I’ve arrived at the end of my live music year for 2017. I saw over 60 performances this year, and the majority of them were a fun time. There were some that might’ve had lame crowds or that just didn’t thrill me, of course, but 2017 was good for live music. To save time (and my sanity and your patience), I’m counting the top 30 live shows I saw this year. Here are the first five.
I’ll see APTBS at any opportunity, and seeing this set where they opened for the Black Angels was a no-brainer for me. It was also the first time they played Thalia Hall, and they sounded great in there. I was lucky enough to chat with front man Oliver Ackermann before and after (along with the rest of the band – Dion Lunadon and Lia Braswell) the set, so that made the show extra special.
Joe Walsh had a fun time opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He joked with the sold-out crowd, played every hit you’d want to hear at one of his gigs, and had a huge, excellent backing band. He also showed that he could still shred on guitar, and his performance of “Take It to the Limit” brought my wife to tears.
The last show I saw this year turned out to be a delightful night with bossa nova legend Bebel Gilberto. It was a lovely set in an intimate venue. Everyone needs to see Ms. Gilberto at least once, and hear her often.
If you’re in a band, I wish you could’ve seen Bleached with me twice within six months because you’d have seen a perfect example of how to step up your game. This show, which had them opening for the Damned, was the second time I’d seen them in that time period. The first was at a gig in Cleveland in October 2016. I thought they were good then, but this performance left me gobsmacked. They’d become tighter and stronger in just half a year. It had been at least a couple years since I saw so much improvement in one band.
This was Partner‘s first gig in Chicago, and one of their first in the United States. Shame on you if you missed it, because they are now indie rock darlings and their debut album, In Search of Lost Time, is one of the best of 2017. This show was an absolute home run and wowed everyone there.
Chicago’s City Wineryis a wonderful intimate venue, and seeing a lively performer like Bebel Gilbertothere is a treat that should never be missed. Thankfully, my wife and I got to attend her second performance there in as many nights, and Ms. Gilberto was in a playful mood.
Ms. Gilberto shimmied and shook all over the stage and worked through some of her bossa nova classics like “Aganju” and “So Nice,” stopping now and then to put on some more lip gloss or sample some of the venue’s white wine.
“Aganju”
She was also a bit feisty, throwing in some political jokes like, “I’m glad this year is almost over, because that means we only have three more left…if you know what I mean.” Other highlights included her covers of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” and Radiohead’s “Creep.” Her cover of “Creep” brings my wife and I to tears anytime we hear it, and I felt bad for the couple across from us who went out for a smoke break before she and her two-man band played it.
“Harvest Moon”
She had the crowd singing and even bouncing multiple times throughout the night, calling on us to help her sing rhythms and uplift each other. “Uplifting” is probably the best way I can describe her performance. It was a delightful way to end a year that has been rough for many we know and a shining way to start the winter solstice. More light comes to this half of the world as of yesterday, and I can’t help but think Bebel Gilberto had something to do with it.
“Close Your Eyes”
Keep your mind open.
[Thanks to Vickie Starr for bringing me and my wife some Christmas cheer with press passes to this show.]
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Gary Numan‘s new album is a cautionary tale about impending environmental disaster, political upheaval, and fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Numan has never been one to shy away from bleak subjects (depression, dehumanization via technology, death, etc.), and Savage (Songs from a Broken World) is a powerful record that has him embracing these subjects once again with masterful skill.
“Ghost Nation” could be about Numan’s birth home (England) or his adopted one (the United States). “We live in a windswept hell,” he sings in the first lyric on the album while the synths and drums build to a powerful verse about an environmental catastrophe that wipes out most of humanity. “Bed of Thorns” starts off with quiet processed beats and almost Middle Eastern chants but slowly burns into a powerful track about wanting to be free of suffering. Numan’s daughter does guest vocals on “My Name Is Ruin” – a song about a powerful figure who brings about the catastrophe on Earth. The comparisons to Donald Trump are unavoidable, and Numan has admitted that the last U.S. presidential election provided some of the impetus for the album.
You’d think a song with a title like “The End of Things” would be at the beginning or end of such a concept album, but Numan puts it in the middle to signify (in my opinion) the turning of the tide in the battle for survival even when things seem bleakest. “And It All Began with You” simmers with unease before the bombastic “When the World Comes Apart” – an industrial powerhouse of a track with Blade Runner-like synths and foreboding bass and Human singing that he’s no hero or confessor.
