Event Information

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Date / Showtime

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Show name

Fruit Bats (Solo)

Artists

Venue

Schubas

Tickets

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Cost

$15

Social

Other

 

Summary

Eric D. Johnson, singer of Chicago indie-rock staples The Fruit Bats, will perform a rare and intimate solo show at Schubas in May. 

What We Say

On most nights playing with Fruit Bats, I do a solo song or two. On drunken chatty nights it can veer from silly to infuriating. But when the feeling in the room is just right, it can be pretty special. Once I couldn't get my guitar to tune just right and I had to do an acapella version of Lazy Eye in front of a sold-out Aladdin Theater in Portland. That was scary and awesome. It felt like we were all in a little parlor together and you could hear a pin drop. Anyway, this series of shows is about capturing some living-room spirit in your favorite rock-n-roll clubs. And to make it into a little more something, I'm going to let fans curate half of the set list every night. People yell out requests a lot (especially on the aforementioned drunken chatty nights, but on the quiet ones too)... But those requests can be hard to fulfill - I've made lot of albums and we don't rehearse every song with the full band, so we can't always just bust those out on the fly. But as a solo dude, I'm up for the challenge and I'm putting it to you, Fruit Bats fans: what do you want to hear? Michael Nau is joining me on the bill for this tour where he'll be singing you his timeless songs in a solo format too. You might remember his old band Cotton Jones, who were and are of my favorites ever. I think he's a treasure and has one of the ultimate singing voices ever. I'm thrilled he'll be playing some his for-the-ages songs on this trip. His latest album "Mowing" is a must have.

Video

Watch Johnson play "Tony The Tripper" acoustic.