IDLES @ The Metro - Chicago
July 28th 2022: IDLES & Taipei Houston @ The Metro - Chicago
IDLES - Photos Courtesy of Timi Ikene
A high-energy band, Taipei Houston, opened up for an even better headliner, Idles and the crowd happily squished themselves into a sweaty mosh pit. If you've ever had the pleasure of attending an Idles show, you know exactly how much energy the guys put into it. So much so that frontman Joe Talbot partially lost his voice while performing to the lovely crowd participating in the pit. Go see an Idles show, you won't regret it.
2022's Pitchfork Festival @ Union Park - Chicago
Pitchfork Festival 2022
- in a few words and a lot of photographs.
The Pitchfork Fest line-up never lacks - from the first artist early Friday afternoon till the last headliner on Sunday evening. Chicago’s Union Park becomes home to thousands of folks from every corner of the earth, from families with prams and picnic blankets to the solo festival attendees who brave every moment of the festival, rain or shine. And there was a lot of rain this year, but everyone kept a fairly good, albeit damp, attitude and kept on with the day and the music - spending delays in the spaces set aside for the CHIRP Record Fair, Renegade Craft Fair and the Flagstock Poster Fair.
As usual, we sent our co-founder, Victoria Sanders, to check out the festival and capture every single artist on the line-up somehow. See the galleries for each day of the weekend below.
FRIDAY
Wiki, SPELLLING, Indigo De Souza, Tierra Whack, Dawn Richard, Spiritualized, Amber Mark
The National - Friday Headliner
SATURDAY
CupcakKe, The Linda Lindas, The Armed, Had, yeule, Dry Cleaning, Magdalena Bay,
Lucy Dacus, Japanese Breakfast
Mitski - Saturday Headliner
SUNDAY
Pink Siifu, KAINA, Injury Reserve, noname feat. The Mind, Sofia Kourtesis,
Earl Sweatshirt, Cate Le Bon
The Roots - Sunday Headliner
See you next year!
Wallows & Spill Tab @ The Anthem - Washington DC
Wallows & Spill Tab @ The Anthem - Washington DC
Cole Preston of Wallows - Photos Courtesy of Gabby Ames
On June 21st, Los Angeles based band, Wallows, played their biggest show yet at The Anthem in Washington D.C. Starting with “Hard To Believe” the venue was filled with the sound of fans singing along. Their music from their new album “Tell Me That It’s Over” had an 80’s synth feel to it. Before finishing up the night they took a request from the crowd and played “I’m Full”. They ended the night dancing and singing along to their most popular track yet, “Are You Bored Yet?”.
Spill Tab
LadyLand Festival 2022 - Brooklyn, NY
June 17th 2022: LadyLand Festival @ The Brooklyn Mirage
Photos courtesy of: Em Grey
Ladyland is a yearly queer music festival hosted by Ladyfag - boasting heaps of queer talent on its lineup and held at the outdoors Brooklyn Mirage. For one night only during pride month, partygoers can dance all their worries away from 8 pm to the hours of the next morning. This is my third year attending this festival - and it's an amazing time with beautiful energy every time. This year they sprung for an impressive giant LED screen wrapping all around the stage, showing gorgeous visuals during all the sets that kept the entire experience immersive and packed with good vibes (and even a confetti condom cannon.)
Previously boasting alternative talent the likes of King Princess, Kim Petras, Pablo Vittar, Caroline Polachek, and SOPHIE - this year’s lineup was no different in its star power. Headlined by pop icon Tinashe and DJ Honey Dijon, Ladyland has an impressive main stage, but also equally exciting lineups in two smaller areas of the venue - King's Hall and the Village. When I arrived around 9 pm - Stiletto was kicking the night off with a banging DJ set. Shortly after - Brooke Candy strolled onto the stage with two backup dancers in tow, absolutely serving us the performance that we needed.