I like how “Mercy” starts off with what sounds like fighter jets zooming by. Numan used to fly jets and aircraft in air shows for many years. “I should’ve told you, be careful what you wish for,” he sings on the menacing track that builds like some sort of monstrous war machine approaching on the horizon. Numan takes on one of his favorite touchy subjects, religion, on “What God Intended.” I heard an interview with him in which he expressed admiration for those who find incredible peace in religion, but he cannot abide religion being used for intolerance or to justify violence. The song is heavy on soaring synths and Numan’s near-cries to the heavens. The theme continues a bit on “Pray for the Pain You Serve.” Numan claims, “I will be here when the storm ends.” He’s been through a lot and come out a bit tougher each time
The album ends with “Broken,” a somber synthwave track that has more Middle Eastern touches and is quite cinematic. Why Numan isn’t being hired to score films is beyond me. It drifts along until an almost abrupt ending, perfect for an album about the potential end of the world.
Numan is firing on all cylinders right now, and his live act is one of the best tours currently out there. Get this and get to one of his shows if you can.
I first heard the Smithereens on a local radio station in the mid-1980’s. I called the station to request the song on a later date and the DJ told me, “You have good taste, my friend.” The Smithereens were the first band that let me come backstage and meet them when Mandy and I saw them play at the University of Notre Dame. It was a great show that will forever remain in my memory. We became lifelong fans. I even proposed to Mandy at a Smithereens concert.
The death of Pat DiNizio, the Smithereens’ lead singer and songwriter, is a tough blow for Mandy and I. The Smithereens’ music has been a soundtrack to most of our life together. DiNizio was a talented songwriter who could write power pop and tender ballads like few others. He was also an accomplished guitarist and fellow lover of baseball and comic books, so that made him extra cool to me. He’ll be missed.
I also know I’m late to the party on this, but I wanted to pay tribute to the late Grant Hart, drummer of Husker Du, who died back in September of cancer. I was remiss to not write about his passing due to a lot of stuff that’s been going on here since then. Grant Hart and his bandmates were part of the soundtrack to my teenage years. Few bands could grab your attention like Husker Du, and Hart’s fierce drumming was almost holy to me. It also provided some of the best music for skateboarding I’d ever heard. He, too, will be missed.
I leave you with the first Smithereens song I ever heard. It’s a great example of DiNizio’s craftsmanship. It also rocks.
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I hadn’t seen electro / industrial legend Gary Numanlive for many years. His new album, Savage, is getting rave reviews and debuted as high as #2 in the U.K. His live shows are loud, dazzling, and impressive affairs, and his November 29th show at Chicago’s Thalia Hallwas no exception.
Opening for him were the Brooklyn quartet Me Not You, who put on a nice set of shoegaze and synth-rock. I’d like to hear more of their material. Unfortunately, I missed part of their set due to getting a phone call from work that I had to take.
Me Not You
Numan and his four-man band came out and immediately kicked down the back wall with a blast of industrial rock on “Ghost Nation” – the lead track from the new record. Upon hearing it, I immediately thought, “Yeah, I need to get this record.”
“Ghost Nation”
Although he’s not much for nostalgia, Numan delivered a great version of “Metal” right afterwards. He had the crowd in his hand by this point, and it was only the second song. Other solid cuts from the new record were “Bed of Thorns,” “Mercy,” “Pray for the Pain You Serve,” “My Name Is Ruin,” and “When the World Comes Apart.”
Gary Numan might be a Green Lantern. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, really.
“Down in the Park,” of course, remains one of the best electro-goth songs ever, and Numan’s path down more industrial roads puts a new spin on a lot of his classic material. He has the bass brought up on “Cars” to make it almost a metal track, for example. “Love Hurt Bleed,” from his Splinter album, is a new highlight to his show. It’s everything Trent Reznor owes Numan in one song.
Perhaps Mr. Numan is actually a herald of Galactus. I’d believe that, too.“Cars”
He performed “M.E.” and “Are Friends Electric?” for an encore. Both were stunning, especially “Are Friend Electric?” – which is the greatest song Phillip K. Dick never wrote.
