Filtering by Tag: Gigs
PHOTOS: Post Animal, Slow Pulp, and Condor & Jaybird at Daytrotter
Before we jetted off to Austin for SXSW 2018, we took the short trip to Davenport to see Post Animal, Condor & Jaybird and Slow Pulp play an insane show at Daytrotter's venue. If you missed out on the evening, relive the special moment (pun intended) with our photo gallery of the show.
Stay tuned for tons more photo coverage of SXSW and an interview with Slow Pulp, coming soon on ANCHR!
P.S- Chicago, Slow Pulp and Post Animal are playing together again on 4/27. Get your tickets here.
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PHOTOS: PIQNIQ 2017 Part I
On Saturday, May 20th, WKQX hosted an incredible line up of some of the best alternative bands around. The epic show took place in Tinley Park at The Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. The first bands of the day included Lucky Boy Confusion, Warpaint, K Flay, Joywave, and Sum 41. Check out the photo galleries of each band, and stay tuned for round 2, coming soon!
Lucky Boys Confusion
Warpaint
K Flay
Joywave
Sum 41
ANCHR Magazine and Kickstand Productions Present: ACLU Benefit with Post Animal
Hey everyone! We're very excited to present our very first gig. Not just any gig, a benefit for the wonderful ACLU with some of our favorite bands. Come hang with us at SubT on July 10th and kill two birds with one stone by doing some good AND seeing a show from Post Animal, The Evening Attraction, Jude Shuma, and Condor & Jaybird. Grab your tickets here.
Goosebumps, Tears, and Laughter: An Evening With YEBBA and Rag'n'Bone Man
The crowd at The Bowery Ballroom on Thursday evening was blessed by not one, but two performances from soulful and powerful singer-songwriters.
The evening kicked off at 8:30 with the Harlem-based YEBBA, who slayed her short, but sweet mix of covers and original songs. "You probably don't know me, so I'm gonna sing some songs you do know," YEBBA said before transitioning into a stunning performance of "Killing Me Softly." The set moved on with an amazing rendition of "American Boy," featuring an accidental mic drop (or throw), which YEBBA smoothly recovered from. While the cover songs still let YEBBA's incredible vocal ability and raw talent shine through, the real magic happened when she sang her original songs. Emotions coursed through the entire crowd as YEBBA sang her first original song of the evening, which she introduced as a song about losing her mom only 5 months ago. By the end of YEBBA's emotive execution, some of the audience members were in tears. Speaking of being brought to tears, even Ed Sheeran has said that YEBBA's next song, "My Mind," has brought tears to his eyes. Please stop reading this article and take a second to watch YEBBA perform "My Mind" at a Sofar Sounds gig:
Now that we've all been emotionally infiltrated by this song, we can get back to talking about YEBBA's last song of the evening, another original called "Light a Candle." She dedicated this one to anyone who has ever someone close to them, and the feels were real. Incredible doesn't even begin to describe the vibes in the room after YEBBA left the stage.
YEBBA at The Bowery Ballroom 3/9/17
About 30 minutes later, the two-time BRITS Award winner Rory Graham, AKA Rag'n'Bone Man, graced the Bowery Ballroom stage to play his first ever show in America, backed by his extremely talented band. Like YEBBA, Rory also started his set with a cover. Starting out solo on a guitar, he gave a breathtaking, goosebump-inducing performance of "St. James Infirmary" by Louis Armstrong. The nearly 90 minute, 18 song set rolled right along with the title track from the 2014 8-track EP Wolves. From then on, the audience remained hooked by the dynamic and diverse set.
The set progressed with a trio of new songs, taken from the debut full-length Human, including "Ego," "Your Way or the Rope," and "The Fire." Before each song, Rory gives a brief introduction, making the crowd laugh as he talks about always having to wait for his girlfriend before "Your Way or The Rope." While his stage banter may be funny, Rory acknowledges the depressing nature of most of his music, saying, "I didn't come to cheer you up" before playing "Lay My Body Down," a dark, building tune that was originally released on the Wolves EP and made it onto the full length.
Rory introduces the next song, "Perfume" as one he wrote with Ralph Pelleymounter from the band To Kill a King, and one that he hasn't played in three years. Hearing this song alone made the evening incredibly special, but the set rolled on with gem after gem, including a completely stripped back version of the next single, "Skin," featuring only Rory and his keyboard player. After such an intense, raw performance, that showcased Rory's immense vocal talent, he lightened the mood by mentioning he got high and wrote the next song "Grace." Rory continued to get personal with his song introductions, telling the crowd about his grandmother's strong matriarchal presence before playing "Life In Her Yet," and divulging about his close friend's battle with demons and addiction before playing "Odetta."
