
Finally, the start of Chicago's summer festival season is upon us as the
Do-Division Street Fest kicks off tomorrow! Lets just hope the rain doesn't spoil the fun.
What's that? You're one of those poor souls who works during the weekend? I feel for you, brother! Luckily, there are quite a few more awesome shows around town this weekend including
CAVE at
the Hideout,
Yakuza at the
Beat Kitchen,
Toro y Moi at the
Empty Bottle and much more!
Lets get to it, shall we?
Friday
CAVE
By now you've surely read my review of Cave's latest,
Pure Moods. Too lazy? In brief,
Pure Moods is good, really good. So there you go. This is their official release party show country throw down so get out there and hear the raging "Teenager" live and in person. Columbia, Missouri's
Jerusalem and the Starbaskets are Cave-like weird but in a more traditionally weird way. Something is happening in Columbia, Missouri, something trippy. Heads up, opener
Daniel Lutz isn't a dude but she does play some hauntingly beautiful music. That she does. (
Ross Meyerson)
10:00 p.m. Friday, 6/4. The Hideout. 21+. $8.
THE GOOD LIFE
The Good Life started out as a side project for
Cursive frontman Tim Kasher and it ballooned into a full-fledged band with four full-length albums and two EPs under its belt. The Good Life gives Kasher a chance to indulge in his softer, more acoustic pop side. The Good Life is supporting its latest release
Help Wanted Nights with a show at Subterranean and an appearance at
Do Division Fest’s Leavitt stage on Saturday. (
Audrey Leon)
9:00 p.m. Friday, 6/4.
Subterranean. 17+. $12.
Saturday
DO-DIVISION STREET FEST
The summer street fest season officially kicks off this weekend (don’t even try and tell me the Belmont-Sheffield fest is real) with the always-awesome Do Division, and we’ve got two days of bands lined up to get your dancing shoes a-moving. On Saturday, be sure not to miss Chicago’s own
CoCoComa at 4pm (also playing the Empty Bottle Friday!) for their sing-alongable garage punk that would do the Ramones proud. Right after that, at 5:20, things get a little bluesier and a little sludgier but stay just as rad with locals
Bailiff, who will get you to bang your head slowly. BUT THERE’S MORE! Stick around til the end on Saturday to check out
The Night Marchers, John Reis’ newest project. If you’ll recall, two of Reis’ bands made
my top ten of the decade , and though The Night Marchers don’t pack the same raw energy of Reis’ previous projects, the band shreds live. Plus, a chance to see Reis’s frontman showmanship is never to be missed. And if you’re lucky, the band will play their non-album track “Fisting the Fanbase,” which is one of the best songs not committed to wax in the past few years.
And that’s only Saturday! On Sunday, see the now-not-on-hiatus Chicago institution
The Ponys at 7pm, who have come back to rock your faces. I was lucky enough to catch them at Pritzker Pavilion last week, and I know that you don’t want to miss these garage rockers bring their feedback to the stage. Then stick around for the 8:30 act,
YACHT, to end your festival day with some DFA-style dancing that’ll leave you with a smile on your face. And if that wasn’t enough, comedy legend Neil Hamburger is hosting the Damen stage both days. So get your ass out to Division this weekend. It’s gonna be epic. Also, check out the complete lineup right
here. (
Andy Kondrat)
1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Saturday, June 5, and Sunday, June 6. Division Street from Ashland to Leavitt. All Ages. $5 Suggested Donation.
YAKUZA
Chicago's
Yakuza have been around for awhile now but I still think they are the future of metal. Their ability to go from gut wrenching noise to epic beauty to free jazz freak outs is pretty impressive no doubt. This show is their record release party for June 22nd's "Of Seismic Consequence" and rumor has it you might be able to pick up the album at the show early like. If "Stones and Bones" - listenable on their Myspace page now - is any indication of the scope of this record it might be safe to say Yakuza are ready to be the future that they should have been already. Fellow Chicagoans
Alaya Conscious and
The Swan King open. Heavy and epic indeed. (
Ross Meyerson)
Doors 9:00 p.m./Show 10:00 p.m. Saturday, 6/5. Beat Kitchen. 21+. $10.
ENTOMBED
You've got to at least give props to late 80's/early 90's metal bands that stuck around through the shit storm of bad mid-90's metal and are at least getting the recognition they deserve now. Entombed deserves your props for not abandoning their metal-ness during the dark days of neu metal. Maybe not the death metal band they were early on, Entombed have twisted their sound without ever looking towards the mainstream and that's metal enough for me. Kenosha's
Jungle Rot Ohio's
Woe of Tyrants, and Chicago's kind of radder than most
Sweet Cobra open. (
Ross Meyerson)
7:00 p.m. Saturday, 6/5. Reggie's. All Ages. $18.
TORO Y MOI
Toro y Moi, the chillwave, elctro-pop product of Chaz Bundick, mixes samples and laptops with live musicians. Bundick and Co. create dreamy layers of sonic goodness that envelop you like a warm summer breeze. Hailing from South Carolina there’s some Southern softness that flavors the overall electronic sound. It’s basically the perfect soundtrack to an early June night. Locals
Save the Watchtower and
Glitter Bones get the live-tronica night started. (
Andrew Kahn)
10:00 p.m. Saturday, 6/5. Empty Bottle. $12. 21+.
Sunday
DO-DIVISION STREET FEST
See above.
1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Saturday, June 5, and Sunday, June 6. Division Street from Ashland to Leavitt. All Ages. $5 Suggested Donation.
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