Despite the schedule running a little bit late, that did not dampen a single person's spirits. Vanessa Vanjie took the stage next armed with a bottle of tequila, filling up the cups of many at the barricade as well as pouring it directly into fan'’ mouths. Shygirl captivated the audience next with her hypnotizing vocals and hyper-pop sound. The anticipation had been building all night - by this time the place was getting pretty packed and the energy was buzzing in the air. Sevdaliza, despite being able to have her full band with her due to visa issues, put on an energetic performance with beautiful cinematic visuals on the giant screen behind her. By the time Tinashe took the stage - the crowd was completely ready to absolutely go all out. Tinashe brought a slew of backup dancers and choreographed dances, keeping the energy up at insane levels for the rest of the night. As an ally, I love being able to celebrate members of the LGBTQIA+ community like this - it's always lots of love and joy and immensely welcoming in a way that other festivals can't quite live up to.
Bastille @ The Met - Philadelphia
June 15th 2022: Bastille, Josh Fudge @ The Met Philadelphia
Dan Smith | Bastille - Photos Courtesy of Carolyn Lederach
Not enough people seem to talk about the longevity of Bastille. Here we are four albums later since the debut release of Bad Blood where it all started (not to mention all of the amazing mixtapes as well). Something you can say about each of the Bastille albums is each have solid bops on each and every one.
Bastille returned to The Met in Philly for the release tour of their latest album, Give Me The Future. If you’ve been following Bastille since 2013 like I have, you’ll still be happy to know the live shows are still just as special as they were in the beginning, just a lot bigger. There is still an element of mild unsettling dystopia, a little big of goofiness, and (despite COVID) everyone’s favorite part where Dan joins the crowd for a walk around during a song. If you are an OG-Fan you also might be mildly disappointed that the day has finally come that old classics like “Bad Blood” and “Flaws” have been cut from the setlist.
Josh Fudge
Danielle Ponder @ The Episcopal Church of St Luke and St Simon Cyrene - Rochester
April 8th 2022: Danielle Ponder @ The Episcopal Church of St Luke and St Simon Cyrene - Rochester, NY
Danielle Ponder - Photos Courtesy of Amber James
Originally I planned to start this review off by saying that when I was shooting Danielle Ponder’s release show last month that it felt like I had been transported back in time and seeing greats like Diana Ross or Etta James perform. Chills ran down my arms because I knew I was watching a new iconic soulful artist bless us with her talent and grace, just before the entire world would know her name. It was akin to that feeling of anticipation you get just as the roller coaster leaves the station and the first rise of the hill looms ahead. In the month and change since that show, Danielle Ponder’s almost meteoric rise in recognition is more like one of those hydraulic coasters that rockets you out of the station instead of the slow and steady chain-link motor up the hill. From performing at the launch of Oscar Massin Jewelry, which had in attendance such Hollywood stars as Rachel Zoe and Kate Hudson (who are also investors and advisors for the company), Goldie Hawn, and Zooey Deschanel, as well as performing her single “So Long” on the Seth Meyers Late Night Show. And all of this is before her debut album has even dropped! But that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of everything Ponder has accomplished already. A soulful singer by night, during the day, so to speak, she is heavily dedicated to and involved in the fight for racial justice and fixing the flaws in our broken justice system. Recently, she left her public defender job to focus on music full time but that doesn’t mean she’s left any of that behind. In her interview with SPIN magazine, Ponder compared being a public defender with songwriting, telling Niko Stratis, “You know, my job as an attorney is to really tell my client’s story…[It’s similar to songwriting in that] I can take an emotion, and then the songwriter gets to dig deeper into that emotion. They get to dig deeper into what they might have been bringing to the table emotionally — or what you weren’t bringing to the table emotionally. We get to discuss those nuances.” And locally, she was a staple and voice of hope and guidance in the dark during BLM protests in the summer of 2020 and Daniel Prude protests that fall. Ponder is one of those people who you encounter once in a lifetime, simply filled with love, grace, and talent but also a smoldering passion for her music and for the causes she fights for. A month ago, I said I thought I had been transported back in time to the age of Diana Ross and Etta James. But now? I didn’t need to go back in time to experience that, I’ve been honored with watching the rise of this generation’s modern-day Diana Ross, and her name is Danielle Ponder.
