Staff from 22 Chicago music venues talk about how far they still are from normal—and what it’ll take to keep them around till we all get there.
Tag: Thalia Hall
Posted inMusic
Martin Atkins’s greatest moment in Chicago music history
With his supergroup Pigface, industrial-music veteran Martin Atkins brings together all sorts of scenes onstage.
Posted inMusic
COVID-19 hits live music hard
You can still support artists and staff by buying merch and donating to fundraisers.
Posted inMusic
Ensemble dal Niente braid together several Chicago-grown approaches to musical spontaneity
Update: This show has been canceled to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. Ensemble dal Niente commissions and selects new music that justifies the word “new” not just because it’s recently composed; it also challenges players and audience alike to experience performances in new ways. The ensemble’s […]
Posted inMusic
Best Coast deliver a clear, optimistic vision of rock ’n’ roll on Always Tomorrow
California duo Best Coast are a long way away from the bite-size stoner love songs and sun-drenched slacker tales of their 2010 debut album, Crazy for You. On their brand-new fourth LP, Always Tomorrow (Concord), singer-songwriter and guitarist Bethany Cosentino and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno pair beefed-up power chords with clear-eyed observations, a newfound sense of […]
Posted inMusic
Music is for every body
Chicago’s concert venues have made welcome advances in accessibility, but a regulatory gray area lets them fall short of what they should be.
Posted inArts & Culture
“BUILD YOUR SELF,” Light in Winter, Uppers and Downers, and more to do this weekend
Arts and culture happenings from Fri 2/21 to Sun 2/23.
Posted inArts & Culture
Todd Barry marks three decades in stand-up with Stadium Tour
Call him “bone dry” if you must, but don’t call him “alt.”
Posted inMusic
Calexico and Iron & Wine reconvene without retreading the same ground
As a Mexican-Swedish American who grew up with cowboy songs, Lawrence Welk, and mariachi music floating through the house, when I first heard Calexico in the early 2000s I was struck by their startlingly fresh way of straddling the southern border. For nearly a quarter century now, singer-guitarist Joey Burns, drummer John Convertino, and their […]
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Rest in peace to Chloe the punk-scene pug
Chloe the punk-scene pug crosses the rainbow bridge, online ecology publication Mid Magazine launches with an Ariel Zetina mix, and more.
Posted inMusic
They came, they saw, they smoked: Sleep celebrate their decade-long reunion and impending hiatus at Thalia Hall
Most band reunions don’t live up to the hype, but most bands aren’t Sleep. In the early 90s, the Northern California trio—bassist and vocalist Al Cisneros, guitarist Matt Pike, and drummer Chris Hakius—laid down a guttural strain of Sabbath-worshipping blues metal, filtered through a crusty psychedelic lens. They broke up in 1998 following a years-long […]
Posted inMusic
Freak-folk superstar Joanna Newsom comes to Thalia Hall on her first tour in three years
Ever since her 2004 debut, The Milk-Eyed Mender, singer, composer, and harpist Joanna Newsom has been one of those artists where you either get it or you don’t. Her eccentric, literary lyrics are eminently quotable, and the fey changeability of her music makes it hard to pin down stylistically. Though she’s only produced four albums […]
Posted inMusic
Spektral Quartet’s new season takes deep dives in diverse directions
Spektral Quartet’s new season takes deep dives in diverse directions, “posi-djent” act Harm Less celebrates a new album, and more.
Posted inMusic
Why won’t City Hall fight for Chicago’s homegrown music scene?
The Chicago Independent Venue League shouldn’t have to push back against the Live Nation handouts in the Lincoln Yards development—but City Hall doesn’t protect Chicago’s homegrown music scene.
Posted inMusic
Cupcakke stays fly on a budget at the beauty supply in her old hood
Chicago rapper Cupcakke doesn’t have to splurge to create her outrageous personas: “Cheap shit with a rich spirit goes a long way.”