Filtering by Tag: Photo recap
PHOTOS: The Format Unplugged at The Rave
The Format kicked off their unplugged Midwest tour in Milwaukee at The Rave’s bar venue on Saturday, July 25th. Check out photos of the intimate show, also featuring support from Limbeck below. Make sure to catch The Format on tour later this year, including a performance at Riot Fest here in Chicago on September 20th.
PHOTOS: Mr. Fantasy at Bottom Lounge
The sensational Mr. Fantasy brought his debut album Fantasyland to life onstage at Bottom Lounge on Thursday, July 23rd—closing out his inaugural tour, aptly called the “Sexy Little Tour.” The show featured his self-titled viral hit “Mr. Fantasy,” along with several of his other groovy tunes like “Only Girl” and “Catapult.” Fans donned disco-themed outfits (similar to the one Mr. Fantasy sported) and danced along with the star throughout his hour-long set. See photos of the performance below, and be sure to follow along with England’s finest here.
PHOTOS: Jeff Rosenstock with Beach Bunny at Metro
Jeff Rosenstock and his live band (AKA Death Rosenstock) have taken over the legendary Metro in Chicago for a whopping 9-night residency. Each night has featured a different support act, ranging from Mustard Plug to Beach Bunny—with Dan Andriano (of Alkaline Trio) and Sidney Gish still to come during the remaining nights. You can nab tickets for just $25 for the final night here, and check out photos from Wednesday night with Beach Bunny below.
Live Recap: Kevin Morby's Back in Chicago and We're Feeling It
On Tuesday, June 2nd, Kevin Morby returned to Chicago to play a sold out show in support of his new album Little Wide Open. While he’s performed in the city many times in the past, this was his first time on the legendary Metro stage.
After an opening set from Chicago’s own Liam Kazar that got the crowd warmed up and feeling good, Morby and his bandmates made their way onto a stage that had been decked out in cheery sunflowers as a callback to the cover art for Little Wide Open. Amongst the live band members was Kazar, pulling double duty for not only this show, but the entirety of the tour. Kazar was joined by Cochemea Gastelum, Cole Berggren, Camellia Hartman and Dom Billet to bring Morby’s songs to life.
Donning glitter on his cheeks and a customized denim-on-denim ensemble that featured painted-on artwork related to the singer (like the sunflowers from the album cover or the Kansas City logo as a nod to his hometown), Morby launched into the set with “Natural Disaster” from his latest album. The first several songs on the setlist leaned heavily into the new material, including the singles “100,000” and “Die Young,” but Morby told the crowd that he and the band were going to play some classics before they transitioned into his earlier music.
After playing “This Is A Photograph,” Morby took some time to address the packed audience. “I’ve been hearing about this venue for so long. I’ve never been in this venue, never even seen a show here. I’ve always wanted to come—thank you all so much for coming tonight. It means the world! It’s an honor to be up here.” Sitting on one of the amps on stage, the singer started to riff the chorus to Djo’s “End of Beginning,” singing “And when I’m back in Chic—just kidding, this song is called ‘Five Easy Pieces'.’” The moment got a good chuckle from the crowd, but personally I’d love to hear a full cover of the tune by Kevin Morby! The momentum of the night only continued to soar during that song, with Morby meandering around the stage, sans guitar, and eventually making his way offstage and down to the barricade to sing face-to-face with fans in the front.
Throughout the night, we were treated to several extended jams of the songs being performed, allowing us to relish in the magnitude of talent of each of the musicians onstage. For example, Gastelum played the flute and saxophone on different songs, and Hartman played violin in addition to the keys and backing vocals, really giving a rich depth to the live performance of these songs.
The sold-out crowd was also delighted by a one-off rendition of Morby’s “Bittersweet, TN”—which was done as a duet with Erin Rae on the album. However, during his Metro show, Morby explained that he’s invited a friend from each city on the tour to perform a song with the band every night. “They’re one of my favorite songwriters ever, I’ve known this person for over 20 years and truly, one of my favorite songwriters in the world,” he said as he introduced Alynda Segarra from Hurray for the Riff Raff to join him for the live duet.
Another special Chicago-only moment during the show came just before the last (pre-encore) song of the night. Prior to playing “Coat Of Butterflies,” Morby told the audience that he got really into Jeff Buckley when working on his 2022 album This Is A Photograph, so it was only fitting that he dedicate a song to Buckley in the venue where Buckley’s “Live in Chicago” performance was filmed—way back in 1995. “I was writing in Memphis and I became obsessed with the man. I wrote this song about him, so we don’t usually play this one, but we’re gonna play it tonight! This one’s to Jeff Buckley,” he told the crowd.
The band left the stage after that song to demands for an encore, and we didn’t have to wait long for a return to the stage. The set officially concluded with a 2-song encore featuring “Beautiful Strangers” and “Dorothy.”
By the end of it, Morby and his bandmates played for over 90-minutes, and the Metro audience loved every second of it. Besides the sunflowers on stage, there really wasn’t any fancy production elements to the show, but Kevin Morby and his band are such talented musicians that they don’t need any bells and whistles to put on a phenomenal show. The tour continues throughout North America this month, before heading across the pond to Europe— grab your tickets here and see photos of the Metro performance below.
