Top Stories

Preview & Ticket Giveaway | New Year's Eve with Lettuce @ The Riv

 It took a little while for Lettuce to start to hit the Chicago market hard, but once they did, they've really gone right after the city's funk and jam lovers.With recent appearances at clubs (Concord) and festivals (Taste Of Randolph, North Coast) and even members playing the "Super Jam" circuit, they are ready...

Review & Video | 30db @ Tonic Room 12/19/15

By: Carmel O'Farrell (@carmelocorn) | Photo: Megan Sanders | Video: Charles IzenstarkOnce again, Tonic Room in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood brought a unique Umphrey's McGee side project to its intimate stage.On Saturday, December 19th,it came in the form of 30db, which consists of Umphrey's lead vocalist Brendan Bayliss and mandolinist Jeff Austin. It's been years...

Breaking Down The Phish At Wrigley 2016 Rumor

UPDATE [2/3]: It's ON!UPDATE [1/23]: There's been a few new developments, which we break down HERE.In 2005, Jimmy Buffet became the first modern musician to play shows at Wrigley Field.Just about every year since Phish's 2009 reunion, somewhere on the Internet, somebody has suggested that Phish would play the iconic venue. In December of 2015, the rumors...

Photo Gallery | Fall Stash 2 @ House of Blues 11/27/15

All Star Vibe's "Stash" series is specially designed to meet the needs of the local band and their friends.Instead of toiling around at smaller bars and clubs, they package four complimentary acts on the big stage -- the grand environs (and central location) of Chicago's House Of Blues.One of the advantages is that...

Review / Setlist | Andrew Bird Closes Gezelligheid Run @ Fourth Presbyterian 12/10/15

By Alex Wood | Images: andrewbirdmusic InstagramThe fourth and final night of Andrew Birds Gezelligheid run at Fourth Presbyterian Church found the Chicago violinist in an especially comfortable form, leading to a number of rarities and live debuts.Though about half of the songs played were also performed at Mondays show, there are never two identical...

Photos / Setlist | Lotus @ Riviera Theater 11/28/15

Lotus set up shop in Chicago for a twonight Thanksgiving run. Tara Gracer was on hand for the second of two shows -- a Saturday night show which had a bit of everything in the band's bag of tricks.Setlist - Lotus, 11/28/15Chicago1: Tarot,Wax,Uffi,Destroyer,Cream on Chrome,Spiritualize >Slow Cookin' >...

The Best Star Wars / Grateful Dead Images, Mashups & Merchandise

The Grateful Dead & Star Wars -- two undeniably great things, bothappealing to the casual fan, but also offering so much more once you're down the wormhole.So it's no wonder that so many fans, entrepreneurs and even the band itself has found ways to put imagery from these great franchises together. Let's take a...

Hungry Brain Jazz Club To Reopen In 2016

Roscoe Village jazz club Hungry Brain closed in 2014 after 17 years of business. With the space remaining dormant since, the venue is set to reopen in 2016 with new ownership.One of the new owners will be Mike Reed, a jazz drummer and founder of Pitchfork Music Festival, as revealed in an interview with Crains. Reed also...

Review / Setlist | Andrew Bird Kicks Off Gezelligheid 2015 [December 7]

By: Alex WoodBird followed with another potential live-debut, a song from the upcoming album that was initially intended to be a love song but became a clever song about writing love songs and their often formulaic and banal lyrical choices. Perhaps most importantly, Bird announced that the song would appear on the album as a...

Listen To Jeff Tweedy Discuss The Process Of Writing Wilco's "Magnetized"

Wilcos Jeff Tweedy was recently featured on Song Exploder, the podcast dedicated to artists breaking down the process in which their songs were written and developed.For the episode, Tweedy discusses the creation of Magnetized from Star Wars, offering a lot of interesting insight into his writing process.First, he creates a mumble track, which...