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Live Recap: The Veronicas at House of Blues

April 19, 2024  /  Rachel Zyzda

“I know you guys thought this was a rock show but it’s actually a fucking disco,” Jess Origliasso, AKA one half of the twin sister-duo The Veronicas, told a packed House of Blues this past Sunday night in Chicago.

While there was ample opportunity to dance just like at a disco, The Veronicas also delivered rock ‘n’ roll flair and heartfelt nostalgic vibes throughout their highly-anticipated comeback tour. As someone who repeatedly listened to the duo’s debut album The Secret Life of... on physical CD format, it healed my inner child to hear songs “When It All Falls Apart” and “Everything I’m Not” in the first few moments of the set. The Veronicas kept their throwback songs fresh by weaving in mashups of other hit songs—for example, Jess played the iconic riff of “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes while Lisa sang the introduction to “When It All Falls Apart.” Later in the show, the pair weaved in bits of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Icona Pop’s “I Love It” during the performance of “Hook Me Up,” which was the title track of their 2007 album.

Just as I was reveling in familiar comfort that these songs provided, I also took in my fellow audience members experiencing sheer joy and camaraderie. The euphoric bliss wasn’t just coming from the audience though— Jess and Lisa made sure to tell the crowd many times how grateful they were to be back and playing music in America. Their appreciative comments included everything from “You’re making two Capricorns very emotional” to “The fact that you guys are coming to these shows is the biggest fuck you to everyone who didn’t believe in us.” At one point, they even brought out a copy of their very first CD as “Jessica and Lisa” (prior to being named “The Veronicas”) entitled Double Trouble, that one of their long-time fans had brought to the show in hopes of getting it signed, and Jess and Lisa joked that it might be their dad selling those old CDs on eBay.

The show was really like an emotional journey sandwiched between two dance parties— it started with Jess and Lisa taking the stage donning sunglasses and performing choreographed dance moves to “Take Me on the Floor” while the floor of the theater shook from the audience dancing, then it traveled to the land of the feels with songs like “Ribcage” and “You Ruin Me” before it ended on an explosive high note with “4ever” and “Untouched,” which the pair introduced saying “Please stand for the National Anthem.”

It may have been awhile since The Veronicas last toured here, but this show served as a reminder that from vulnerable ballads to rock riffs and dance anthems, there’s nothing Jess and Lisa Origliasso can’t do. If you get a chance to catch their show, don’t miss it. See where The Veronicas are touring next here and check out photos from the Chicago gig below.

categories / Reviews, Photos, Music, Gigs
tags / The Veronicas, House of Blues, Live Recap, Photo recap, Photo Set, Live Show, Live Nation

Live Recap: The Kooks and Vaccines with Daisy the Great

March 20, 2024  /  Rachel Zyzda

The Kooks, The Vaccines and Daisy the Great all rocked a sold out house at The Riviera to kick off the St.Patty’s Day weekend in Chicago.

The musical duo of Kelley Dugan and Mina Walker, AKA Daisy the Great, warmed up the Chicago crowd with a set that showcased the pair’s beautiful vocal harmonies along with their spunky energy. Daisy the Great performed the first song they ever released as a band, called “Record Player,” as well a few from their most recent “Tough Kid” EP, but they also introduced some brand new and unreleased material to the Chicago crowd. Dugan introduced one of the newer tracks saying, “This is our last new song, it’s about going on a walk. This song is called ‘Dog.’” Another fan favorite of their set was the song “Liar,” which Dugan explained was about having a secret crush on a friend—relatable!

After a quick changeover, it was time for The Vaccines to grace a Chicago stage for the first time since 2018, when they headlined a sold out Lincoln Hall. I luckily got to see The Vaccines in London in 2019, but it was still long overdue and great to have them back in my hometown—because the only vaccines I had in the meantime were covid and flu vaccines, and the band is a much better experience.

Each time I’ve seen The Vaccines, I know they’ll be great, but they never fail to impress me with just how topnotch they are as performers. This tour was in celebration of their new album Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations that they just released this January, and not only do they never miss in the witty and catchy songwriting department, but vocalist Justin Hayward-Young remains consistently charismatic (or as the kids would say nowadays, he has rizz). Whenever he wasn’t stationed in front of the mic stand so he could play guitar, Young slinked and danced his way across the length of the stage. The Vaccines’ stage presence has this effortlessly expressive and cool edge to it, yet it’s affable enough that they still feel approachable.