Deftones @ Pier 17 - New York City
May 5th 2022: Deftones with Gojira, and VOWWS @ Pier 17 - New York City
Deftones - Photos Courtesy of Edwina Hay
My first concert ever was in 1998 when I attended the Vans Warped Tour at Randall’s Island about two weeks before I turned 18 years old. It was a few weeks before I began college and I made the trek out to Randall’s Island from Brooklyn via public transportation in order to see punk and ska acts like The Aquabats, Bad Religion, CIV, and many others but a huge reason for my attendance was the Deftones, of Sacramento, CA. During their set at Warped ‘98, a mosh pit formed in front of me and I had to take a bus and two trains home covered in the dirt that circled around in the air and landed on our bodies.
After I got home from that Warped show, my parents made no comment nor asked questions about my filthy appearance as I immediately headed to the bathroom upstairs to take a shower. Then over the next few years, I attended their performances whenever I could including Ozzfest the following year, culminating until when I last saw the band in Sayreville, NJ in 2004 at Starland Ballroom. A friend drove us from NYC to The Garden State where I didn’t realize at the time that my next Deftones concert would take place nearly two decades later at Pier 17 at South Street Seaport in downtown Manhattan. The band was originally scheduled to tour in 2020 in support of their ninth studio album, Ohms, but a worldwide pandemic would cause them to postpone their tour not once, but twice, finally hitting the road for that record in April & May 2022.
On this tour, they are joined by VOWWS, a duo from Australia that resides in Los Angeles, that replaced the 2020 tour opener, Poppy. VOWWS took the stage at 6 PM on the outdoor stage with both of their members, dressed all in black, performing the songs they describe as Death-Pop. Their 30-minute set seemed to be in contrast with the sunny, slightly breezy weather we experienced on a Sunday evening.
The French heavy metal band, Gojira, were next and before they played their first song, a 170 second countdown started and a mosh pit immediately broke out to my left as singer/guitarist Joe Duplantier began to sing. Since their tour with Deftones was delayed by two years, it felt like my neighbors had been waiting a long time for Gojira’s set and I was witnessing their catharsis. Someone raged so hard that they lost their phone and others in the pit immediately tried to return the device to its rightful owner once it was found. Duplantier dedicated their 2001 song, “Love,” to their friends in Deftones and the final one of their set was dedicated to indigenous people all over the world.
Kicking off their headlining performance at 8:20 PM, Deftones began with “Genesis,” the opening track off their newest album, Ohms, to numerous screams from the sold-out crowd. The large screens on opposite sides of the stage began to project different visuals for each song of their setlist. People were ecstatic for “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away),” their hit single from their 1997 record, Around the Fur. I found that I could barely hear Chino Moreno’s vocals where I was standing since everyone near me was singing along so loudly. The same thing occurred for “My Own Summer (Shove It)” from the same release that happened to be the next song on their setlist.
Chino played guitar for the ninth song of their set, “Digital Bath,” which was followed by “Knife Party,” both songs from their 22-year-old landmark album, “White Pony.” The band concluded their set with another Around the Fur track, “Lotion,” which was followed by “Engine No. 9” from their debut album, Adrenaline, with lyrics from Cypress Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill A Man” peppered in, finishing the night before the 10 PM curfew.
VOWWS
Gojira
Omar Apollo @ Riviera Theatre - Chicago
May 5th 2022: Omar Apollo with Deb Never @ Riviera Theatre - Chicago
Omar Apollo - Photos Courtesy of Emily Nava
On May 5th, 2022, Omar Apollo and his band brought the Desvelado Tour to Chicago at a sold-out Riviera Theatre. Opening acts Tora-i and Deb Never got the crowd ready with great performances.
Playing hits from his debut album "Ivory" and previous releases, Omar Apollo had the crowd's attention when he stepped on stage. Certain warm energy was in the room that night, with newer fans and those who have watched his career bloom since he first started playing at smaller venues in and around Chicago years ago. The show had its high-energy moments when Omar Apollo played more upbeat songs such as "Kickback" and "Tamagotchi" but showed vulnerability with more slowed down songs such as "En El Olvido". No matter the song tempo or language Omar Apollo sang in, the crowd sang along to every word and that alone is a testament to how successful he has become.
Deb Never
