Filtering by Tag: Live Recap

Live Recap: Nick Carter Brings Love Life Tragedy to Des Plaines Theatre

October 17, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

Nick Carter brought his Love Life Tragedy show to the stage at Des Plaines Theatre, delivering a stellar Saturday night to an eager fanbase.

The Des Plaines show, as well as a subsequent Sunday night show in St. Charles, acted as one-off solo special performances for Carter in the gap period between The Backstreet Boys’ sold-out Vegas residency runs at Sphere—the most recent of which ended in August. I was lucky enough to attend one of the Sphere shows in August, but more on that later.

The evening kicked off with a support set from singer-songwriter Sierra Sikora, a local from the Chicagoland area. Sikora took the stage solo; just herself, an acoustic guitar, and the stories she told through her songwriting. Her setlist was mostly comprised of original material, but she did sprinkle in a couple of covers that got the audience singing along, including “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer and “Creep” by Radiohead—which was fitting for the spooky season. Sikora exuded confidence in her stage presence between songs, telling the crowd personal anecdotes about her lyrics and asking the audience to turn their phone flashlights on for one of her songs. She closed out her set with her single “Dear Athena,” which had everyone clapping along.

Nick Carter and his band hit the stage next, preambled by an interactive graphic of a spaceship on the stage’s screen. The visual introduction felt like a less intense version of the beginning of the Backstreet Boys’ Sphere show, but I won’t give too many spoilers for those fans who are planning to head to Vegas for the next string of shows this winter. Carter kept the BSB nods coming by kicking off his set with the band’s hit “Larger Than Life,” which got the energy pumping in the venue and had everyone out of their seats dancing.

As this show was in honor of Carter’s new solo record entitled Love Life Tragedy that was released in May of this year, the setlist featured a lot of the new material. After the opening number, fans got to hear the first two songs off the album, “Made For Us” and “Nothing Without Your Love.” As Carter and his bandmates performed each song, the visuals on the screen displayed some of the song lyrics or graphics that went along with the theme of the song to help immerse the audience into the storytelling.

Carter took time to address the crowd often between songs, teasing the potential for a full tour around the record and providing some behind-the-scenes stories about how these songs were made. After performing his song “Storms,” the singer told the crowd “Storms feels like that’s been my whole life. 33 years I’ve been in this industry. I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs, and sometimes you just don’t know how to articulate the things that you’ve been through, but you put them in a song. When you listen to these songs, you can hear what I’m going through in my life. Sometimes you can take these songs and you can actually relate them to yourself and things you’re going through yourself. We all go through a lot of love, we all go through a lot of life, and we all have tragedy, but that’s why we’re here.” Carter followed up the heartfelt moment with a few more songs from the recent album, including “Hey Kid” and “Wild Heart” before pivoting to some of his earlier solo songs “Swet” and “Burning Up.”

Another highlight of the show included a cover of the Simple Minds classic hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” which really showed off Carter’s dynamic vocal range and lower register. Speaking of covers, the show concluded with a handful of Backstreet Boys’ biggest hits, including “As Long As You Love Me” and “Everybody (Backstreet's Back).”

Not only was it great to get to hear so many of my favorite nostalgic Backstreet Boys songs performed in a new style with Nick completely at the helm, but this was my first time hearing him perform his solo material live, and the show really displayed how multifaceted Nick Carter is as a songwriter and performer.

Follow along with Nick for any news on the potential solo tour, and if you can, I highly recommend making the trek to Vegas to see the full band at Sphere. You can view photos of the Des Plaines show below, and listen to Love Life Tragedy here.

0 Likes

categories / Reviews, Photos, Music, Gigs
tags / Nick Carter, Sierra Sikora, Live Music, Live Recap, Backstreet Boys, Love Life Tragedy

Live Recap: Wolf Alice Returns to The Vic Theatre

September 29, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

On Friday, September 26, British rock band Wolf Alice returned to perform at The Vic Theatre in Chicago, in honor of their fourth album The Clearing. The show fell just shy of four years since they last played the same venue in 2021, when they had toured for their previous record, Blue Weekend.

After a support set from Willy Mason, more and more fans filed into the venue, eagerly awaiting the main event. The stage was decked out with a silver tinsel backdrop, reminiscent of a high school prom—but the show we got was way better than any school dance. Cheers greeted the band members as they made their way to the stage, kicking off the setlist with the first song off The Clearing’s tracklist, entitled “Thorns.” Donning a shimmering bodysuit, belt, and knee-high boots, lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell’s stage outfit matched the one that she wore on the new album’s cover, which helped immerse the audience into the world of this new music.

