It’s winter in Chicago, but so what? Music doesn’t own a condo in Florida, so expect plenty of worthwhile reasons to get out of the house or apartment in the first few months of 2011 to see a concert. Here’s a sampling of some of the more notable shows early in the new year (listed chronologically):
Weezer: Fans have been clamoring for Rivers Cuomo to revisit the sound and ultra-sincere intent of his band’s first two albums, so now he’s taking them literally. The first night of this mini-residency will be devoted to the band’s 1994 self-titled debut, the so-called “blue” album, and the second night to the massively influential 1996 album “Pinkerton,” 7:30 p.m. Jan 7-8 at the Aragon, 1106 W. Lawrence, $45 (sold out); ticketmaster.com.
Wu Tang Clan: Between group and solo projects, this crew has left an indelible mark on hip-hop the last two decades. You likely won’t see a stronger collection of MC’s on stage ever, including GZA, Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, 8 p.m. Jan. 8 at Congress Theatre, 2135 N. Milwaukee, $25; congressticketing.com.
Continue reading "Winter preview 2011" »
Looking for a New Year’s Eve party with an ace soundtrack? There are plenty of choices for music-loving revelers this year. Here are some of the best (arranged alphabetically by artist):
Big Freedia and her Divas: This is the place to be if you will settle for nothing less than a sweaty, fanny-shaking Bacchanal to ring in the New Year. Freedia proudly puts the “Sissy” in New Orleans’ longstanding bounce tradition, 10 p.m. Friday at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $25; ticketweb.com.
Shemekia Copeland: The blues is in good hands as long as this lion-hearted vocalist is in the room, 10 p.m. Friday at Space, 1245 Chicago Av., Evanston, Ill; $40, $45 (day of show), $60 (table reservation); ticketweb.com.
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Chicago soul great Syl Johnson is 74 years old, and he can’t remember a year that music didn’t play a fundamental role in his life.
While growing up in a one-bedroom shack in Mississippi, young Sylvester Thompson was around music all the time (his name was changed to Johnson once he started recording in Chicago). His father and uncles played violin, guitar and banjo, and Sylvester and his brothers Jimmy and Mack hung on every note.
“My daddy could play harmonica as good as Little Walter,” Johnson says. By the time he came to Chicago as a teenager in 1950, young Syl was a pretty fair guitar player. He bonded with a kid named Sam Maghett, future Chicago blues great “Magic Sam,” and soon became a key player on Chicago’s blues, soul and R&B scenes.
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The Black Keys – singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney -- have been doing the slow, steady build since their 2002 debut album. By the end of 2009, they had released seven albums and were big enough to sell out the 2,500-capacity Riviera twice at year’s end.
Then things got out of hand. Their eighth album, “Brothers” (Nonesuch), yielded their first radio hit, the whistle-stoked, Danger Mouse-produced “Tighten Up.” Four Grammy nominations followed, including nods for best rock song and best alternative album. The band’s audience exploded; Carney and Auerbach will close 2010 with three sold-out concerts at the 4,500-capacity Aragon Ballroom.
“Tighten Up” capped the “Brothers” recording session and was a conscious effort to nail down a song that might get some spins on commercial radio, Carney says. It injected a few more hooks into the duo’s trademark sound: a blues-based minimalism that embraces moaning-at-midnight vocals and trance-like grooves.
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When Don Van Vliet – better known as Captain Beefheart -- died Friday at age 69, he left behind a lifetime of ground-breaking albums that enchanted, puzzled and disturbed even as they assured his reputation as one of rock’s avant-garde visionaries.
The confusion was at least partially by design. Whether dealing with his band members, record companies or his fans, Beefheart made himself a moving target, impossible to define or fully understand. Yet his self-contained musical logic and outsider spirit influenced countless artists, including Johnny Lydon, Devo, PJ Harvey, Joe Strummer, the Residents, Tom Waits, Pere Ubu and the Fall. These artists, of course, did not sound much like Captain Beefheart. No one could. But his intent – that of being the sole inhabitant of a small, strange, entirely self-constructed world – was hugely inspiring, an artist who refused compromise.
Don Glen Vliet was born in January 1941 in Glendale, Calif. He demonstrated an early affinity for art (sculpture in particular), but began focusing on music after meeting a similarly precocious and gifted young musician named Frank Zappa in high school.
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As 2010 winds down, we’ve still got a bunch of potentially terrific shows to look forward to, including Ludacris at the Allstate Arena (Sunday), Elvis Costello at the Chicago Theatre (Monday) and the Hold Steady at Lincoln Hall (Dec. 30), plus a gaggle of New Year’s Eve shows that we’ll preview in future columns.
But it’s also time to take stock and look back on a year of heavy-duty concert-going. Out of more than 100 shows I attended, here are my favorites from 2010:
1. Gorillaz, Oct. 16 at UIC Pavilion: The cartoon band invented by Blur’s Damon Albarn and Jamie “Tank Girl” Hewlett more than a decade ago has morphed into a real band, with more than 30 musicians and singers, including a core group built on former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. Albarn orchestrates it all, blending hip-hop, dub reggae, Eastern music, punk, soul and myriad other genres into a soundtrack for a dying planet that doesn’t sound like a eulogy at all. Instead, it becomes one the year’s biggest dance parties.
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