendrils, hinting at the chaos to come. The set moved fluidly between tender, beautiful moments — like a lullaby rendition of “Me & Angel”, or a haunting cover of “Kanga Roo” by Big Star — to physical, kinetic displays that felt part modern dance, part raw impulse. During “It’s a Mirror,” Hadreas jumped on an exercise ball mid-song; in “No Front Teeth,” he spun wildly in a chair. At one point, during “Clean Heart,” he gathered the stage cables around himself, sat in a chair, and reached for the ball with his legs in a strange, tender moment of theatricality.

The choreography was wild and magnetic — moves like The Matrix during “Otherside”, chair dancing, leaping to the rail, then bouncing across the stage. The lighting played its part too: some songs like “Describe” glowed in eerie red, while others kept the singer backlit by towering, blinding lights, with smoke adding to the atmosphere. Perfume Genius created a show that felt entirely alive, unpredictable, and deeply human.

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

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Music, Photos, Reviews
tags / Perfume Genius, Urika's Bedroom, The Vic, Photo recap, Photo Gallery, Live Recap, Glory

Photos: Jensen McRae with Lauren Juzang at Lincoln Hall

May 19, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

On Thursday, May 15th, singer-songwriter Jensen McRae headlined a sold-out show at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, with support from Lauren Juzang.

Check out a photo recap of the show below and see where you can catch Jensen on the road next here—including a stop at The Metro in Chicago in October.

Jensen McRae Setlist:

The Rearranger
My Ego Dies at the End
God Has a Hitman
Mother Wound
Savannah
Fever Dream
Taken (MUNA cover)
Tuesday
I Can Change Him
Daffodils
Dead Girl Walking
White Boy
Thinking of You (Katy Perry cover)
Good Legs
If I Have a Boy
Novelty
Let Me Be Wrong
Praying for Your Downfall
I Don’t Do Drugs
Massachusetts

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / Photo recap, Photo Gallery, Lincoln Hall, Jensen McRae, Lauren Juzang, Chicago, Live Show, Live Music, Praying For Your Downfall

Live Recap: Katie Gavin with Lucy Dacus at The Chicago Theatre

May 06, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

Singer-songwriter and 1/3 of the band MUNA Katie Gavin warmed up the stage for two sold-out nights with Lucy Dacus at the iconic Chicago Theatre on May 1st and 2nd—and I was lucky enough to attend for the second show on Friday night.

Gavin debuted her side-project last year, releasing the acoustic-driven solo album entitled What A Relief in October 2024. The record leans alt-country at times, particularly on tracks like “Inconsolable” and “The Baton” that feature Gavin on violin and pulls out a slight twang on her vocals. This collection of songs on the debut album showcases a tonal shift from MUNA’s usual vibe, but Gavin has said in an interview that shift was driven from the origin of these songs; throughout the years she’s written some material that the band ultimately decided wasn’t a fit with MUNA’s vision.

During the show on Friday night, Gavin told the crowd “This is the last tour that I’m gonna do for this solo record.” When her statement was met with audible disappointment from the audience, Katie added, “No, but you’re not upset because that means I’m going back into MUNA!” The upset immediately turned into excited cheers at the tease of MUNA’s return, but it felt special to get to catch one of the last shows for What A Relief . Another special moment of Gavin’s set included an appearance from her younger sister, who joined the band to play some cowbell for the duration of “Sanitized.” In addition to the cowbell, Gavin brought these stories to the stage playing the keyboard, guitar, and live violin on the aforementioned tracks “Inconsolable” and “The Baton,” the latter of which also featured a full crowd clap-along to the beat.

Towards the end of her set, Gavin slowed things down with the mellowed-out “Sketches,” which she introduced by sharing the song’s inspiration. “This song is a little bit of an exploration of that thing that maybe is love but maybe is addiction and kind of noticing that there’s certain relationships in your life that you can really grow and bloom with, and sometimes your life gets smaller. This song is about one of those times,” Katie said.

Katie Gavin’s performance wrapped up with her single “Aftertaste” and her wishing Lucy Dacus a very happy birthday. Check out photos of the show below, and catch the last few tour dates for Katie’s solo project here.