As the night steered past the halfway point in the set, the mood lifted back up with "As You Are," which Rory also had to point out was one of his two-three happy songs that he has. The band premiered the track "Fade To Nothing" from Human, which featured a killer drum outro, before moving onto the older tune "Guilty." The crowd energy reached an all time high when the bass line to Rory's breakout single "Human" kicked in, the entire crowd singing along. The first part of the set concluded with another solo performance from Rory, this time singing one of his older songs "Die Easy." As Rory winded down the evening with this bluesy, powerful performance, a hush fell over the entire crowd until the last note rang out. As he walked off stage, the immediate and urgent chants for an encore followed.
The band reappeared, and appropriately, the two-song encore kicked off with "Bitter End," another new track from Human. The magical night closed out with the anthemic "Hell Yeah" from the Wolves EP, which features Vince Staples. After Rory and his band humbly and graciously thanked the audience, they left the stage for good this time to explosive cheers and applause, and it was clear that the first Rag'n'Bone Man gig in America was a glorious success.
If you're heading down to SXSW, make sure you catch one of the following Rag'n'Bone Man showcases:
Stay up to date with all of Rag'n'Bone Man's live performances here, and listen to Human now.
MGMT, Local Natives, Misterwives, Walk The Moon and Flying Lotus to Play Mamby on the Beach
Returning for a third year, Chicago's very own Mamby on the Beach is back with a stellar line up for 2017! In case you missed it, the festival officially announced yesterday that headlining acts include MGMT and Walk The Moon. The two-day festival also features countless other acts, like Miike Snow, Marian Hill, Phoebe Ryan, Thundercat, and Misterwives. We're personally most excited for Raury, Local Natives, and MUNA, but you can check out the entire line up below.
Tickets range from $62.50-$99.50 for single day and $112-$169.99, with General Admission and VIP options available.
P.S. Last year, Chance the Rapper showed up at Mamby, so you never know what surprises might happen this year. Get your tickets now, before it's too late!
Bear’s Den Enchants Chicago With Their Humble and Harmony-Heavy Set, Featuring a Special Guest
Photos by Emily Nava
Right around 9PM on Friday night, Andrew Davie and Kev Jones (aka Bear's Den) made their way onto the Thalia Hall stage with a full band, opening with the title track of their latest album Red Earth & Pouring Rain. For the next hour and half, the Pilsen crowd remained enthralled by the London band. Lead singer Andrew Davie immediately revealed the band’s gracious and modest attitude, thanking everyone before moving into playing “Emeralds,” another newer track from the second album. Kev and Andrew both exhibited great chemistry on stage with each other and their other band members, at times pulling away from their microphones to jam together in the middle of the stage.
As the set moved along, Andrew introduced crowd favorite “Stubborn Beast,” saying it’s a song they wrote a really long time ago and never quite figured out how to play it live. Despite Andrew’s pre-song confession, the song sounded incredible live and the audience loved it. For the next song, “Isaac,” the crowd joined in on the singing, adding even more depth to the beautiful harmonies in the song. After giving props to the audience for their beautiful singing, the band said they’d like to try something new by doing their song “Don’t Let The Sun Steal You Away” completely unplugged. With absolutely no amplification, the band had the audience completely wrapped around their fingers during this song.
The dynamic 90-minute set rolled on with a high-energy performance of “The Love We Stole” from Bear’s Den first album. The second half of the set remained diverse, with a good chunk of songs coming from the new album, and a few older songs sprinkled in. Kev, Andrew, and their bandmates remained gracious and charming too, at one point getting a lot of cheers when they successfully did the bottle flip challenge. Winding down the night, the band played their popular song “Above The Clouds of Pompeii” before walking off stage.
The band returned for an incredible four song encore, featuring an in-crowd and unplugged performance of “Gabriel,” and the lovely addition of backing vocals from the crowd. The highlight had to be when Andrew welcomed the brilliant Jack Garratt onto the stage to help them sing a Chicago-customer cover song. On this tour, Bear’s Den have been showing off their incredible musicianship by learning a new cover song every night, specific to the city. For this show, the band and special guest Jack Garratt performed none other than “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens. So many bands stick to the same setlist every night, so this custom cover adds something different to each show and allows for the band to have some fun with their favorite songs.
Bear's Den with Jack Garratt
Definitely go see Bear's Den for a one-of-a-kind evening full of talent and great energy! You can find all of their upcoming tour dates here.
