[RH Photos] Melt-Banana in Chicago (10/27/2013)
Photos by Geoff Henao
Melt-Banana has been one of my favorite bands for close to a decade now. Since May 5th, 2005, I've caught the band every time they've played in Chicago (outside of the handful of times they opened for Tool). Needless to say, I've been pretty committed to the band for the past eight years. When long-time bassist Rika mm left the band last summer, I was curious to see how Yako and Agata would continue on without a rhythm section (the band has been without a permanent drummer for a number of years).
This past Sunday at Wicker Park's legendary Double Door, any doubts I had about Melt-Banana's live performance were quashed within the opening seconds of their set. The Japanese noise-core band is touring all over the United States and Canada in support of their latest album, fetch, on their 2 do what 2 fetch tour. I admit, it was a bit weird to not see Rika bouncing with her bass stage right, but Yako and Agata's combined energy was still enough to overshadow her glaring omission. Armed with a laptop controlling the bass and drums, the duo played a wide range of songs spanning their 20-year history.
My photos from their Chicago show are below. Be sure to catch Melt-Banana when they come to your city. You can find the rest of their tour dates here. I have a feeling their set at this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX will be one to remember.
[RH Exclusive] Day 1 of Chance The Rapper's Social Experiment Tour
Chance The Rapper opened his debut headlining Social Experiment tour two and a half hours south of his hometown of Chicago on Friday October 25. Photographer/videographer Bryan Lamb and myself made the trip and were on hand for all the festivities as Chance and crew kicked things off at the University of Illinois. A majority of Save Money made the trip south, joining Chano onstage was none other than Vic Mensa who himself is currently between tours with J. Cole and Disclosure.
The set was the culmination of weeks worth of rehearsals and practice for Chance, Music Director Peter CottonTale and the rest of the backing band and sound crew including Greg Landfair, Nico Segal and Jake Lipp who rented out both the Metro and Reggie's to get a go-around of the stage set-up, lights and combination of both a solo part of the set, as well as one with the band. What the U of I crowd got was one hell of a show that went off as smooth as one could expect given the circumstances and which upped the bar for the remainder of the shows on the tour. Both CottonTale and Lipp, working behind the scenes, were pleased with the show and the fact that there were no major hiccups. Bryan (FragDFilms) did his thing and captured the first stop of the tour in the photos and video below, check it out and stay hooked to RH for continuing Social Experiment coverage.
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[RH Photos] Behind The Scenes: Chance The Rapper's "The Social Experiment" Tour Rehearsal Part II
Photos by: JFrank
A continuation of our pictures published yesterday from behind the scenes of Chance The Rapper’s “Social Experiment Tour” rehearsals that took place at The Metro Sunday and Monday, today we bring you shots courtesy of Jeremy Frank (JFrank). The set is really shaping up, with almost every song re-arranged and an obligatory sign warning of the intensity of the stage’s strobe lights-anyone who has seen Chance and crew to this point will certainly be re-introduced while new fans will be given a healthy dose of Acid Rap, the way it was supposed to be heard. Check out the photos below and keep it locked to RH for all sorts of Social Experiment news.
The Streets: East Side Austin,TX (10/16/13)
Photography by Virgil Solis
It had been raining for a few days and pretty much all day on the 16th. Once the rain died down, Bobby Reys and I grabbed our cameras and headed out. These are some of the photos I shot.
[Via VirgilSolis.com]
[RH Photos] Behind The Scenes: Chance The Rapper's "The Social Experiment" Tour Rehearsal
Photos by Jake Krzeczowski
What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time I was interviewing Chance The Rapper for an article in the Sun Times as he prepared to play his first headlining show at The Metro. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to attend a rehearsal at the same storied venue on Chicago’s north side as Chance and company prepared for his first headlining national tour. It has been a year of “nexts” for Chancellor Bennett thus far and few moments embodied that more for me than taking in the rehearsal Sunday night. With backing from Peter CottonTale, Nico Segal, Nate Fox and Greg Landfair, along with Jake Lipp and a host of others, Chance isn’t looking to put on a show listeners are necessarily expecting. The core team of CottonTale, Segal, Fox and Landfair has been hard at work for weeks massaging out new arrangements and crafting a show that allows each song to reach its full potential on a live stage, something telling for an artist Chance’s age. Watching his rise has been crazy, but after seeing a small preview of what’s in store it’s safe to say this is all merely the beginning. Check out my photos from last night below and keep it locked to RH for continuing coverage of The Social Experiment Tour.
