Dastardly's Gabe Liebowitz & August Sheeny (Photo by Audrey Leon)

Wanting to break away from the more traditional concert experience, Dastardly took the room back to the days where wholesome, downhome country fun came via variety shows like Hee-Haw and the Grand Ole Opry. Of course, the night’s festivities were anything but as the mix of comics and musicians threw decency to the wind to the delight of many in the room.

The Hideout’s stage was lit with its familiar Christmas lights and decorated with oversized fake cacti. The host – Dickie Phipps (portrayed by Chad Briggs), donning a unruly black wig in the style of Roy Clark – introduced Dastardly as they kicked off the first act with “Rose Marie.”

The group’s energy never let up, even with all the bizarre happenings going on around them. First, there was the comic (Joe Fernandez) whose fiance had left him prior to the show. His wavering voice – always on the verge of a sob – hussled guffaws from the crowd as he squeaked out his routine. Then there was piano prodigy Chris Condren who struggled with his Yamaha keyboard, playing bad synthesizer compositions including a cover of “I won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty that he introduced as a song “about a rapist.”

The show’s catastrophic highlights are too many to name, but the fight between banjo/guitar player Joe Rauen and a heckler who was wrapped from head to toe in garbage bags was certainly memorable. The man burst in, claiming the members of Dastardly were the Illuminati responsible for many things including Lady Gaga. Clearly having had enough, Rauen grabbed a piece of fake cactus and battered the man with it until the entire band chased him from the room, signaling the end of act one.

The second act began with Dastardly’s ode to Missouri, with such Chicago crowd-pleasing lyrics as, “Missouri, you’re a cold and miserable fucker.” But then all hell broke loose as “children’s act” Ruby Weapon jumped on stage.

The group’s electro-hip-hop-dance song was an ode to female genitalia that would have made Prince blush. Quip of the night goes to host Dickie Phipps: “Can we agree that that just happened to us? There aren’t any counselors on hand. Let’s just form a prayer circle outside to cleanse the room.”

Patsy Cline and Katy Perry (Photo by Audrey Leon)

Saving the best guest for last, Dastardly was joined on stage by the ghost of Patsy Cline. The band’s rendition of “Crazy” was soon interrupted by Katy Perry, who dusted the stage with glitter while wearing a bra made of lollipops. The brawl that ensued between the two musical stars (portrayed by the Puterbaugh Sisters) ended with Cline emerging victoriously, covered in Perry’s glitter-filled blood. And Dastardly did the only thing a band could do in this situation – end the night with one more song, this one entitled “Jews Don’t Go to Heaven.”

On a night where nothing (appeared to) go right, Dastardly emerged as the voice of reason, playing each song during its two sets with full-on angst and passion, as if they members’ very own lives depended on redeeming the night. And redeem it, they did. Dastardly’s revue truly ended with a hoedown (Perry) and it was spectacular.
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Enjoy some video highlights from the night below:

Dastardly performing “Fever” (video by Audrey Leon)

Dastardly brawls with heckler (video by Audrey Leon)

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Smoking Popes

Smoking Popes and Alkaline Trio were celebrating their 20th and 15th anniversaries, respectively, at the first of two sold-out shows at the Metro on Monday evening, and the bands both reflected their relative ages. While the older-brother Popes were mainly content (with notable exceptions) to forego high-octane physical performances in exchange for precision and crispness, the still-rambunctious Trio cranked up the energy, letting the band members’ adroitness on their instruments fade behind the wall of sound. However, the show delivered exactly what the fawning crowd came to see: two superior punk rock bands playing songs that are guaranteed to get you moving—or, in this case, moshing.

There’s no denying that Smoking Popes write great power-punk songs. In 20 years they haven’t lost a step when it comes to creating a live sound that, while as tight as a studio recording, boosts the adrenaline factor up a few notches. The run early in the set of “Can’t Find It,” “Grab Your Heart and Run,” and “No More Smiles” was done at a breakneck pace, yet played with care. Maybe, even, too much care. For much of the set, bassist Matt Caterer struck rockstar poses with one foot on the monitor, did windmills on the bass, and scissor-kicked at the appropriate moments, while the rest of the band rarely came even close to matching his enthusiasm.

