Thomas Dolby 4/5/12 at Park West
Thursday night, Thomas Dolby returned to Chicago to play the incredibly nice Park West in an evening that saw him showcasing a lot of new material as well as favorites that spanned his whole career on his Time Capsule Tour. Many eager, hardcore Dolby fans filled the tables on the main floor near the stage, [...]
Swans 7/22/11 at Bottom Lounge
Thursday night the Swans once again returned to the Bottom Lounge in an effort to destroy the hearing of about 700 or so people with their insanely loud and intense performance. Until last year the band was mostly inactive and when they come to town it is a special event that should be treated like [...]
UFO 5/20/11 at House of Blues
Friday Night the House of Blues in Chicago was packed full of old rock fans eager to see the return of legendary rock and roll band, UFO. The band has gone through a number of lineup changes over the years but has been coming and going since they formed around 1970. It has been a [...]
16 Volt and Chemlab 5/9 at Darkroom
The Darkroom played host to the return of some long time Industrial Rock bands in the form of 16 Volt and Chemlab as part of the Midi Ghetto Tour. Both of these bands have been around for a long time now, dating back to when industrial music was making a big splash in the early [...]
Riot Fest secret show w/The Falcon
Saturday night the fine folks at Riot Fest put on their last “secret” show of the year at the same location they did all the other ones, the AAA building in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. As with the previous shows, admission was by invitation only and it was the recession friendly price of [...]
Devo 11/12 at The Vic
When Devo released their first album in 1978 I was nearing the end of my run in grade school and would be a couple years away from discovering punk rock, that didn’t prevent me from discovering Devo though thanks to their single, “Whip It” which I spent my $1 allowance on one week to buy [...]
Skinny Puppy 11/9 at House of Blues
Monday night was the most exciting night of the year in music for me, the return of my favorite band in the entire world, Skinny Puppy! It had been over two years since they last played here. This time they are on the In Solvent See tour which unfortunately is not in support of a [...]
Riot Fest 2009 Day Five
Sunday was the fifth and final day of the biggest Riot Fest yet, and it was being held simultaneously at two different venues. I choose to return to the Congress Theater for the show being held there and the chance to see a couple bands that I’d never seen before. She Likes Todd She Likes [...]
Riot Fest Day Three
Day three of Riot Fest had me returning to the Metro for a totally Chicago old school punk rock lineup. Nostalgia would be running wild this evening because three of the four bands were regulars on the Metro’s stage back in the old punk rock days and this evening would end up feeling like some [...]
Riot Fest 2009 Day One
Fall in Chicago means two things; winter is coming soon and the return of the annual Riot Fest. The former I loathe while the latter is something I look forward too every year and it is the only thing that takes the sting out summer being over, and my aging yet another year. This year’s [...]
Riot Fest secret show w/Naked Raygun
Only two weeks had passed since the first secret Riot Fest show and already there was another one and this time it featured Chicago punk rock Super Heroes Naked Raygun! Never one to pass up an opportunity to see one of my all time favorite bands from my own city, I found myself at the [...]
Caustic Defiance/Negative Element CD
Caustic Defiance/Negative Element – CD Akashic Records I am pretty sure that the Stepe brothers would have invented hardcore punk had they been born a few years earlier. At the very least they brought the world of punk rock to the Western Suburbs of Chicago in the early 1980s. Their band, Negative Element, I believe [...]
Vans Warped Tour 8/1 at First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre
Summer means nice warm weather (or at least it is supposed to), longer daylight hours, and the return of the annual Vans Warped Tour, now celebrating its 15th birthday. The weather forecast for the day wasn’t very promising, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me, and neither did anyone else because the place [...]
The Prodigy return!
Electronic music heavyweights The Prodigy have returned with new material and are also on tour! They’ve just released a new video for the single, “Warrior’s Dance” from their new album, Invaders Must Die, which you can watch right here: The band is also currently on tour of the United States and they are coming to [...]
MDC 5/1 at Reggie’s
After a winter-long show drought I started making up for lost time by going to my second show in as many days last week. This time it was for the classic hardcore band MDC. I saw them play here a few years ago and thought they were still quite good so I was looking forward [...]
Don’t Call Us No Wave Fest part two
Sunday night was the conclusion to the two day run of shows at Beat Kitchen. This time there would be three different bands: one I never heard of, one from the very old days of Chicago punk, and one newer band that I’ve heard the name of but wasn’t familiar with. Flophouse Flophouse Flophouse I [...]
Ohgr 11/30 at Double Door
Sunday night Ohgr returned to Chicago after a seven year absence from touring to play a show at the Double Door. I was quite surprised he wasn’t playing at Metro again based on the popularity of Skinny Puppy and the fact that the Double Door is so small. I knew shooting the show was going [...]