The introductory track conjures up vibes of a 70’s ballad, with its sweeping strings and steady piano melody, but the lyrics perfectly tee up a live performance as the song ends with Rowsell singing the lines “The sun goes down, the curtain lifts, and I sing a song.” Next up, Rowsell grabbed her guitar to play “How Can I Make It Ok?'“ with the band, a track off their aforementioned third album that starts off slow and gradually builds up.

As the show carried on, Wolf Alice intricately sprinkled in more familiar favorites from earlier on in their discography with their newest material. The band also did a great job of juxtaposing delicate moments with gritty crescendos; for example, they followed up the bouncy piano-driven new tracks of “The Sofa” and “Bread Butter Tea Sugar” with the raucous “Yuk Foo” and “Play the Greatest Hits.” The former started off with a siren blaring through a megaphone, followed by squealing guitar riffs and Rowsell’s Riot Grrrl-esque vocals filtering through the megaphone—and the energy only amplified for the latter.

As an avid Wolf Alice listener, I’ve always admired Ellie Rowsell’s dynamic vocal range that can flawlessly transition from gracefully gentle to powerful intensity, and that ability was on full display throughout their live show. Another aspect of their show that I really admired was the just-enough stage production that enhanced the music without overpowering it—during parts of the show, the tinsel backdrop was lit up with projections of hearts or stars, and bubbles were pumped into the venue during the final song of the night, but these subtly flashy elements never took away from the band’s musicality and raw talent.

The main portion of the show wrapped up with the lead single from the new record, “Bloom Baby Bloom,” which kicks off with a whimsical piano melody. From unwavering falsettos to wailing growls, the track is a perfect showcase of Rowsell’s vocal talents wrapped up in 3 minutes and 47 seconds. In the song’s chorus, she sings “But I’ll bloom, baby, bloom” and those lyrics perfectly summarize how Wolf Alice has expanded their sound throughout their discography and continued to strengthen their stage presence. The night concluded with the beloved “Don’t Delete The Kisses" in a perfect send off into the weekend.

Check out photos of the show below, and see where you can catch the dazzling spectacle for yourself here.

0 Likes

categories / Reviews, Gigs, Photos, Music
tags / Wolf Alice, Live Recap, Live Show, The Clearing, Chicago, The Vic, Jam Productions, Photo Set, Photo Gallery

Live Recap: The Goo Goo Dolls with Dashboard Confessional at Northerly Island

August 16, 2025 / Rachel Zyzda

On Wednesday, August 13th, I finally made my way to the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island for the first time this summer to see a sold-out show from Dashboard Confessional and Goo Goo Dolls. As Johnny Rzeznik said during the Goo Goo Dolls headlining performance, “It ain’t summer until you come to Chicago and do a show,” but for me it truly doesn’t feel like summer in the city until I make it to a show at this beachfront venue. Concert attendees were treated to glorious weather after a couple of evenings filled with gloomy thunderstorms, and the music started just as golden hour hit the city skyline.

This past Wednesday was just a couple weeks shy of being exactly two years since the last time I caught a show from Goo Goo Dolls at the very same venue, only this time instead of O.A.R. they were joined by another of my teenaged self’s favorite bands— Dashboard Confessional. I mean truly, if you’ve never screamed the lyrics to “Vindicated” or “Hands Down” by Dashboard while driving with the windows down, you haven’t lived—but lucky for me that was one of my favorite pastimes in high school.

Also lucky for me, Dashboard Confessional’s setlist was packed with plenty of nostalgic tunes, opening up with “The Best Deceptions” from the 2001 album The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most. The show continued on to feature lots more music from the early 2000’s, including another favorite of mine “Remember to Breathe,” in which lead singer and songwriter Chris Carrabba sings “Remember to breathe/and everything will be okay.” In the recorded version of the song, Carrabba holds a long note on the words “breathe,” “everything,” and “okay,” and during the live version I was pleasantly surprised to hear Carrabba’s vocal chops were still going strong more than 20 years later and he held out those same notes. Honestly it felt like he took it even further during the show.

Along with his impressive vocal performance, Carrabba demonstrated wonderful creative chemistry with his bandmates, bringing these timeless tunes to life onstage. Their set ended on an epic singalong to the aforementioned “Hands Down.”

Goo Goo Dolls closed out the evening with another set filled to the brim with nostalgia and epic singalongs, starting off with “Naked” from their 1995 album A Boy Named Goo. As the setlist kicked off with a lot of material from the early discography, Rzeznik took the time to address the crowd after performing one of their hits “Black Balloon”—during which the audience bounced around actual black balloons throughout the venue, a tradition that seems to have stuck around from the last time I saw Goo Goo Dolls. “We’re just finally starting to get our groove, but I’m just here to play! I’m happy!" Rzeznik told the audience as the balloons continued to ricochet from fan to fan.