1 Likes

categories / Gigs, Photos, Reviews
tags / Katie Gavin, Live Recap, Chicago Theatre, Lucy Dacus, MUNA

Photos: Japanese Breakfast at The Salt Shed

May 04, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

Japanese Breakfast performed three back-to-back nights at The Salt Shed in Chicago this week, in honor of the new album For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) that was just released at the end of March. Check out photos of the second night, Thursday, May 1st, below and see where you can catch the tour next here.

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Music
tags / Japanese Breakfast, Salt Shed, Photo recap, Photo Gallery, Live Show

Photos: Lauren Mayberry at Thalia Hall

February 07, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

CHVRCHES singer Lauren Mayberry recently released her solo album Vicious Creature, and ventured out for a tour in honor of the new songs. On Wednesday, February 5th, Mayberry and her band performed at Thalia Hall with support from Cult of Venus. Check out photos of the Chicago show below and see where you can catch the tour next here.

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Music, Gigs
tags / Lauren Mayberry, Thalia Hall, CHVRCHES, Photo Set, Photography, Live Show

Photo Recap: All American Rejects with The Maine and Andrew McMahon

December 15, 2024 / Rachel Zyzda

The All American Rejects, The Maine, and Andrew McMahon performed on Wednesday, December 11th to a packed Aragon Ballroom as part of Q101’s annual holiday show, Twisted Xmas. Check out photos from all of their sets below and check out photos from the first night of Twisted Xmas here.

0 Likes

categories / Reviews, Gigs, Photos
tags / Q101, Twisted Xmas, Aragon Ballroom, Andrew McMahon, The Maine, The All American Rejects, Photo Set, Photo Recap

Photo Recap: Franz Ferdinand at Q101's Twisted Xmas

December 14, 2024 / Rachel Zyzda

Franz Ferdinand performed on Tuesday, December 10th to a sold-out Aragon Ballroom, alongside almost monday and Cage The Elephant as part of Q101’s annual holiday show, Twisted Xmas. Franz Ferdinand’s hour-long set journeyed through their musical catalog, performing some of the hits from their earlier albums as well as some brand-new material off their upcoming album The Human Fear —out January 10th, 2025. See the full setlist below, along with photos from their set and view their upcoming tour dates here.

Setlist:

The Dark of the Matinée
No You Girls
Night or Day
Walk Away
Build It Up
Evil Eye
Do You Want To
Hooked
Michael
The Doctor
Love Illumination
Take Me Out
Ulysses
Audacious
This Fire

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / Franz Ferdinand, Cage the Elephant, almost monday, Aragon Ballroom, Photo Set, Photo Recap, Q101, Concerts, Live Recap

Amusement & Muses: A Live Recap of Bastille Presents "Ampersand" in Los Angeles

November 25, 2024 / Rachel Zyzda

What if you could end your day doing the shit you love with the ones you love? Better yet, what if you could do that two days in a row? For many Bastille fans, they had the opportunity to do just that as they attended the first (and most likely the only) run of U.S. tour dates for the Bastille-adjacent project entitled “Ampersand,” which took place Friday, November 22nd and Saturday, November 23rd at the grandiose United Theater on Broadway (FKA The Theatre at Ace Hotel).

If you want the TLDR version of the concerts, songwriter and lead vocalist of Bastille Dan Smith can sum up the evenings in three points; “For the sake of argument, I didn’t shit myself, I barely talked between songs, and the French was perfect,” he told the Los Angeles theater.

But if you want the longer story, take a walk with me through these songs as I unreliably narrate these gigs.

Stepping back to introduce the Ampersand project, this collection of songs puts a spotlight on Smith’s storytelling craft as he examines the lives of famous and infamous historical or mythological figures. The name “Ampersand” comes from all of the stories on the album being comprised of a pairing and song titles that all include a (you guessed it) &— Take the track “Zheng Yi Sao & Questions For Her” or “Seasons & Narcissus,” the former of which opens with the question “What if you could end your days doing the shit you love with the ones you love?” to call it back to my introduction.

