Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness at the Vic (Oct. 31, 2014)

After weeks of internal debate, I was finally able to pull the trigger to get tickets for the Andrew McMahon show at the Vic. I knew that I would regret it forever if I didn't go to this concert (A little background: I have been a fan of his for over 10 years. He is the frontman of emo band Something Corporate and emo-ish/pop band Jack's Mannequin). The last time he came to town was in 2012, and I immediately regretted not attending the show. So anyway, it ended up working out nicely that my boyfriend was able to accompany me to the show at the Vic (and it just so happened to be our one year anniversary - I really could not have asked for a better gift from the heavens above). 

We ended up drinking quite a bit before the show, and so that paired with the anticipation/adrenaline that had been building up coupled to make an exciting evening. That being said, I won't be able to remember in exact detail what all went down, but I will do my best to remember.

First off, Andrew wore an astronaut costume since it was Halloween. It was so cute and so fitting, because he ended up playing "Astronaut" by Something Corporate. It was lovely. 

The show was a good mix of all three bands' songs. The songs I remember most vividly are "I Woke Up in a Car", "Dark Blue", "Astronaut", Cecilia and the Satellite",  and "Me and the Moon". 

I had never been to the Vic before, so I was pleasantly surprised by it. It reminded me of the Metro (which is my favorite Chicago venue), in that it's small/shallow enough to be able to see from basically anywhere you stand. And it had a balcony similar to the Metro as well. So we ended up in a really good spot where it was easy to see the whole thing.

Andrew was pretty classic, jumping on his piano, smiling from ear to ear, and just having the best time performing. It was super nostalgic, and I can't lie - I got pretty emotional. I actually cried drunk, happy tears. 

He walked off stage for about 1 minute before he came back out with the band to play 3 encore songs. Great, great show. He's an artist that I will love forever. 

Broods at The Rave/Eagles Club (Sept. 2, 2014)

After rescheduling their North American tour, Broods were set to open up for Sam Smith, and would be their only show in Chicago. Even if we did want to go to that show solely to see Broods (for $45, no thanks), it was already sold out by the time my girlfriends and I realized it. Luckily, my friend did a little bit of research and discovered that they’d be playing a $10 show just an hour-or-so away in Milwaukee.

So five of us girls made the trek up to Milwaukee (on a school night after a long Labor Day weekend), and it was completely - a million times over - worth it. Unfortunately we missed the Griswolds opening performance, because we were running just a little bit late.

I had been to The Rave/Eagles Club once before (in about 2010 to see the Something Corporate reunion show), but I had never been in the tiny back stage of the venue. It was so intimate, I could not even handle it. We stationed up in the center, near the back (which was about 6 rows of people in!). After getting introduced by FM 102.1, Georgia and Caleb Nott - brother and sister from New Zealand - AKA Broods came on stage. They opened with “Never Gonna Change”, which made me GIDDY. It’s the song that made me fall in love with them in the first place - one that I heard and could never get back out of my head. Something about it is just so strong and emotional. I can’t listen to the chorus without melodically rocking my head back and forth.

They continued to play the entire Evergreen album, that hadn’t been released yet in the US. It was all just so good. Besides “Never Gonna Change”, my favorite song they played was “Four Walls”. I had heard the song a few times since it was released on Spotify, but it was nothing special in my head. Hearing it live, though, changed everything. It shot up to the top of my favorite Broods songs. It was everything - the piano, the slow, emotional nature of the song, HER VOICE… it was legit moving. I am not lying when I say I had tears in my eyes and almost could have cried during it (afterwards, Emma and Annette said the same thing).

I also love when they played “Superstar” - it was the first time hearing it, and it stuck to me. That was one of my favorite parts about going to this show: they introduced the entire Evergreen album to us in person, a couple of weeks before it was set to be released in the States.

