Live Recap: Andrew McMahon's The Three Pianos Tour in Chicago
3 Pianos, 36 songs (plus 2 cover songs), thousands of millennials and a dang good Friday night—That was the Three Pianos Tour in a nutshell. If you’re unfamiliar of the concept of this tour, it’s all three of Andrew McMahon’s bands and projects (Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, and “in the Wilderness”) on one stage performing a super set that pulls from each project’s discography. McMahon also penned an autobiography with the same name, released back in 2021. The original Three Pianos show took place at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado last summer, and this year the band took the show on the road with stops in Philadelphia, Chicago, and still to come, Long Beach, on August 22nd.
The great thing about getting to your mid-30s is that bands from your formative teenage years have enough of a back catalogue to be able to do a show like this, and there’s enough nostalgia attached to it to fill your heart up for days on end.
On Friday, August 14th, I caught a bus from downtown to the Huntington Bank Pavilion on Northerly Island to attend the Chicago stop of the Three Pianos tour. As I found a seat on the bus, I glanced around and took a mental tally of all of the Jack’s Mannequin, Something Corporate or other Andrew McMahon-affiliated shirts I saw from fellow passengers. While the bus made its way to the lakeside venue, I chatted with a group of friends who had flown in from out of town to attend one of the few dates of this production. During the concert, I did spot some younger fans in attendance (also singing along to every word), but for the most part the audience seemed to be fans in theirs 30s and 40s, relishing in the soundtracks of their high school years.
The special evening ahead of us held a three and a half hour show from McMahon and his bandmates, starting sharply at 7:30PM and spanning right up to the curfew-imposed buzzer of 11PM at the outdoor amphitheater. The show didn’t include any support acts, unless of course you consider Jack’s Mannequin the opener for the Wilderness and Something Corporate sets. The stage was set with three different pianos to signify the name of the tour and to mark the distinct projects, but before the band launched into “The Resolution” of the Jack’s Mannequin era, a recording of McMahon speaking was played through the speakers. These storytelling intervals continued throughout the night to bookmark each segment of the show.
The setlist journeyed from a chunk of Jack’s Mannequin songs to a bundle of Wilderness songs, before wrapping up the first half of the show with Something Corporate songs. Throughout these first 3 sets, McMahon shuffled between each piano, but he seldom remained stationary at their keys. A few times, he’d climb to the top of his piano and leap off of it, or he’d run to the edge of the stage to ask everyone to put their hands up or do the wave. During the performance of “Canyon Moon,” he jumped offstage to run through the crowd—something he’d end up doing a few more times—with props! When I saw Jack’s Mannequin at Salt Shed last year, McMahon crowd surfed on a giant inflatable llama, but this time, he rode an inflatable rubber duck over the Chicago audience. At another point, he danced with fans under a rainbow tarp, which he ended up wrapping around himself back onstage. While McMahon and the band poured their energy into an engaging and interactive performance, there were also video screens lining the stage that reflected different visuals and graphics to go along with the music (for example, stereos fittingly flashed on the screen during “The Mixed Tape”).
After the first three sets, there was a 15-minute intermission that was marked by a countdown on the screens. Something Corporate’s Brian Ireland and William Tell welcomed the crowd back from the intermission by performing two acoustic cover songs, the absolute bangers “Thong Song” by Sisqo and “I Love You Always Forever” by Donna Lewis. Meanwhile, the rest of the band got ready to perform a couple of their own acoustic songs over on a B-stage set up in the middle of the venue, including “The Astronaut” by Something Corporate and “Swim” by Jack’s Mannequin. During the B-stage performance, the clouds opened up with a light sprinkling of rain, which really only added to all the feels that the acoustic set stirred up.
To close out the evening with a bang, the band performed a super-set comprised of a mix of songs from each era, back on the main stage. The shuffle-set kicked off with an extended intro of “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin. In the song, McMahon sings “Dark blue, dark blue, have you ever been alone in a crowded room?” which is a sentiment I’ve related to many times, but not at the Three Pianos Tour! There was such a sense of community and camaraderie that radiated throughout the venue that night, and that was largely sparked by the energy that McMahon and the band projected themselves.
The super-set wrapped up with the 34th song of the night, “If You C Jordan,” but the adventure didn’t end there! McMahon returned to the stage for a two-song encore. The wholesome vibes continued when he invited his 12-year-old daughter, as in the Cecilia from McMahon’s hit solo song “Cecilia And The Satellite,” to sing the aforementioned song with him. It truly was such a full circle moment to hear a young woman sing the song that her dad wrote about her as a baby. Andrew McMahon may be an absolute rockstar, but in that vulnerable moment, the audience also got to see his duality as a family man. That moment, and the entire Three Pianos show, was such an incredible spectacle to witness.
Check out photos of the evening below, and see where you can catch Andrew McMahon on tour next here.