Ampersand came to be a side quest for Smith on what was slated to be a year off for the members of Bastille, so as he began to weave together these stories, Dan enlisted the assistance of other songwriters and vocalists to build out the musical arrangements. Two of those musicians include Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes, so it only made sense that in addition to performing in the live Ampersand band, Moira & Charlie (see what I did there?) opened up the shows on Friday and Saturday night, respectively.

Ahead of Mack’s set on Friday evening, Smith tested out his chops as MC to recall how he’d first stumbled upon Moira Mack on a night out in Los Angeles where he heard her performing a cover of “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. It’s rare that supporting acts will get a personalized introduction from the headlining performers, so with Dan’s glowing endorsement, I knew we’d be in for a treat with Moira’s performance. Spoiler alert; we got a goosebump-inducing reenactment of the Redding cover that started it all, which really let the soulful and powerful facets of Mack’s vocal abilities shine. However, the rest of her set included her original songs, some of which were unreleased and included one written only days prior to the gig, in response to the devastating election results. In just a short thirty minutes, Moira was able to demonstrate her emotive songwriting and vast vocal range, including silky and delicate falsettos that smoothly transitioned into bolder and richer textures.

Speaking of smooth transitions, the stage was quickly turned over for Dan & Moira to return for the main event, alongside the rest of the Ampersand live band members Charlie Barnes, Merrick Winter, AK Patterson, and Florrie.

Fittingly, the set began with the first track from the album called “Intros & Narrators,” in which Smith confesses he never wanted to be the main character and sings “Maybe to me, other stories are more interesting and maybe to me, they’re a mirror back on everything/So much bigger, bolder, braver than I’ll ever be,” which set up the aforementioned premise of this project in a musical format. Dan addressed the crowd after the introductory song, saying, “This album is a collection of stories about people that I think are fascinating, mostly real, some fictional or mythological,” also pointing out that each person was illustrated on the stage backdrop with artwork done by Harriet Bruce.

In addition to bringing in new live band members and collaborating with visual artists for this special project, Smith has also endeavored into the podcasting realm to provide more context to the Ampersand songs. Entitled “Muses: An Ampersand Podcast,” the show features Smith and co-host Emma Nagouse diving into the background of the people and characters that Dan wrote about, and listeners also get a glimpse into his creative process for each tune. Along with being the co-host of the podcast, Nagouse essentially acted as a muse for these songs as well because she suggested several of the figures for Smith to dig into.

One of the subject suggestions from Emma was Paul & Eslanda Robeson, which Dan wrote about on the track “Essie & Paul,” and it instantly became one of my favorites from the album. A hauntingly hypnotic strings arrangement acts as the heartbeat of the song’s melody, which conjured up images of a Bridgerton ballroom scene the first time I heard it. (Funny enough, just this week the music video for “Eve & Paradise Lost” debuted, starring Simone Ashley from Bridgerton, so maybe if we’re lucky maybe we can manifest a feature of “Essie & Paul” in the next season). Throughout the show, Smith essentially gave a quick synopsis of each song’s main character— think CliffsNotes version of the podcast—to give some additional context. He introduced “Essie & Paul” by sharing, “This was really hard to write because it’s about Paul Robeson and Eslanda Robeson who were this fucking incredible power couple. Paul Robeson people know as an actor and singer but he was a civil rights activist and his wife Eslanda was his manager and his friend. She was an anthropologist, she was incredible. It’s quite daunting to write about both of them. I knew the song would never be good enough as a tribute to them but I still wanted to write it cause I thought about them a lot.” For the record, I think he did them justice with the song, and the rest of the audience agreed based off the applause that greeted the band at the end of it. Along with his humility, Smith threw in some humor when setting up the performance of the tune, joking “For this song as you may have noticed, we’ve been playing everything live tonight, apart from this one bit on this song that requires a full string section. We just came from the UK and didn’t have the budget for it, so as well as pretending that there was no terrible rambling chats between songs, the other thing is if people ask ‘how was the gig?’ say it was nuts, they had a full string section that came out for one song! I’ve never seen that before, it was crazy!”