Singer/guitarist Josh Caterer occasionally jumped up and down with his brother, but it wasn’t until set-closer “I Know You Love Me” that Josh took off the guitar and interacted with the crowd as a true lead singer, singing to the fans, and having the fans sing back. It was a honest-to-god rock and roll moment from a band that can obviously play to a crowd when it wants to.

The fantastic ending to the set reminded me of when, earlier in the set, Josh dedicated a song to the guy who had tried, unsuccessfully, to start a mosh pit the song prior. But it wasn’t that guy’s fault for not working the floor into a frenzy: the Popes sounded great and you could hear energy, but for the most part lacked the kinetic energy to match. If the band’s presence could have matched the quality of playing, Smoking Popes pick up a whole new contingent of fans that night mesmerized by a perfect set.

Alkaline Trio, however, had no problem revving up a crowd that was hungry for their particular brand of macabre punk. From the opening guitar riff of “Cringe,” it was obvious this was going to be a fast, sweaty hour and a half of music. The Trio ran through 21 songs in that time, including a five song acoustic-guitar based set that the floor still managed to find a way to mosh to (though I suppose it’s almost cheating that one of the songs was “Clavicle,” which could kick your ass even if played on a harp). Throughout the whole set, the band played hard, played fast, and played well.

But here’s something I never thought I’d say: live, a fair amount of Alkaline Trio’s technical prowess is lost. Not by sloppy playing, but instead by an emphasis on punk-rock level loudness. Guitar player Matt Skiba and bassist Dan Andriano are both incredibly talented musicians, and it was only once I realized they were lacking, did I notice that many of their songs, though barreling down the tracks like a hardcore juggernaut, depend on difficult guitar lines, constantly-moving bass parts, and the ability for the band to stop on a dime after down-stroking at 900 times a minute. The band was still doing all these things on Monday night, but the wall of sound made even noticing it a chore.

That being said, it’s impossible not to have your heart race a little faster when the Trio starts into “San Francisco” or “This Could Be Love,” and the pay-off never let you down. Except for the fact that they didn’t play “Radio.” Come on, guys. It’s “Radio.” We DID, however, get an Alkaline Trio/Smoking Popes collaboration of a cover of Violent Femmes’ “I Held Her In My Arms.” Though the song was nothing to write home about, it was great to see two local bands made good playing together on their home turf, celebrating each other’s success.

Both Smoking Popes and Alkaline Trio impressed on Monday night, and I can’t imagine fans of either band leaving disappointed. And for those of us that are fans of both bands, well, this one was pretty damn awesome.  Though, side note: it was kind of creepy seeing the 10- or 11-year-old girl in the front row singing along to every single Alkaline Trio song. This ain’t Raffi, folks. In these songs, Baby Beluga ODs.

Wild Flag | Photo by Audrey Leon

Supergroups like Wild Flag have a lot to prove. The band’s pedigree is well-known and much revered (Sleater-Kinney, Helium, The Minders, etc.), which is why fans have no problem flocking to the band despite not having released a full-length record, yet. However, the few offerings that have leaked out to various websites has been exciting and exceptional, and Wild Flag more than proved at Subterranean that it is worth the early hype.

When guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony walked on stage with drummer Janet Weiss and keyboardist Rebecca Cole in tow, the group was all grins. Brownstein flashed a smile at every point: soloing with Timony and laughing at the enthusiastic reponse the crowd doled out to the rockers. There was also dancing, jumping and plenty of high kicks and writhing on the floor, courtesy of Timony and Brownstein. It is so easy to see that these are women who enjoy sharing a stage with each other and the love is infectious.