You could really tell that she was especially enjoying herself performing for us. Caleb was a little more contained, since he’s on the keyboard, but nevertheless it was super enjoyable watching them play. I was infinitely grateful that we decided to make the trek to Milwaukee to see them play at such an intimate venue. The experience would have definitely not been the same had we seen them opening for Sam Smith. Such an amazing show, and such great artists.

Chet Faker at the Concord (Aug. 28, 2014)

Whenever there’s a music festival in town, it seems like the whole city is just concert infested the entire weekend. So even though I wasn’t intending on participating in any North Coast Music Festival activities, I ended up acquiring tickets to see a North Coast pre-party - Chet Faker. When my roommate, Connor, told me he had tickets for us, I was amped to go. I had just discovered his music in the late spring. In anticipation of the show, I played the entire Built on Glass album straight through (probably twice). It’s one of those albums that’s best listened to in its entirety, in order. The chill, percussion-heavy beats create the best loungin’ ambiance.

We only really came to see Chet Faker, so we missed the two openers (Mount Kimbie and Fujiya & Miyaji). We got a pretty good spot - center, about 10 rows back. I didn’t realize it’d be a solo performance - just him and his keyboard. He mainly played tracks off of Built on Glass, with a few other songs mixed in between. Generally I thought the show was just ok - I don’t think the Concord was the right choice of venue. The problem was that the music didn’t sound as good/loud as it should have been. I felt like I wanted to actually feel the bass, because the beat would have been what drove the show. His vocals weren’t as good live as I expected them to be, either.

All in all, I’m glad I went because his newest album is really, really good.  But the performance and overall sound could have been a couple of notches up.

Donavon Frankenreiter at Double Door (Aug. 26, 2014)

The last time I saw Donavon F. was in eighth grade. He was opening Jack Johnson along with G. Love & Special Sauce at the Riviera. That was a huge venue and I remember his music being as chill and beachside as ever.

This time I saw him in the smallest venue I’ve ever been to - Double Door - and I loved it. It was perfectly intimate, and his voice sounded silky smooth. He makes hitting notes seem so easy. His voice grooves and fluctuates perfectly. Closing his eyes for a majority of the time, you almost feel like he is visualizing himself beach-side, harmonizing with the sound of the waves.

He played a mix of his songs, old and new, and a cover or two. The most memorable songs he played were “You Can Call Me Papa” and “American Girl” (Tom Petty cover).

Overall, being in such an intimate venue listening to Donavon F. play the chillest tunes ever was a great way to spend my Tuesday night.

Bear Hands & Bombay Bicycle Club at Bottom Lounge (Aug. 1, 2014)

I looked forward to this Lollapalooza after show for weeks upon weeks. I did not think that I would be able to attend Lolla at all that weekend, so I had to select my preferred after-show carefully. I decided that Bombay Bicycle Club was a band that I hadn’t seen before and one that I knew would be great live. I was really excited about the show being at Bottom Lounge because it’s small enough to be intimate but big enough for a crowd to have a good time.

I was really excited about Bear Hands opening for two reasons: first, because I had fallen in love with one of their early songs (“Belongings”) YEARS ago, back when they were completely obscure, and secondly because I had recently fallen in love with a song off of their newest album- “Giants”. Their set was okay, but I have to admit, it could have been much better. To me, a lot of the newest album sounds pretty redundant, and they played most of it. I was pretty disappointed that they never decided to play “Belongings”. “Giants” was a good time, though, so I guess it wasn’t a complete loss.

Bombay Bicycle Club, however, was AMAZING. Their energy was great - you could tell they were having a really great time. I never really had paid attention to the female singer previously, and I felt that during this performance, she shined.

You know when you see a band live, and they play a song that was never really all that special to you before, but for some seeing it live made you fall in love with it? That happened to me at this show with “Carry Me”. Fucking GREAT song.

The show was long enough that they played a good majority from both of their albums. I could not help myself from bouncing around the entire time (but then again, I can’t help myself from doing that at most shows). I had such a great time at the show; I was extremely glad that I went.