Although they had a relatively quick set length of an hour, the band still packed in hit after hit, mixing in plenty of fans’ old favorites between new material from their last album. Their set wrapped up on a peak of some of their most popular songs, including my personal favorites “I Always Knew” and “If You Wanna.”

Continuing the theme of familiar favorites, The Kooks kicked off the closing set of the evening with “Seaside” from their debut 2006 album Inside In/ Inside Out— which started simple with lead vocalist Luke Pritchard performing solo before the rest of the band joined him onstage. While The Vaccines were celebrating a new album on this tour, The Kooks were actually spotlighting the anniversary of their debut album, so naturally the set list featured the majority of Inside In/ Inside Out’s track list. True to form, “Seaside” is the first track on the album, and the live show followed suit for the first handful of songs, delivering hit after hit to the eager crowd.

While the band often moved from standing upstage to playing on platforms at the back of the stage, Pritchard alternated from playing guitar to roaming freely around the stage as he sang. During some of their songs, Pritchard even showed off his dance moves that were reminiscent of the infamous Hugh Grant dance scene in “Love Actually”— it must be a British thing. The crowd cheered loudly each time he danced, and they weren’t shy about cheering through out the rest of the show. For example, before “Bad Habit” fro 2014’s Listen, fans mimicked the chorus-like melody back in chant-form.

As we got closer to the finale of the evening, Pritchard told the audience, “If we’re gonna go ballistic, now is that time” before playing “Always Where I Need To Be.” The Kooks wrapped up their main set with “Junk of the Heart (Happy),” but returned to rowdy cheers to perform an encore of “Around Town” and the fan favorite “Naive.”

If you’re looking for a jam-packed night of feel-good songs and nostalgia, make sure to grab a ticket for when the tour hits your city and check out the photo recap of the Chicago show below.

categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs
tags / Daisy the Great, The Vaccines, The Kooks, The Riviera Theatre, Photo recap, Live Music, Live Review, Jam Productions

Photos: To Kill a King and Fours at The Garage

February 09, 2024  /  Rachel Zyzda

This past Saturday night, To Kill a King made their return to the stage in London to perform their debut album Cannibals With Cutlery in full. The performance also marked the 10-year anniversary of the band’s first album. Check out photos of the sold-out special occasion at The Garage, with support from Fours below.

categories / Photos, Gigs
tags / Photo recap, Live Show, To Kill a King, Fours, London, The Garage

Live Recap: Depeche Mode at The United Center

November 18, 2023  /  Josh Darr

Depeche Mode released their 15th studio album, Memento Mori back in March of this year. The first as a duo since the passing of founding member, Andy Fletcher, as well as the first since their last album, Spirit, back in 2017. In support of the new album and to reestablish themselves as a duo they’ve been making their rounds through both Europe and the States with plans to continue on well into 2024. Making their victory lap through Chicago, the duo returned to the United Center on Monday, November 13th for fans to feast on seconds or for those of us who missed dibs on their first go around. The sound like they haven’t missed a beat and their new album although the morbidity and existentialism of its material is exciting to hear and see how the duo have breathed new life into this personally nostalgic and beloved musical estate for this longtime music fan.

Check out photos from the concert below, and see where you can catch Depeche Mode next here.

categories / Gigs, Music, Photos, Reviews
tags / Depeche Mode, Live Recap, Photo recap, Photo Set, United Center

Photo Recap: The Wombats at The Vic Theatre

September 29, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

The Wombats returned to Chicago to perform at The Vic Theatre on Wednesday night. Check out photos of the fun-packed show below and see where you can catch the tour next here.

categories / Photos, Gigs, Music
tags / The Wombats, Live Recap, Live Music, Photo recap, Photo Set

Live Recap: MisterWives and Bishop Briggs at Salt Shed

September 26, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

MisterWives and Bishop Briggs kicked off this past weekend with a bang, bringing their co-headlining show “The Don't Look Down Tour” to Salt Shed.