Wild Flag opened with “Electric Band,” a song that starts with some lead-heavy drum beats by Weiss and Timony’s own brand of spacey, light vocals. Wild Flag’s music flows between that which could easily be Timony’s own solo material and Sleater-Kinney standards, songs that are either whimsical or flat-out, high-voltage rockers.

The crowd roared along with the better known material such as the Timony-helmed “Glass Tambourine” and the frantic Brownstein-lead “Future Crimes,” both of which were released on 7” earlier this year for Record Store Day. Main set closer “Romance,” a bouncy power pop jam sung by Brownstein, was also well-received by the crowd.

As fun as it is to watch the dynamic between co-vocalists Brownstein and Timony, Cole and Weiss are phenomenal performers. Cole spent most of the show hidden behind her keyboard, but it didn’t stop her from urgently dancing and pogo-ing along to her own band’s tunes. Weiss is the backbone of the group, providing driving, rock-hard drum beats. It was a joy just standing back and watching her work her magic behind the kit.

Wild Flag | Photo by Audrey Leon

Despite the overwhelming heat and humidity that rose from the sold-out crowd, the room was filled with hand claps and feet pounding on the floor in an attempt to get the band back for an encore. The group obliged, pouring down Subterranean’s spiral stage staircase.

Wild Flag kicked off the encore with two covers, The Rolling Stone’s “Beast of Burden” sung by Timony and closed with Patti Smith’s “Ask the Angels,” sung by Brownstein. The song has taken on a sort of anthem for the group with its refrain, “And rock and roll is what I’m born to be and it’s wild, wild, wild, wild.”

On this night the group more than lived up to the hype bubbling around them, getting the crowd riled up with its infectious enthusiasm and obvious love for what they do. Now all they need to do is release its full-length, which is due out via Merge Records in September.

Set List
Electric Band
Short Version
Black Tiles
Future Crimes
Glass Tambourine
Endless Talk
Boom
Something’s Got to Give
Racehorse
Romance

Beast of Burden
Ask The Angels

Blonde Redhead | Photo by Audrey Leon

Blonde Redhead’s frontwoman Kazu Makino cautiously and politely entered Pritzker Pavillion’s large, yet empty stage smiling and wearing what appeared to be a short-enough-to-be-a-shirt Native American-style khaki dress complete with fringe and beads. She was soon followed by twins Amadeo (guitar) and Simone Pace (drums) who wore matching black jeans and white button-down dress shirts.

Co-vocalist Amadeo won the vocalist coin-toss as the band kicked off the concert with the slow, breathy and brooding, minimalist track “Black Guitar” from Blonde Redhead’s most recent album Penny Sparkle. The group quickly followed with the Makino-helmed “Here Sometimes.” The dreamy, more upbeat pop song seemed as if it were made for an outdoor concert.

For the most part, the sound at Pritzker was nearly as lush as it appears on record. However, there were several hiccups during the set. When Makino plugged back into her guitar, no power ran through it. You could hear strumming in her microphone as she hoped it would kick back on.

The guitar was put aside while the band launched into “Spain.” More tech issues with Makino’s guitar ensued followed by Blonde Redhead pressing ahead with the Amadeo-helmed oldie “Suimasen” from 1998’s In an Expression of the Inexpressible.

Blonde Redhead | Photo by Audrey Leon

With the exception of “Suimasen,” the trio made a point to cull the set list from the last three Blonde Redhead releases 2010’s Penny Sparkle, 2007’s 23 and 2004’s Misery is a Butterfly.

The trio finished its main set with the title track off 23, a song that fully encapsulates the current musical incarnation of Blonde Redhead, a swirling mix of both ethereal and high-pitched vocals, samples and echoy guitar. Unfortunately, Amadeo’s guitar was as loud, or maybe even louder than, Makino’s vocals, almost as if the two were in a competition to be heard.

Despite the technical difficulties, Blonde Redhead came away with an impressive set that demonstrates the pop group’s ability to weather anything.