“Are Friends Electric?”
This was easily one of the best performances I’ve seen all year. The crowd was a fun mix of aging hipsters like yours truly, young industrial fans, old punks, metal heads, and goths. I know this makes me sound old, but it was great to see people younger than I having a great time at the show. It ensures me that Numan’s music will continue through new generations of fans. Don’t miss this tour if it gets close to you.
Thanks to the lucky lady who scored this set list for letting me take a photo of it.
Imagine what it takes to be a successful musician. There are many long hours of touring, rehearsing, writing, negotiating, hustling, and branding. This is hard enough for your Average Joe or Jane, but imagine doing this in the 1960’s when you couldn’t release a single on the Internet and have it heard by millions within moments, pay-for-play was still legal and widely practiced, and record labels held your master recordings in a vise-like grip. Now imagine doing all of this before the civil rights movement while you’re black in an industry dominated at the top levels by white people. Now imagine doing this as an openly transgendered woman in the same time period. Jackie Shane did all of that, and she made it look easy.
Jackie Shane’s Any Other Way is a stunning collection of rare singles and live tracks from perhaps the most remarkable performer you haven’t heard and easily one of the best collections and reissues of 2017. Ms. Shane burned up stages in Toronto throughout the 1960’s, releasing a handful of singles and recording some amazing performances, before disappearing for nearly half a century (relocating to Nashville to tend to her ill mother and deciding to stay after her passing).
The double album opens with the sizzling “Sticks and Stones,” a burner in which Shane sings about people trying to shame her and bring her down, but she really doesn’t give a damn. This is a common theme in her catalogue. Shane lived by her own rules and refused to compromise. Her vocals are fierce and almost race ahead of the song, but the horn section of the Frank Motley’s Motley Crew band (for which she sang at the time) keeps up with her well. The title track is a sad song about Shane trying to to convince an ex-lover that she’s happy. The horn section almost has a Latin flavor to it that sets it apart from other similar tracks of the time period.
“In My Tenement” has horns that belong in a Bond film soundtrack. “Comin’ Down” has Shane coming down “with a heartache” as her band’s surf guitar and tight drumming back her assured vocals. Her cover of “Money (That’s What I Want)” is fun as a bit emblematic of Shane’s life, who never gave away her skills for free. “I’ve Really Got the Blues” swings as hard as any Chubby Checker or Fats Domino record ever did. “Send Me Some Lovin'” has Shane pining for even a photo of her distant lover. “Walking the Dog” is full of sass and a groove you’ll have in your head all day. The funky organ on “You Are My Sunshine” brings in a bit of a gospel groove, which is no surprise since Shane has openly spoken on the influence of gospel and spiritual classics on her. “Stand Up Straight and Tall” is pretty much the theme of Shane’s life. She lived how she wanted to live and never gave a damn what people thought. You can’t help but wonder about the possible symbolism of “New Way of Love,” especially since Shane sings it with such fire (and the Motley Crew band slays on it). “Cruel Cruel World” has Shane calling for someone to love and not needing sympathy from anyone. It’s a great example of how her vocals could go from soulful ballad to rock wails all in the same song.
That’s just the first disc of this release, by the way. Disc two is a compilation of rare live cuts (with backing band the Hitchhikers including Frank Motley leading it) that are jaw-dropping at times. It opens with “High Heel Sneakers” and Shane singing / tearing through an ode to stepping out in high fashion and being ready to kick ass and take names. Pharrell Williams wishes he could write a groove half as good as the one on “Barefootin’.”
Shane warns that the live version of “Money” is so dangerous that her doctor warned her that performing it could be bad for her heart. It’s over nine minutes of funk, sass, and defibrillating beats. The breakdown on it is fabulous as Shane talks about not caring about what others think of her as she smiles on her way to the back. “I’m going to live while I’m here,” she says. “I don’t satisfy nobody that’s a square,” she also says at another point.
Other high points among the live tracks are “You’re the One (That I Need),” which features some of Shane’s best torch song vocals, the tight horn section groove and Shane’s heartbroken vocals on “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied),” her fun cover of “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (in which Shane appears to be cheering on an elderly man dancing in the crowd), the version of “Any Other Way” in which she sings, “Tell her that I’m happy. Be sure to tell her this. Tell her that I’m gay.” (which Shane claims wasn’t her openly admitting her sexuality, but the symbolism is hard to ignore), and the squawking, jumping “Shotgun” in which Shane advises, “You got to shoot your man before he runs.”