After a support set from Raffaella, the stage was set for Bishop Briggs. Three risers with built-in screens sat across the stage, and Briggs appeared on top of the center block amid an introduction of strobing lights and videos projected on the screens. “I have goosebumps everywhere,” the singer told the packed house after opening the show with her single “Art of Survival.” The set continued with fan favorite “Wild Horses,” which Briggs ran around the stage while performing and “Cherry On Top,” which was just released this summer on the “When Everything Went Dark” EP.

Before playing the fourth song of the evening, Briggs took a break to chat with the audience and share the backstory for “My Shine,” which includes a crush she had once upon a time in Chicago. “I was playing a show in Chicago, and I was singing ‘River.’ I got so into the song that I chipped my tooth and there was blood everywhere. Anyway, I had this night out planned with him after, and I have my front tooth completely halved. I was like ‘let’s do this! I love a challenge’ and we actually did make out that night. That was fun, but something that ended up happening with him was that on show day, he was so lovely and pulled out all the stops and then when we sort of entered into my not-shiny part of my life, he was really cold to me and would be really different. My point in telling you guys this story is that I think it’s so important to be with someone that loves all sides of you, the shiny, the not shiny, and really accepts you fully. Don’t worry, I replaced my Chicago crush. Never let anyone tell you that all facets of you are not good enough, cause that’s not true.”

Throughout the rest of her set, Bishop Briggs continued to connect with the room full of music fans both via her music and the chats she’d have between songs. Other highlights of her show included a cover of Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” and the aforementioned hit “River” that she talked about in her introduction to “My Shine.”

MisterWives closed out the entire evening, continuing to ramp up the positive vibes with their joyful and energetic performance. The band’s stage set up remained similar to Bishop Briggs’, and lead vocalist Mandy Lee began the show in same spot that Briggs had before quickly dancing her way across the front part of the stage. After opening with the introductory song of their new album Nosebleeds, “Out Of Your Mind,” Lee told the crowd they were in a safe space to dance it out, cry it out, and feel it out. “We want you to leave here feeling better than when you came here,” she said. In just a matter of moments, the energy shift in the room was palpable thanks to Lee’s infectious effervescence that radiated from the stage. With every twirl, kick, and dance move Lee made, it felt like she was emitting sprinkles of fairy dust and pure happiness throughout the room. One of my fellow photographers even said “I feel like I just had five shots of espresso” after we finished photographing the first few songs of the evening— that’s just how contagious the band’s spirit was.

Now, I’ve mentioned that Lee continued to dance, jump, kick, and twirl throughout the show, but even more impressive is that her vocal quality never faltered despite the physicality of her performance. Not only did Lee never run out of breath while she essentially did a high-impact workout onstage, she nailed every note and showcased an extensive vocal range.

A large part of the setlist that night featured songs from the Nosebleeds album, and Lee took some time to tell the audience about the experiences that led to some of the newer songs. “Rather than racing to the finish line and trying to find the answers and the silver lining, we leaned into the messy middle, and from that got comfortable in the uncomfortable. I’ve never felt more free in my life, so thank you so much for carrying this record close. In the spirit of that sentiment, this one is ‘Trip Around The Sun.’” During the performance of this song, the visuals onstage resembled a sunrise, continuing to complement the stories behind each song.

As the latter half of the show approached, Lee told the audience “I somehow have chills but I’m sweating,” which is something I think a lot of us could relate to in that moment thanks to her goosebump-inducing vocals. The chills continued when the crowd swayed their arms back and forth in unison during the performance of “Superbloom,” which is the title track of MisterWives’ 2020 album. The hits kept coming when the band performed their mega-popular song “Our Own House” next. For the live performance of the 2015 song, the band played a refreshed arrangement that featured an extended introduction. The night eventually wrapped up with the title song from their new album, “Nosebleeds.”

If you missed out on the fun evening, check out photos below and see where you can catch the tour next here.

categories / Reviews, Music, Gigs, Photos
tags / MisterWives, Bishop Briggs, Salt Shed, Live Recap, Live Review, Photo recap, Photo Set

Live Recap: Local Natives and Chartreuse at The Riviera

September 12, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

Local Natives returned to Chicago on Friday, September 8th to kick off a new leg of their tour, with support from Chartreuse.