My Gold Mask | Photo by Audrey Leon

Chicago’s own art rockers My Gold Mask opened the free show at Pritzker. Singer Gretta Rochelle’s ghostly wails could be heard throughout the park. The duo whipped through songs off of its two EPs A Million Miles (From Where We Were Last) and A Thousand Voices. Songs such as haunting set closer “Violet Eyes” drew fierce applause from the crowd. My Gold Mask is certainly ready for the outdoor festival circuit.

Video of My Gold Mask performing their song “All Up in the Air” from A Thousand Voices and a cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on my Own” from YouTube user “rpmime“.

Blonde Redhead’s set list
Black Guitar
Here Sometimes
Dr Strangeluv
Spring And By Summer Fall
Spain
Suimasen (In an Expression of the Inexpressible 1998)
SW
Not Getting There
23

Encore
Falling Man
Silently

Les Savy Fav | Photo by Audrey Leon

Les Savy Fav lead singer Tim Harrington is a man of the people. The manic, nomadic singer and his fantastically long microphone cord traveled to every crease and crevice of Subterranean on Saturday night, touching and being touched by fans, singing and cracking jokes. The rest of the band may have been an afterthought to the crowd, but the music that radiated through all three floors certainly wasn’t.

In another life Tim Harrington was a sexy chick, and he knows it. He bounced on stage wearing a red blouse paired with white, navy striped shorts, wig and red bandana. Harrington completed the outfit with some heavy, football-esque eyeliner smeared high above his cheeks. The LSF frontman strutted seductively around Subterranean’s tiny stage to the frantic opener “Appetites” from last year’s Root For Ruin.

“You all got me pregnant after one song,” Harrington mused as he placed a beach ball under his blouse just before the band launched into “Dirty Knails” (also from Root). “We are very fertile.”

Harrington’s outfit didn’t stay in place for long, first losing his wig and then his shirt during the hour-long set. His unbridled enthusiasm stoked the crowd’s own rowdy intensity as heat and humidity radiated from the ground up on the main floor. Harrington ran into the crowd several times, heading to the sound board in the back of the room, letting fans take the microphone while those fans closest to the stage were left holding the cord above their own heads.

Tim Harrington | Photo by Audrey Leon

Harrington didn’t limit himself to the main floor either. He ran up to the balcony through the spiral staircase on the stage and upon his return decided to hang himself upside down, with only his head peeking out from the staircase, like an adorably stuck bear.

While Les Savy Fav’s set was dominated by selections from Root For Ruin, the band’s 2007 effort Let’s Stay Friends was the second go-to album of the night with the appearance of “Patty Lee,” “What Would Wolves Do?” and “The Equestrian.”

As time neared for the band to exit the stage for the encore, Harrington was still in the back of the main floor singing “Let’s Get Out of Here.” He noted that the band had left the stage without him. Shortly everyone assembled back on stage to kick off the final three songs with “The Sweat Descends” from 2004’s Inches. The chorus “Wake me when we get to heaven” had the crowd roaring and dancing with delight.

Tim Harrington | Photo by Audrey Leon

Packed shows at Subterranean are notorious for having an extremely limited view the farther back you stand, but on this night Tim Harrington, and his frequent trips into the crowd, made any spot the best view in the house.

June 25 Set List

Appetites
Dirty Knails
What Would Wolves Do?
Patty Lee
Lips n’ Stuff
High and Unhinged
Sleepless in Silverlake
The Equestrian
Yawn, Yawn, Yawn
Pills
Lets Get Out of Here
——-
The Sweat Descends
Rome
We Rock the Party

Neon Marshmallow Festival came and conquered last weekend with more than 30 experimental music acts and films taking over the Empty Bottle.

I spent two days of the fest’s three-day run having my ears, mind, and wallet blown (no Loud Loop liquor allowance) by some amazing sounds and drinks.

