The man, the myth the legend took the stage at the Dark Room last night for his first live show in the Windy City. Complete with his band The County, Hawthorne sent up a roughly hour long set, and continually asked the crowd if they “felt the love?”. Playing tracks from his Stones Throw debut, A Strange Arrangement (out now), Hawthorne joked with the crowd and to quote Wyclef, “pumped the positivity”.
Hawthorne’s band did extended and alternate versions of album cuts, as well as non-album tracks and classic soul covers. RubyHornet had a front room spot and captured some of his set on our new Flipcam, shouts to them for hooking it up. Below you will find Hawthorne’s opening song, “Maybe So, Maybe No”, the original and reggae version of “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”, and my personal favorite “The Ills”, which Hawthorne performed as an encore after the sell-out crowd just would not leave. Check them out below, share them with your friends, and all that. Look for our exclusive interview with Mayer coming soon as well. Do you feel the love yet? Shouts to Coldgrums and Groundlift for putting the show together.