Hailing from Birmingham, England, Chartreuse is composed of Mike Wagstaff, Hattie Wilson, Perry Lovering and Rory Wagstaff, and together the quartet got the crowd primed and ready for Local Natives. Mike and Hattie switched off on vocal duties throughout their set, and their harmonies along with the synths and programing that the band used kind of gave me hints of Sylvan Esso or The Xx. Mike’s vocals also reminded me slightly of Grian Chatten from Fontaines D.C., but overall their sound channels a combination of folk, ambient and electro-pop genres. Chartreuse’s setlist included their songs “Deep Fat” and “Feed Be Fed” from their 2021 EP Is it Autumn Already?, among a few others.

The members of Local Natives made their way onto a dim stage, with giant balloons of the initials “L” and “N” planted in the background of the stage. The show commenced with Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer, and Ryan Hahn all huddled around a microphone near the front of the stage to perform an acoustic introduction with the title track of their latest album “Time Will Wait For No One.” (Spoiler alert- this wouldn’t be the only time that night they’d be huddled together near the front of the stage, but more on that later).

Since the tour was in honor of their most recent record, the band fittingly performed a few other newer tracks right off the jump, including “Just Before The Morning” and “Empty Mansions,” which was the live debut of that song. While other tunes from Time Will Wait For No One were sprinkled in throughout the rest of the setlist, we also heard some familiar favorites like the 2017 single “I Saw You Close Your Eyes” and “Coins” from 2016’s Sunlit Youth. The band’s first attempt at the latter was cut short by the PA temporarily blowing out, so the band passed the time with a fully acoustic and unplugged performance of “Who Knows, Who Cares” at the front of the stage, which required the crowd to quiet down.

With the PA back up and running, we got a proper redo of “Coins” before the show continued on. Before performing the Strokes-esque tune “NYE,” Rice took the time to tell the audience the backstory of the song. “Local Natives has a tradition that if one us gets married, we get to be each others’ wedding band. Ryan got married while making this album. We were playing Oasis, The Bee Gees, and this really fast Strokes song. After watching us, he kind of brought this next song to the table and we all jammed it out in the studio in two days, and that’s how ‘NYE’ came to be,” he said.

Following the song’s performance, Rice then took some time to talk about the recent 10 year anniversary of their album Hummingbird, and the band played a few songs from that album, including “Ceilings” and “Columbia.”

For the rest of the night, the energy only continued to escalate, with Rice leaving the stage to join the crowd during “Featherweight.” Fans also went wild during the performance of “Dark Days” which saw Rice and Ayer swapping places on the stage. Before the main part of the set wrapped up, Rice asked the crowd “Do you guys mind if we play ‘Who Knows Who Cares’ one more time?” and we got another full, plugged in performance of that song.

Local Natives kept the good vibes going with a three-song encore. Before performing their second to last song, “Sun Hands,” the band asked everyone to stand up and clap along, which is the least the audience could do during such an uplifting song. Speaking of uplifting, Rice ended up diving into the audience to crowd surf, which has become an epic tradition at their shows over the years. The show wrapped up with another full-house dance party to “When Am I Gonna Lose You.”

If you missed out on all the fun, check out the photo recap below, and see where you can catch Local Natives on tour next here.

categories / Gigs, Photos, Reviews
tags / Local Natives, Chartreuse, The Riviera Theatre, Jam Productions, Live Show, Live Recap, Photo Set, Photo recap

PHOTOS: Bastille's Bad Blood X Finale at The Wiltern

August 30, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

Bastille wrapped up their 10-year anniversary tour of their debut album, dubbed the Bad Blood X tour, on Friday night at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Check out the photo gallery of the evening below, and see where you can catch the band next here.

categories / Music, Gigs, Photos
tags / Bastille, Photo recap, The Wiltern, Live Music, Bad Blood, Bad Blood X, Los Angeles

Live Recap: The Goo Goo Dolls with O.A.R. at Northerly Island

August 27, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

While Summer may be winding down, there’s nothing better than an outdoor concert in Chicago (assuming the weather is cooperating). This past Tuesday night, The Goo Goo Dolls and O.A.R performed to a packed house at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island—one of the last handful of shows at this venue for the season.