Another standout live performance moment occurred earlier in the setlist with “Drawbridge & The Baroness,” which describes The Drawbridge Dilemma from the baroness’ POV. The song features stunning falsetto vocal chops from Smith as well as a crescendoing bridge that were recognized with extended applause and an affirming “you’re amazing!” from a young audience member. Dan described the song as his favorite one on the album but “a fucking nightmare to sing live” which is fair given the dramatic range he exerts for it—hopefully the audience’s reaction makes it all worth it!

As we journeyed through these stories told in song format, Dan continued to share those behind-the-scenes tidbits with the audience about the songs. It turns out that he’s been writing songs since he was 14 years old, and the album’s anchoring track “Telegraph Road 1977 & 2024” was one of his first songwriting attempts brought on by a poem his dad wrote while traveling around the U.S. in 1977. Smith also confessed that he found out he got some of the French translation wrong for the song “Mademoiselle & the Nunnery Blaze,” BUT circling back to the TLDR version of events, “The French was perfect,” according to Dan.

Now, I did mention this was the longer story journey of the Ampersand shows, but I’ll still spare everyone from diving into each and every song included on the setlist and remind you that you can tune into the Muses podcast to hear it straight from the source. The podcast is currently working its way through the Ampersand songs, but Dan did share that there’s an episode in the works about Bastille’s breakout hit “Pompeii,” which the band was able to fit in a rendition of during this run of shows. The Ampersand setlist also includes a couple of other outliers with a special arrangement of 2016’s “Good Grief” and a version of “Orpheus & Eurydice” that was written for the Netflix show Kaos. Rumor has it that a demo of the latter performed by Charlie Barnes & Dan will be dropping later this week so keep an ear out!

The Ampersand adventure concluded with the single “Blue Sky & The Painter,” which is characteristically upbeat in melody and depressing in lyrics, describing the life of artist Edvard Munch. “This is about Edvard Munch and it’s a really happy one to finish on. It’s about his creativity and depression,” Smith told the crowd ahead of the final song.

Both of the Los Angeles concerts were incredible from a musical performance aspect, adding a special depth and richness to the recorded versions of these stories, but what really stood out to me was how Smith seemed even more relaxed and himself between songs. He did share at the start of the show, “What I’ve realized with these gigs is I think it’s because I’m sitting down and I can’t see anything, I find myself talking the most almighty amount of crap in between songs.” Selfishly, I hope this isn’t the only ever run of Ampersand shows because I want to experience the magic of it all again—including the extra comedic banter and charm from Dan. There are a few remaining Ampersand events on the calendar, and I highly recommend trying to snag tickets if you can!

Check out more photos from the evening below and listen to Ampersand here.

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Music, Photos, Reviews
tags / Bastille, Ampersand, Dan Smith, Live Review, Live Recap, Moira Mack, Charlie Barnes, Los A, LA, DTLA, Muses

Live Recap: Nat and Alex Wolff with Billie Eilish at The United Center

November 14, 2024 / Josh Darr

The actor/musician brother duo of Nat and Alex Wolff, FKA The Naked Brothers Band, derived their music from a Nickelodeon show that the brothers starred in earlier in their lives.

The pair are currently on tour with Billie Eilish for her Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour for a string of dates including the two-night stand in Chicago. Coming from a different generation, I wasn’t too entirely familiar with their music, but was equally excited to see what the Brothers Wolff had to offer knowing that artists put in the effort to choose their openers— I figured Billie had her reasons. I’m grateful for the phrase “ a picture is worth a thousand words” because I feel like my photos captured tens of thousands of words encapsulating the amount of entertainment to duo emitted in just the short time allotted for an opening act.

The United Center is definitely no small feat to conquer as an opener and I’ve seen many solid openers in the past not make the mark or hold the crowd’s attention, and that wasn’t the case for last night’s performance. That had a commanding presence and easily connected with the crowd, who let’s face It we know had only Billie on their minds. Some of the fans had even been camping out since Sunday and others were still in their tents on a cold rainy Chicago night for their line spot in the morning for tonight’s show. Nonetheless, both Nat and Alex held nothing back and showcased how they’re not only brothers or actors, but also rockstars.

Check out the full gallery of their performance below, and see where you can catch them on tour next here.