About halfway through the set, Rzeznik stripped back some of their songs, performing “Sympathy” and “Acoustic # 3” solo on acoustic guitar. He also kicked off “Name” with just himself and the guitar before being joined by the full band—and of course, the crowd as backup singers. “Thank you for remembering that song,” Rzeznik told everyone afterwards.

Another fun tradition that carried over from the last time I saw Goo Goo Dolls was that they covered another Tom Petty track. Last time, I got to hear “I Won’t Back Down,” and this time they treated the audience to a rendition of “You Wreck Me” by Petty before closing with their massive hit “Iris.” In the song Rzeznik sings “You're the closest to Heaven that I'll ever be,” and I’ve got to say, getting to hear iconic songs that you grew up with performed live more than 2 decades later at an outdoor venue during the Chicago summertime is pretty dang heavenly if you ask me.

See where you can catch your own slice of heaven on tour here, and check out photos of the evening below.

0 Likes

categories / Gigs, Photos, Reviews
tags / The Goo Goo Dolls, Dashboard Confessional, Huntington Bank Pavilion, Northerly Island, Live, Live Recap, Live Nation

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

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

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.

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs
tags / Nat and Alex Wolff, Billie Eilish, Live Recap, Photo Gallery, Photo recap, Photo Set, United Center

Live Recap: Good Neighbours at Lincoln Hall

September 10, 2024 / Rachel Zyzda

On Sunday, September 8th, Good Neighbours made their Chicago debut, performing to a packed room at Lincoln Hall.

Every few years it seems, people go feral for a song that features whistling. You’ve got “Sisyphus” by Andrew Bird, “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People, “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John, and ironically another song titled “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. In 2024, we’re still obsessed with a song called “Home” but this time it’s Good Neighbours’ version.

Hailing from East London, Good Neighbours is the musical partnership of Scott Verrill and Oli Fox, who just released their debut single (the aforementioned “Home”) in January of this year and since then, they’ve already amassed nearly 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Thanks to some viral teasers of the song on TikTok, fans were waiting with ears wide open when Good Neighbours finally gifted the universe with their musical releases.

Funny enough, I was over in England for a week in August and I attended Reading Festival the day that Good Neighbours happened to be playing. Unbeknownst to me, I had already heard the smash single “Home,” but went into their “secret set” at the BBC Introducing stage completely oblivious and ready to hear some new music. I left the set pleasantly surprised that I did already know one of their songs (phew, I’m not that old!) and impressed by the rest of their catalog and stage presence. To my pleasant surprise again, I discovered that the band would be making their touring debut in The States just a few short weeks, including a stop at my hometown of Chicago.

Cut to this Sunday night, fans eagerly awaited hearing Scott, Oli and their touring bandmates perform their short but sweet catalog live. The band opened with another one of their singles “Keep It Up,” which will be on their debut, self-titled EP releasing this October. After the opening number, Oli took some time to address the crowd, saying, “We’re gonna be playing a bunch of songs you probably haven’t heard. Most people have only heard that one or the one that comes in a bit.” Despite that disclaimer, many of the audience members did in fact know the songs that were yet to come, including other singles like “Bloom” and “Daisies.”

Even for the songs that have yet to be released, the fans were ready to dance and enjoy the experience. Oli prefaced one of their unreleased EP songs called “Weekend Boy,” saying it’s about being with someone for only the weekend. After they played the song, he asked the crowd if they liked it and was met with affirmative cheers.

Another song that was met with a lot of cheers was Good Neighbours’ cover of Sabrina Carpenter’s hit “Espresso.” Oli explained how their rendition came to be, telling the crowd “Over the last 8-9 months, we’ve gotten to see a lot of the world. We managed to go to Australia earlier in the year, which is a long way, but we did this thing called Triple J where we went in a did a cover. We chose this lady called Sabrina Carpenter…we’re also big stans. She has a song about coffee,” which was met again with very loud excitement.

The fun energy continued to soar as we neared the end of the show, and we circled back around to “the one that comes in a bit.” Before performing “Home,” Oli talked about their incredible whirlwind journey since the start of the year, saying the generous reception to their music has changed their lives. “We were piss poor when before. We still are to be honest…it’s costing an arm and a leg to be here, but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” he shared.

The show wrapped up with “Daisies” and a promise from the band to come back to Chicago soon.

Check out photos of the show below, and be sure to be a good neighbour and support the band by pre-ordering their EP here. You can also see where you can catch them on the road next here.

0 Likes

categories / Photos, Gigs, Reviews
tags / Good Neighbours, Lincoln Hall, Live Recap, Live Review, Photo recap