PHOTOS: Warm Love Cool Dreams 2026
Warm Love Cool Dreams Festival returned over Memorial Day weekend at The Salt Shed. Check out photos from Day 2 of the fest, featuring Tobacco City, Being Dead, Moin, Toro Y Moi, Whitney and Courtney Barnett below.
Live Recap: (Everything Is Going Wrong) But We're So Happy, Thanks to The Wombats!
The Wombats returned to The Vic Theatre in Chicago on Saturday, November 1st, performing a sold-out show as part of their Oh! The Ocean Tour.
As you may have guessed, the tour was in honor of the band’s 6th studio album entitled Oh! The Ocean, which was released earlier this year. While I arrived at the venue, I took a mental stroll down memory lane and realized the first time I saw The Wombats was in 2015 in support of their 3rd album Glitterbug, meaning I’ve been a fan of the trio for more than a decade now. The (over) 10-year anniversary of my first Wombats gig felt very sentimental, but there’s a warm sense of comfort that the band exuded in their performance this past weekend that also made it feel like no time had really passed at all.
Matthew “Murph” Murphy, Tord Øverland Knudsen, and Dan Haggis took the stage just after 9:15PM, settling themselves in front of a furry backdrop—or in Haggis’ case, settling onto a drum set that was decked out in the same “Wombats fuzz” that was giving “stroke the furry wall” from the movie Get Him to the Greek (IYKYK). The band began the set with the introductory song off of their latest album, entitled “Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come.” In the song, Murph croons every socially anxious introvert’s truth, saying “It’s not that I hate you, I just hate everyone/ I don’t want to socialize unless I’m getting numb.” While I’m sure many of the audience members (myself included) can relate to that sentiment, fortunately we were all able to get past it to show up that night, and we were rewarded with a very special performance.
Following the new song, all of us ventured back down memory lane together with a handful of songs from earlier records, including “Moving to New York” from the debut album and “Cheetah Tongue” from Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life.
As the musical journey continued on, the bandmates took time to toss in several anecdotes, both about the new and older material. Post “Techno Fan” and Pre-”Kate Moss,” Murph addressed the crowd saying, “That last song was about a weird night out in London, and this next one is about my old neighborhood in LA. Somewhere in the pandemic everyone started getting divorced and doing really weird shit. It’s still going on to this day to be honest, so this song is dedicated to funky times.”
Dan Haggis later on addressed the crowd, saying that songs have a way of standing still in time, and that felt so fitting to the sentimental air of nostalgia at the gig—the time has passed, but these songs from over a decade ago remain a timeless constant in the lives of so many music fans. Haggis continued, “We’d love you to join in on this next song, it’s an a cappella. We were trying to think of a way to start off our first album and this weird little number popped into our heads,” before the trio launched into a rendition of “Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials” that bled right into “Kill The Director.”
The band’s energy onstage mostly remained amped up—from Knudsen jumping and kicking across the stage, to Murph climbing up on Haggis’ drumset and a friend donning a full-on wombat costume joining in for “Ready for the High”— but they took the time to strip things down for an acoustic performance of “Lethal Combination.” Murph prefaced the performance telling a story about a night out that he and his wife had at Barney’s Beanery in LA. “The barman said you guys need to exit this establishment now. I said why do we have to do that, and he said, we’ll you’ve been asleep for an hour. I said no, we haven’t been, and I turned around to look at my wife, and she was passed out on the bar. Then on the way back she said, we’re a lethal combination, us two, or something like that.”
Other than the one acoustic track, the songs remained upbeat and fast-paced for the rest of the main setlist, which closed out with their single “Turn.” The band teased their encore saying that was their “last song” with a wink, and they left the stage to overwhelming applause and calls for more songs.
The Wombats didn’t disappoint and came back to close out with their hit “Greek Tragedy” and “Let’s Dance to Joy Division,” the latter of which the band sings “Everything is going wrong, but we're so happy.” If you turn on the news or doomscroll TikTok, it’s easy to see the things that are going wrong in the world, but art and music like that by The Wombats is always a much-needed reminder that there is good and a sense of community in the world. It’s truly impossible to be sad at a Wombats show—especially when they brought out multiple friends in wombat costumes for the final song!
If you need another ray of sunshine, the band recently put out a new single “Holy Sugar” that’s a preview of their extended cut of Oh! The Ocean, out December 5th. Be sure to check out upcoming tour dates for The Wombats and snag your copy of their latest album here.
PHOTOS: Junior Varsity and Foster The People at Metro
Junior Varsity and Foster The People performed to a sold out Metro on Saturday, August 2nd, as part of an official Lollapalooza aftershow. Check out photos of the late-night gig below, and see where you can catch Foster The People on tour next here.
PHOTOS: Post Animal and Djo at Salt Shed
Post Animal and Djo hit the stage at Salt Shed ahead of their respective Lollapalooza festival sets over the weekend, performing to a sold-out crowd on Thursday, July 31st.
Check out photos of the show below, and see where you can catch the bands back on the road this fall here.
Live Recap: Winnetka Festival 2025
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.
Kam Franklin performing
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.
Pete Yorn and his band performing
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.
Fans enjoying Eggy’s set
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.
Cold War Kids closing out the night
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.