As a teenager in the early aughts, I remember loving O.A.R.’s hit “Love and Memories,” but I went into their show not knowing too much more of their material. While I wasn’t able to sing along to the unfamiliar parts of their setlist, I seemed to be the odd man out, as I saw many of the people around me enthusiastically singing and dancing along to most of the band’s songs. O.A.R’s lineup also included Jerry DePizzo on the saxophone, which added some fun texture to their live sound. Lead vocalist Marc Roberge introduced fan favorite “This Town” as being a “celebration of our travels.” Other fan favorites included “Hey Girl” and “Shattered (Turn the Car Around).”

The Goo Goo Dolls took the stage next, after the sun had set. Their introduction featured a flurry of news reports that appeared on “televisions” on their background screen. The backdrop morphed throughout the night, flickering to different colors and graphics depending on the song—sometimes depicting stars and other times fire.

The setlist kicked off with “Broadway” from the band’s 1998 hit album Dizzy up the Girl, immediately setting the energy on high. We also heard “Slide” and “Black Balloon” from the same album in the early part of the set, which kept up the tone of nostalgia. For the latter of those songs, actual black balloons bounced around throughout the crowd, creating a tangible effect to accompany the song.

Johnny Rzeznik sang the majority of the songs on their 24-song set, but occasionally Rzeznik swapped the lead vocals duty with bassist/vocalist Robby Takac for songs like “Bringing On the Light” and “Life’s a Message.” Throughout the show, the band also introduced some refreshed arrangements on their popular songs; Rzeznik sang their song “Sympathy” sans guitar, accompanied only by the piano and he also sprinkled in some A capella moments during the performance of “Name.” Before playing that song, Rzeznik also introduced it as the first song The Goo Goo Dolls had played on the radio, saying “that’s when all the trouble started.”

Another highlight of the night included a cover of the late, great Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” which featured Marc Roberge as a guest performer. The icing on the cake for the evening was the group therapy vibes of singing along the lyrics to “Iris” as the band’s closing song—there’s just something cathartic about screaming “And you bleed just to know you’re alive” along with a crowd full of strangers.

Check out photos of the evening below, and see where you can catch The Goo Goo Dolls next here.

categories / Gigs, Music, Photos, Reviews
tags / Northerly Island, Live Recap, Live Music, The Goo Goo Dolls, OAR, Photo recap, Photo Set

Live Recap: Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Sasami at Northerly Island

June 04, 2023  /  Rachel Zyzda

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sasami kicked off June with a show at Northerly Island in Chicago this past Thursday night.

With the sun still shining and the Chicago skyline in the background, Sasami and her band took the stage to warm up the crowd for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sasami quickly ramped up the energy throughout the venue with her animated stage presence, dancing and between-song banter as she performed some songs from her 2022 album entitled Squeeze. At one point in her set, Sasami joked she was playing a new song called “Chicago Ate My Asshole”— which obviously got a lot of cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Fans continued to file into the outdoor venue, and eventually it was time for Yeah Yeah Yeahs to hit the stage. With the lights dim, the band members made their way onstage as strobing lights sent out small bursts of lighting before fully illuminating lead singer Karen O and her shimmering attire. The band opened the show up with the cinematic single “Spitting Off The Edge of the World” from their 2022 album Cool It Down before moving into the more tenured track “Cheated Hearts.”

“We’re gonna fucking party like it’s Thursday Night,” Karen O told the crowd early on in the set; a statement that was met with loud cheers and dancing from the packed audience. The singer also shared that she recently recovered from “the plague” so her voice might crack a little, but her energy and vocals remained resilient throughout the entire show.

The only time the energy mellowed out was when Karen O mentioned they were going to slow it down a bit to play “Lovebomb,” another newer song their last album. The band perfectly transitioned out of the song into the adored and familiar introduction to their hit “Maps,” which received an immediate eruption in screams from the audience. The energy continued to climb for the last portion of the show, with everyone dancing to “Heads Will Roll” to close out the main part of the set. The night fully wrapped with a 3- song encore, all of which were featured on 2003’s Fever To Tell album.

Check out photos from the evening below, and see where you can catch Yeah Yeah Yeahs on tour next here.

categories / Photos, Reviews, Gigs
tags / Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sasami, Photo recap, Live Review, Live Show, Live Nation, Northerly Island