Needless to say, it was a killer weekend. But fear not, dear reader. I did not come out of that hot mess of smoke and swill empty handed. Below are a few videos I shot from Sunday’s line-up. If you’re looking for some analysis, check out these great write-ups: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 by Chris Sienko over at Transmission. Otherwise, enjoy the videos after the jump.

Pulse Emitter

www.youtube.com/watch?v=43rRNFDuu14

Mike Shiflet

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-7PvOv6Rk

Tiger Hatchery

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k45Cx_FpBHA

Pillars & Tongues | Photo by Audrey Leon

Folk poppers Pillars & Tongues are a quiet surprise. The now-four piece band wandered on stage at the Empty Bottle without fanfare or fuss, but kept the crowd’s attention with its light rhythms and droning harmonies.

It’s not hard to pack the Empty Bottle on a night when admission is free, but once Chicago’s Pillars & Tongues struck its first note, all eyes were upon them and stayed there until the end.

The band, led by vocalist Mark Trecka, turned the Empty Bottle into a cathedral, draped in black, blue and green light. The mixture of Trecka’s low, rumbling vocals and soaring violin notes played by Beth Remis only added to this effect.

Mark Trecka | Photo by Audrey Leon

At times it felt as though Trecka could have been a proper replacement for Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley with his pained wails and melancholic tones from his harmonium echoing through the walls. His long hair covered his face as he moved his thin body to each beat provided by Pillars & Tongues’ rhythm section – Evan Hydzik (double bass) and Ben Babbitt (drums).

Pillars & Tongues swept through songs new and old before disappearing from the stage as quickly as they had entered, leaving the audience members in awe of the hypnotically quiet band whose set just ended.

Sloan's Chris Murphy | Photo by Audrey Leon

Age ain’t nothing but a number. The members of Sloan are well into their forties but they maintain the same youthful vigor on stage that they had exactly 20 years ago.

Host venue, Subterranean, was comfortably packed on both the main floor and the balcony. The crowd was likely more mature than most shows, but its collective enthusiasm never waned, even as the Canadian melodic pop rockers wove 11 of 12 new songs from its recent album The Double Cross into a lengthy 25-song set list.

Before the show even started, the crowd stamped their feet on the grounded and chanted, “SLOW-OWN! SLOW-OWN,” in what seemed like a baseball-like taunt, in hopes of bringing the band to the stage. The same methods returned right before the band emerged for the encore.

The sound at Subterranean was particularly great on this night. Sloan’s sweet harmonies and thudding bass lines were crystal clear throughout the venue.

Sloan’s older material received warm welcomes from the crowd, but none more than “What’s There To Decide?” from 1992’s Smeared. The band admitted on stage that they have only played the slow, fuzzy ballad twice live. Once in Chicago and the previous night in Cleveland.

Bassist, and sometimes drummer, Chris Murphy was visibly the most energetic of the quartet, often dancing and clapping along to the music in an effort to get the crowd pumped up.

And the crowd was happy to oblige Murphy, particularly during the three-song encore, singing along to “Money City Maniacs,” from 1998’s Navy Blues. Most notably, a few audience members fist pumped along to the lyrics, “What’s so bad about dying anyway,” during “Lines You Amend,” from 1996’s One Chord To Another.

For a band like Sloan with an extensive back catalog, it is often complicated to create a set list that encompasses the best of that collection. Sloan was more than able to balance the newer material with older gems, pepping songs “Coax Me,” “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” and “Losing California” at different intervals during the night.

True rock showmen that they are, Sloan left the crowd wanting more as the show ended just before 11:30 p.m. Age ain’t nothing but a number, but curfew still is.

Sloan’s Set List

Follow The Leader
The Answer Was You
Unkind
The Marquee and the Moon
Before the End of the Race
Burn for it
Shadow of Love
Everything You’ve Done Wrong
Who Taught You To Live Like That?
Gimme That
She’s Slowin’ Down Again
Something’s Wrong
Traces
Sinking Ships
Green Gardens, Cold Montreal
I’ve Gotta Know
Your Daddy Will Do
What’s There To Decide?
It’s Plain to See
Coax me
Beverly Terrace
Losing California

Encore
The Lines You Amend
The Other Man
Money City Maniacs

The Cathy Santonies | Photo by Audrey Leon

There was nothing particularly spooky about this past Friday the 13th, but inside the dark and smoky Mutiny, four women known as the Cathy Santonies roared and squealed the night away with plenty of fast-paced punk rock anthems.

