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 [...]
You Weren’t There DVD release show
Saturday night was a big night in the world of Chicago punk rock, it was the official DVD release screening and show for the documentary, You Weren’t There. The documentary does a monumental job of telling the history of punk rock in Chicago, which was a city whose punk scene never got the recognition that [...]
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 2009 Day Four
Saturday’s Riot Fest show (well one of the them) had me back to the venue where Riot Fest all began, the Congress Theater. I’m quite fond of that venue and it’s nice big stage and good lighting so I pretty much figured I’d be in for a good time and of course a good time [...]
Riot Fest 2009 Day Two
The only good thing about fall continued on Thursday over at the Beat Kitchen, which I believe is another first time for Riot Fest venue. This show was a three band bill and got off to a pretty early start. The small size of the venue and the popularity of the headlining band, 7 Seconds, [...]
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 [...]
Riot Fest secret show w/ 88 Fingers Louie
As the countdown to Riot Fest begins (it is in October), the fine folks behind the annual punk rock goodness decided they were going to host a few secret shows here and the first one was last week. People who bought tickets in advance for the Riot Fest shows were randomly invited to a secret [...]
Rockstar Mayhem Festival 7/26 at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Last week I made the long journey to Tinley Park, IL for the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. For those of you who never heard of this, think Warped Tour for metal heads. This was an all-day outdoor show with 3 stages and a whole lot of bands. The festival was being headlined by Marilyn Manson and [...]
The Germs 6/23 at Reggie’s
Last week I happily went to Reggie’s yet again, this time to see The Germs (or what’s left of The Germs anyway). They played an all ages show that got off to a nice early start which was fine with me considering it was on a “school night”. We got to the club a little [...]
Pegboy and The Bollweevils 5/15 at Metro
I found it funny that I hadn’t been to the Metro in years and then all of a sudden I find myself going there twice in as many weeks. This time I made the trek over there to see two of Chicago’s finest punk bands: Pegboy and The Bollweevils (the latter being my motivation 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 [...]
Mastodon 4/30 at Metro
Thursday night I hopped on the L all excited to finally see Mastodon play over at Metro. I had been looking forward to this show ever since I saw they were going on tour because not only would I get to see Mastodon, but Kylesa was also playing with them and that’s another band I’ve [...]
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 [...]
Don’t Call Us No Wave Fest part one
This past weekend was a pair of shows I was looking forward to over at Beat Kitchen. It was the “Don’t Call Us No Wave Fest” and it featured five old obscure Chicago art/punk/noise bands, and one newer band that fit the same kind of mold. These shows that reunite old punks are always exciting [...]
Down 11/12 at House of Blues
A few days ago I went to see Down once again play at the House of Blues. They were just here about a year ago and put on a really good show, so i was excited at the chance to see them again. I also was a Pantera fan and since Down features Phil Anselmo [...]
Silver Abuse 9/6 at Lucky Gator Loft
Saturday night saw the return once again of Silver Abuse! I saw them last December when they did a reunion show and had a lot of fun, so when I found out they were doing another one I wasn’t about to miss it. This time around they were playing with three newer bands instead of [...]
Ministry 5/8/08 at House of Blues
Thursday night I went over to House of Blues to catch Ministry on what they are billing as their final tour. this was the first of a four night run of shows they are playing at the venue. Seeing as Chicago was their hometown for most of their career, it made sense that they’d more [...]
Hate Eternal, Soilent Green, Skeletonwitch 4/23 at House of Blues
Wednesday night I went over to House of Blues for a night of metal. It was a beautiful day outside and it was an early show so I skated over to the club from the train station instead of taking the bus. After having to check my skateboard at the hotel next door, I went [...]
Anti-Nowhere League 4/9 at Reggie’s
Last week I went to see the Anti-Nowhere League at Reggie’s here in Chicago. The band’s first album, We Are… The League, ranks extremely high on my list of favorite punk rock albums of all time so I was very excited to get a chance to see the band play. I took the bus and [...]
The Black Dahlia Murder 2/13/08 at House of Blues
Wednesday night I braved the frigid cold and crappy weather to go to the House of Blues here in Chicago to see The Black Dahlia Murder. I saw them play last fall with Cannibal Corpse and was pretty impressed, enough so that I left my winter hibernation to go to this show. Hate Eternal Hate [...]
Macabre and Destroy Everything 12/23/05 at Double Door
Friday night I went to see Macabre and Destroy Everything (along with two other bands) play at the Double Door here in Chicago. While I like Macabre, my main reason for going of course was to see my punk brothers (aka: my beloved Klowns) in Destroy Everything play a show, as it always promises to [...]
Riot Fest after-party at The Exit
After we decided that we couldn’t stomach the shit sandwich that “The Misfits” were trying to feed us, Senor Citizen and myself drove a couple of the Angry Samoans over to The Exit to get prepared for them to play there in the upstairs section of that fine little bar. We arrived and it turned [...]
Riot Fest 2005 day one
Friday was the start of the two-day Riot Fest here in Chicago. For those unaware, it was a two day huge punk “festival” at the Congress Theatre. There were more bands on the bill than I could keep track of and a lot of big name punk bands from the old days in some form [...]