It’s a shame that Jackie Shane wasn’t bigger across the world and for longer a time than she was at her peak. There are rumors that she might emerge from her self-imposed (and apparently enjoyable) exile in Nashville and return to perform in Toronto, so we can hope to see and hear more of her soon. In the meantime, get this collection and be stunned by it.
Keep your mind open.
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The last time I saw horror / prog-rockers Goblinwas in 2013 at Chicago’s Metro during their first tour of the United States. It was a sold out show and one of the best I saw all year, so I was keen on catching them again on their “Sound of Fear” tour, especially since the lineup included four of the five original members – Massimo Morante, Maurizio Guarini, Fabio Pignaetti, and Agostino Marangolo (along with Aidan Zammit replacing keyboardist and founding member Claudio Simonetti). They fact that they were playing in Thalia Hall – a former opera house – was a bonus.
Opening for them were the psychedelic / prog rockers Morricone Youth. My friends and I arrived in time to catch the last two songs of their set. Both were songs written as an alternate soundtrack to Night of the Living Dead. The film played behind them as they rocked out and it was a great set-up for both Goblin and the Halloween season.
Goblin came out to a welcoming, albeit smaller than I expected, crowd. I have no idea why more people weren’t at the show, unless the midweek date had something to do with it. Regardless, Goblin came ready to play and to terrify.
They played a lot of stuff they didn’t play on their last tour, including tracks from the bizarre giallo film Beyond the Darkness (complete with grisly mortuary scenes playing behind them which might’ve made an intoxicated woman in front of us so woozy that she needed assistance leaving the main floor), another giallo Massimo Morante called Killer on the Train, and the bizarre alien invasion film Contamination. I had no idea Goblin did the score for Contamination, so now I have extra incentive to track down that film.
Of course, they played tracks from their most famous film scores, starting with Profundo Russo (Deep Red).
They played not only the “Killer Doll” and main theme track, but also other songs from the film that you don’t hear often. They did the same with Tenebrae, which is a giallo about a killer in an opera house no less.
They did the same with their score to Suspiria, playing music from the beginning of the film and the creepy scene in which the lead characters first start to suspect an evil witch is living among them.
It was another excellent performance that got better as it crawled along like some horrible thing creeping out of the shadows. Goblin rarely get to the U.S., so don’t miss them.
One of my best friends and I first saw and heard the Psychedelic Fursin the early days of MTV and thought they had the weirdest name of any band we’d seen. They soon became favorites of ours and I’ve been keen to see them for years. The day finally arrived when I could see their first of two nights at Chicago’s Thalia Hall (one of my top three favorite venues in the city) on October 17th.
Rockers Bash & Pop opened for them, and my friend, Steve, and I got there in time to check out the last three songs of their set. They had a good blend of hard rock and a bit of garage punk.
Bash & Pop
It was a good crowd for a Tuesday night, and an interesting blend of aged punks, young hipsters, and music fanatics. The Psychedelic Furs came out and opened with “Dumb Waiters.” I’d guessed this would’ve been their closer, but they unleashed it right away and grabbed everyone’s attention.
Getting right down to business with “Dumb Waiters.”
What especially grabbed my attention is how lead singer Richard Butler‘s voice has seemingly not aged. He sounded great, as did the entire band. Mars Williams, the saxophone player (who also used to play for the Waitresses), shredded the entire night.
L-R: Mars Williams, Richard Butler, Tim Butler, and Amanda Kramer
The double whammy of “Pretty in Pink” followed by “Love My Way” had the entire crowd jumping. One guy to my right was almost in throes of ecstasy by this point. “Until She Comes” and “The Ghost in You” were also especially sharp.
“Pretty in Pink”
The lyrics of “All That Money Wants” is rather biting in this country right now, and they ended with “Heaven” before coming out to two encores. The first had a powerful rendition of “Sister Europe” that cooked up a witches’ brew of post-punk, acid jazz, and shoegaze. The second was a performance of the song I thought they’d have as the opener – “President Gas.” Like “All That Money Wants,” you can’t help but hear the lyrics in a new light right now.