Dressed in a simple green t-shirt and jeans with her brown hair tied into a ponytail, singer and bassist Radio Santoni looked like an unlikely frontwoman. During soundcheck there were plenty of apologies and girlish milling about as the Cathy Santonies killed time before their set began.

Santoni more than proved herself with every emotional scream that passed through her stressed vocal chords and reddened face. Every chug of beer from the Mutiny’s tiny pitcher-style glasses seemed to empower her.

Punk rockers the Cathy Santonies began their set with “21st Century Girl” off its winter EP, which is available for free on bandcamp. The track is catchy enough on record, but in person it is hard not to contain the fits of dancing it causes.

The band helped rile Santoni up even more with fast-paced rockers like “I’m Yr Friend! I’m Yr Revolution!” and “Maybe She’s Born With It” from the Cathy Santonies debut EP. At one point, she ran off stage to dance with excited audience members.

Toward the end of the set, guitarist Mojo Santoni took command of the microphone for a rousing rendition of the classic Runaways track “I Love Playing With Fire.”

Stylistically, it is easy to see that riot grrrl rockers like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney are profoundly influential to this Chicago quartet, but as performers these influences are no hindrance. The Cathy Santonies are able to pour as much energy into their live set as those riot grrrls who came before them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bINhNnHDmfA

Saturday night was a night of epic guitar rock from two bands whose heydays are separated by nearly a decade. Promising, young upstarts Surfer Blood and grizzled, journeymen …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead took over the Bottom Lounge with a blitzkrieg of heavy riffs, crazy fills, and extended solos.

Above you can watch Surfer Blood perform the set-closing, barnburner “Anchorage” off their debut LP Astro Coast. Check it out: At about 5:00 lead singer John Paul Pitts vogues to the camera for me and at 6:10 he crowd surfs while playing a solo. Rock hasn’t felt this good since Lenny Kravitz covered “American Woman.”

Overall, the young men from West Palm Beach played a potent and entertaining set. Hearing new material —some of which was pretty inspired— was nice after burning out on the record and they delivered the hits with a gut-punching intensity that made them fresh again.

Overall, I give Surfer Blood 4 out of 5 sashaying John Paul Pitts.

Trail of Dead are, unsurprisingly, the same band you saw at your campus fun night in ’02 when they were touring on the now ‘legendary’ Source Tags & Codes. They still perform balls-out, blistering guitar rock; band members still swap drum duties like it’s a game of musical chairs; and they still let side man Jason Reece play a few of his numbers for better or worse.

But as powerful as their live performance is, there is no amount of distortion and intensity that will change the fact that they lack hooks and their best material was written at a time when ‘N Sync still put out hits. The crowd gave warm, this-is-rock-n’-roll responses to their most sonically suffocating post-Source Tags output, but it wasn’t until lead man Conrad Keely conceded the song “How Near How Far” from that record that they really erupted. Have a listen for yourself:

Ah, still good after all these years. I do give them credit for being able to lob that one out past the stadium walls. Thanks for the nostalgia, Conrad. I give Trail of Dead 3 out of 5 ringing death knells.

Finally, the self-described “stonegaze” band True Widow from Texas opened. As the bro next to me eloquently put it: “they had a few good minutes up there.” There were some promising guitar parts and melodies but far too many slow, uninspired four-chord drones. Leave it to the Melvins, guys. My advice: edit down all pseudo-metal segments or, better yet, just become a pop band. I give True Widow 1 out of 5 free lectures about the genius of “Bohemian Like You” by The Dandy Warhols. Thanks for playing.