The Setlist:
Red Earth & Pouring Rain
Emeralds
Elysium
Greenwoods Bethlehem
Stubborn Beast
Isaac
Don't Let the Sun Steal You Away
The Love We Stole
Roses On a Breeze
Love can’t stand alone
Dew on the Vine
When You Break
Auld Wives
Above the Clouds of Pompeii
Encore:
Napoleon
Gabriel
Chicago
(Sufjan Stevens cover)Agape
More Photos by Emily Nava:
Top Three for Free
If you're a music fan in Chicago with an appetite for live shows, but you've got no budget for concert tickets, never fear; ANCHR is here. As a massive music fan myself, I've learned all the best ways to catch free shows in the city. While there's a bunch of different ways to get your music fix for free, here are my three personal favorite spots.
JBTV
JBTV has been around for over 30 years, featuring interviews and performances with some of the biggest names in music. And guess what? Every performance is taped in front of a live studio audience, and anyone can attend the tapings for free with an RSVP. The catch? A lot of the times (not always, though) shows are filmed in the early afternoon before the band plays their full gig in the evening and usually it's an up and coming act that you might not have even heard of yet. However, if you can use your lunch hour to swing by the studio, it's totally worth it, and it's almost guaranteed to be an "I saw ____ before they were big" moment. Popular artists like Twenty One Pilots, Bastille, The 1975, Hozier, BANKS, Borns, and Catfish and The Bottlemen all got their starts on the JBTV stage. Sometimes, bigger artists swing by the studio, though, so always keep you eyes on JBTV's website for all the information on shows. Just yesterday, they had Arkells back in the studio, and they've had bands like Walk The Moon and The Wombats make return appearances after having major international success. There's also plenty of evening and weekend shows if you can't make the more frequent lunchtime performances.
The Wombats at JBTV
WXRT Blue Cross Blue Shield Performance Stage/ Studio X
Plenty of radio stations offer free in-studio performances from artists on their playlist rosters, but few do it as well as XRT. Although they'll sometimes have long breaks between BCBS Performance Stage sets or Studio X sessions, this week the station is hosting three contests for free performances. The best part is that they're all great artists, including The Lemon Twigs and Bear's Den. Like JBTV, the BCBS stage performances tend to be in the early afternoon, but in the past year or so, I've managed to win slots to see artists like Jack Garratt, Shura, Warpaint, Allen Stone, and Twin Peaks. Then, XRT even has a separate segment called Studio X, which entails a secret, larger show at different venues around town. For New Years Eve, XRT got Houndmouth to play a free set to a packed Reggies Rock Club, and they've also had Band of Horses, James Bay, George Ezra, and Phoenix. Stay in the loop by signing up for these performance slots on XRT's website. You do need to win a space at these performances, but all you need to do is fill out an online form (no crazy call-in contests) and they seem to do a fair job of rotating winners.
Catfish and The Bottlemen at the BCBS Stage
The Virgin Hotel
In general, The Virgin Hotel is one of the best places in the city...on earth, even. I've had the luxury of actually staying at the Virgin Hotel once, but I've been there more than a couple dozen times for events over the past two years. Besides hosting killer DJ sets from artists like Questlove, Haim,and Wild Belle, they've had plenty of live shows by the likes of The Orwells, Parquet Courts, Grizfolk, Coasts, HAELOS and Seinabo Sey...just to name a few. The shows are for the most part free with an RSVP, and most of the DJ sets happen on the rooftop, free views included. The best part is, the hotel has all the amenities of a luxury hotel without an added snooty factor... Employees are friendly and welcoming, and they're always up for hosting non-hotel guests at their events. Next month, they're hosting a free gig on February 11th with American Grizzly, Lucille Furs, and Joe Bordenaro & The Late Bloomers. Head to their Twitter page for all the latest details.
Broods at Virgin Hotels Chicago
For even more free live music in Chicago, follow local record stores, like Reckless Records and Shuga, on social media for any in-store performance opportunities, sign up for Sofar Sounds' mailing list, and text "LOUNGE" to 312-101 for updates on Sound Lounge performances at WKQX's studio (they tend to be harder to get into than the XRT ones, but good luck!) You can even sign up for street team positions at local venues to score free tickets to gigs. As always, keep your eyes on ANCHR's Twitter, as we also give away free gig tickets from time to time.
And there you have it... your guide to seeing more live music this year!
P.S. If you're not in Chicago, you should still look into local record stores and radio stations, Sofar Sounds, and street teaming for free gig opportunities.
Words and Photos by Rachel Zyzda