A killer rendition of “Sister Europe”
It was worth the wait to see them, and $40.00 for a signed tour poster was a steal.
To say that Tom Petty had a legendary career is an understatement, but that is how he should be remembered. I was lucky enough to catch his 40th anniversary (and final) tour earlier this year at a packed St. Louis arena. It was a solid show with many great tracks throughout it.
Petty’s songs are a part of Americana even if you didn’t grow up in the 1970’s or 1970’s. He could play everything from garage rock to country blues, and his influence on music reaches around the globe.
Many forget his great contributions to music videos. Petty was a known lover of music videos, and he and his band came to prominence as MTV skyrocketed in popularity and outreach. Petty took an active role in the scripts, art, and filming of his music videos and made some of the more innovative ones of the time.
Not many of us get to do what we love for forty years, let alone receive worldwide accolades for it. It’s okay to mourn Petty, but don’t let it ruin you. He lived and he rocked. Do the same.
My wife and I had missed Brian Wilson at Levitation Austinlast year when the entire festival (and thus his performance) was cancelled due to bad weather. I learned he and his band were touring the world and performing many Beach Boys tracks as well as all of their masterpiece, Pet Sounds. I was determined to catch this tour and to hear such an important record played by the man who wrote it. Luckily for me, Mr. Wilson brought his show to a theatre less than an hour’s drive from my house.
He had a killer backing band that included one of the founding Beach Boys – Al Jardine – and another Beach Boys guitarist – Blondie Chapman, and they opened with the the classic “California Girls.”
Other treats included Wilson having a fun time singing “I Get Around,” a lovely rendition of “In My Room,” and Al Jardine’s son doing a great job on the vocals for “Don’t Worry, Baby.”
The highlight of the night, of course, was hearing Pet Sounds played from beginning to end. I’d been humming “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” all day leading up to the show and the band nailed it right out of the gate to open the second half. “Sloop John B” was a crowd favorite, and I forgot about the two fine instrumentals on the record.
Wilson got a standing ovation for “God Only Knows,” and “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” seems rather relevant today. The encore started with “Good Vibrations.” When Wilson asked, “Did you come here for bad vibrations?” I briefly hoped the Black Angelswould come on stage, but it was fun to hear the best psych-surf ever written live.
Other hits like “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” and “Surfin’ USA” followed, but Wilson ended the show, which he dedicated to his wife (It was her birthday that day.), the victims of the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shooting, and Tom Petty, with the heartfelt “Love and Mercy.”
It was a lovely, fun show. Wilson’s songs are so ingrained into American culture that you can sometimes forget how good and fun they are. See this tour if you get the chance. Wilson is getting up there in age, and sometimes needed a steadying hand to walk him to his piano. He’s claimed this is the final time he’ll perform Pet Sounds, so don’t wait.
I’ll see APTBS at any opportunity, and seeing this set where they opened for the Black Angels was a no-brainer for me. It was also the first time they played Thalia Hall, and they sounded great in there. I was lucky enough to chat with front man Oliver Ackermann before and after (along with the rest of the band – Dion Lunadon and Lia Braswell) the set, so that made the show extra special.
Joe Walsh had a fun time opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He joked with the sold-out crowd, played every hit you’d want to hear at one of his gigs, and had a huge, excellent backing band. He also showed that he could still shred on guitar, and his performance of “Take It to the Limit” brought my wife to tears.
The last show I saw this year turned out to be a delightful night with bossa nova legend Bebel Gilberto. It was a lovely set in an intimate venue. Everyone needs to see Ms. Gilberto at least once, and hear her often.
If you’re in a band, I wish you could’ve seen Bleached with me twice within six months because you’d have seen a perfect example of how to step up your game. This show, which had them opening for the Damned, was the second time I’d seen them in that time period. The first was at a gig in Cleveland in October 2016. I thought they were good then, but this performance left me gobsmacked. They’d become tighter and stronger in just half a year. It had been at least a couple years since I saw so much improvement in one band.
This was Partner‘s first gig in Chicago, and one of their first in the United States. Shame on you if you missed it, because they are now indie rock darlings and their debut album, In Search of Lost Time, is one of the best of 2017. This show was an absolute home run and wowed everyone there.
