Concerts

Review: Manual Cinema, October 31, Thalia Hall

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Celeste in Concerts | Leave a comment

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Openers tend to be a surprise – for better or worse. Unless you’ve meticulously prepped for your show and you actually know the opener, it’s likely that you’re putting your ears and 45 minutes of your time into the hopefully capable decision-making-hands of the headlining act and whoever they’ve chosen to open for them.

Bonnie Prince Billy headlined a show at Chicago’s newer venue, Thalia Hall, down in Pilsen on Friday night. Chicagoans came out in force and in costume for the sold out show (best costume of the night goes to the spot on head-banded Richie and fur-coated Margot Tenenbaum eating at the restaurant after the show).

The first pleasant surprise of the night was that it was a seated show – the venue was wall to wall folding chairs. The second was the opener – Manual Cinema. Not as I had originally assumed, a nonsensically named band, but a Chicago based shadow puppetry company whose name was a perfect descriptor. The troupe set up four projectors and for the next 45 minutes, used transparencies, actors silhouetted on a background, and a live backing band to meticulously produce Ava/Ada – the story of a bereaved twin living in a light house, mourning the death of her elderly sister.

Even beyond the beauty of the whimsical (and quite creepy) story, the most amazing part of the show was the intricate technical aspect. Using as far as I could tell, no technology created past the mid-90’s, the troupe had four actors manipulating miniscule cut-outs against backdrops on the projectors, and two actors interacting with the projected images on a screen which was then relayed to the audience as silhouettes on a bigger screen above. It’s amazing what this group of people can do with their lo-fi materials – the story they produced was poignant, sad, sweet and funny – and it translated universally to their audience.

In the spirit of “Whatever you do, do it well” this group is killing it. Probably there aren’t a heck of a lot of shadow puppetry troupes out there (or maybe there are? I have no idea), but I have full faith that this is one of the best ones out there.

Concert review: Chrissie Hynde, The Rails, October 30, Massey Hall

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

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Former Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde has always seemed to have a sort of badass rock and roll aura about her and The Pretenders have certainly had many memorable hits over the years. Given that, it seemed a pretty safe bet to assume that her show at Massey Hall might be (to use one of her song titles as a descriptor) something “Precious.”  As it turns out, despite a fair number of high points, much of her set turned out to be more “Middle of The Road.”

The show at Massey Hall was the first date on the tour behind her latest (and first) solo release, Stockholm. It was a good set, don’t get me wrong, and she’s got a solid band, but something about the show seemed a touch lacklustre to me. I may have been in the minority though as the generally older crowd seemed pretty stoked to see her right off the bat, even though she started off her set with a handful of midpaced tunes. That said, she is just beginning her tour so the setlist may be tweaked, and it was nevertheless great to hear all of those old Pretenders songs. Some of her new material also held up fairly well, with first single and set closer “Dark Sunglasses” making a particularly strong impression.

While Hynde’s set left me a little underwhelmed, her opening act, The Rails,made a good impression on me. The London folk duo of Kami Thompson (daughter of Richard and Linda) and James Walbourne offered up a brief yet enjoyable set of songs that fell somewhere between traditional British folk and rootsy Americana. Walbourne played double duty this evening, also filling the lead guitarist role in Hynde’s band (“Two for one,” she called it). While their set was perhaps too brief at less than half an hour, they impressed me enough that I’m curious to hear a bit more from them.

Concert Review: Generationals, October 30, Thalia Hall

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Celeste in Concerts | Leave a comment
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Everyone was in agreement that the Generationals had a great backdrop for their show at Thalia Hall on Thursday night. The New Orleans based duo (Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer) were both stationed at synth/keyboard stations that were a blinding white color, and when illuminated by the intense light show going on on-stage, became essentially multi-colored glowing/hovering equal signs with disembodied torsos above them.

The two were backed by a drummer and a bassist, and about 2/3 of the way through the show they busted out the woodwinds/brass – two trumpets and a sax – brought in especially for their addictive “Ten-twenty-ten” single off the 2011 ActorCaster album and 60’s inspired “When They Fight They Fight” off 2009’s Con Law. Joyner and Widmer also played the majority of their fantastic new album Alix including crowd favorites “Black Lemon” “Reviver” and “Would You Want Me”. The two have very distinct and very different vocals, and it was fun and refreshing to have them mix it up, swapping lead vocals throughout the night.

I’ve been to a lot of Chicago shows recently with weird musician/crowd tension – the Augustines threw a hissy fit and stalked off-stage (with the hilarious insult “Vince Vaughn’s fat!”) during a particularly disastrous show last month and Bonnie Prince Billy had a weird heckler at his Halloween show (who kept insisting he looked like a tellytubby), so it was really nice to see how much the band and the crowd were enjoying each other at this show. In particular the male duo next to me who had their hands in the air for every single song, rocking out like there was no tomorrow (bros bouncing – almost as much fun to witness as bros brunching). The rest of the crowd was right there with them.

Concert Review: Telly Savalas Is Alive and the Reigning Sound, October 25, The Horseshoe

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Jack Derricourt in Concerts | Leave a comment

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“There’s a lot of style here tonight, Jack.” Telly Savalas was alive and well and talking to me. The long-presumed dead actor/director/interpreter/visionary was telling it like it is in front of a gangling, open-mouthed troupe of music fanatics. Dressed in a suit with more class than a Harvard graduating ceremony, and with the help of his be-wigged piano player, Telly cooed terrible truths out amongst the audience: “You kids are facing down a terrible form of darkness these days . . .  no one can get a job . . . where’s the man with the guts to clear the path, find a way through to the end of the tunnel? . . . a man like Benny Franklin, Lenny Da Vince, and early Howard Hughes.” It’s hard to believe that the bald twirler of braggadocio is actually mild-mannered former quarterback Tom DiMenna. He’s that part of the American Dream that allows you to will yourself into a different, high-polished, pair of shoes.

The captivating climax of Telly’s act was his masterful interpretation of “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” a song that the Righteous Brothers “almost got right.” That’s what the world is to Telly: a place with not enough music and too little love.

Reigning Sound

As if in answer, the Reigning Sound took the stage just ten minutes later. These magicians of confessional rock and roll have the power to answer Telly’s righteous indignation. When asked to describe Greg Cartwright’s merry band of tex-mex rockers, I usually tell friends the Sound are like a supercharged version of the Wallflowers, just much cooler.

They played that part with aplomb to the packed crowd at the Horseshoe. Opener “Your Love Is a Fine Thing” got everybody moving with affection. The material off the band’s newest LP, Shattered, had the Toronto folks swaying back and forth, especially the pumped-up chorus of “My My.” But for the true fan of the Deadly Snakes, the thrashing Toronto outfit that Cartwright produced and played with, only the heaviest elements of the Sound’s catalogue would do. The band was gracious, pulling out a majority of the hits found on Too Much Guitar, an album so gritty and intense, it is likely to spin on, played over and over, through eternity.

Cartwright even deigned to play “Bad Man,” a number by his seminal 90s garage group the Oblivians. Some daring fan had requested the song early into the Sound’s set, to which Cartwright had jokingly replied, “That’s a cover.” His heart was in the right place, and the song got the crowd roaring with appreciation. It was a night of bad men and good music — rock and roll.

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