[RH Photos] The O'My's at Sub-T 10/11/13 (Chicago)
Photos by Rene Marban
The O'My's packed Subterranean in Chicago's Wicker Park Friday night for the release of their latest album, A Humble Masterpiece. Having been a minute since their last release, Maceo Haymes, Nick Henessy and crew put on a hell of a show, getting the crowd moving with their blend of jazz and blues aesthetics mixed with an R&B/hip-hop vibe. Haymes' voice is one of the most easily-recognizable in the Chicago scene, a fact that was accented by screams and cheers each time he slowly approached the microphone. Also performing was NoNameGypsy, who joined the band onstage for a couple songs. She continues to impress around the city since hitting the scene hard earlier this summer after appearing on Chance The Rapper's seminal Acid Rap album. Warming things up was an inspired set by reggae-rockers Lion Heights who got the packed crowd moving before Milo & Otis, another eclectically amazing act, performed with their signature experimental pop sounds. All in all, the show was a solid pop off for an album that has long been awaited. As much as The O'My's have managed to work with seemingly everyone in town, the abundance of talent was the perfect accent.
[RH Photos] Riot Fest Day 3 Recap
Mother Nature wasn't on our side for Riot Fest Day 3 as the day began covered amidst a gloomy, overcast Sunday morning with an on and off mist of rain through the early afternoon. While the rain eventually proved to be triumphant in keeping me at bay, it wasn't enough to dissuade me from seeing a few choice bands on the festival's final day. Read along as I share my thoughts on Against Me!, Rocket from the Crypt, and Brand New, while Brynn opens up about her experience with Saves the Day and The Pixies.
The festivities started later than the rest of the weekend with Against Me!'s 2:30pm set. As I have previously expressed, Against Me! used to be one of my favorite bands, but their musical output over recent years took a negative toll on me. However, with their recently released True Trans EP and Laura Jane Grace's transition, I felt hopeful for the band's future. A steady rain shower greeted the audience once Laura Jane Grace took the stage. Opening with an eletric version of True Trans' "FuckMyLife666," Against Me!'s set seemed hopeful, especially as the fan classic "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong" followed. Unfortunately, the set was tailored with a preference towards newer songs from the dysmal New Wave and White Crosses albums with a meager smattering of older songs (with "Walking is Still Honest" being the best of the bunch). Even the Against Me! staple, "We Laugh at Danger (and Break All the Rules)," was eschewed for an admittedly New Wave standout, "Thrash Unreal," as the band's closing song. Any hope I had for the band's future was essentially shattered with their disappointing Riot Fest set. However, it was great to see Laura Jane Grace's comfort on the stage in her new skin, so to speak, as her standard confidence seemed to have grown hundredfold since her transition. - Geoff Henao
Riot Fest attendees braved the relentless rain to catch Saves The Day's unstoppable set on the Rock Stage. Filled with endless pop-punk goodness, the set started with "Firefly," a track off of the fan favorite album Stay What You Are. As soon as that song started I forgot how cold and wet I was (there's nothing punk-rock about ponchos); it instantly put a smile on my face. Lead singer Chris Conley beamed as well, seemingly overcome by the audience's upbeat attitude despite the crappy weather. Saves The Day pumped out song after song, and only stopped to thank Chicago for being so awesome. When the band started "Sell Your Old Clothes, I'm Off To Heaven," I almost died. It's probably my favorite Saves The Day tune of all-time. I have many memories of singing that song while driving around in my red Volkswagen Beetle at 16, thinking nobody could write a song that resonated more strongly with my teenage broken heart than Saves The Day. After bassist Rodrigo Palma invited the entire crowd to come hang at his apartment after the set, Saves The Day closed with "At Your Funeral," which received the loudest sing-a-long of all. The band released their new self-titled album this week, which you can and should check out here. - Brynn Bixby
Rocket from the Crypt was my second band of the day and a last-minute decision made by our good friend Auggie the 9th and I to catch while we waited for the next band on our list. Honestly, I don't know much about the band and only chose to watch them just to have extra photo coverage since Sunday was a light day on my schedule. Based off of the few songs I heard, they had a solid Rockabilly sound. Not really my thing, but very uptempo stuff. - Geoff Henao
Boston rock geniuses, The Pixies shut down the Roots stage at Riot Fest with an excellent set of covers and originals that were just what the ecstatic, giddy and soaking wet crowd ordered. Though we all missed Kim Deal dearly (thank god for her performance at Pitchfork with The Breeders), there was no shortage of hit tunes to get the crowd dancing and cheering wildly. I was lucky enough to get backstage to witness the band rocking out up close, and the sheer joy of front-row fans was awesome enough to bring a tear to my eye. The band played many of the greats, including "Wave of Mutilation," "Here Comes Your Man," "Debaser," and an awesome cover of Neil Young's "Winterlong," to name a few. Closing with the ever-popular "Where Is My Mind," The Pixies performance at Riot Fest was one for the books. - Brynn Bixby
Brand New was the final band I saw on Day 3 due to the weather (and Breaking Bad). I think the band amassed the biggest crowd of the weekend for a non-headlining band. As the aforementioned Auggie the 9th's favorite band, I was intrigued to see what Brand New could bring beyond the one song ("Sic Transit Gloria") I knew from them. The post-hardcore band brought some bite to their set as the crowd of both young girls, frat bros, and everybody in between shared lyrics with vocalist Jesse Lacey. By the end of their set, the baseball field on which the stage was situated had become a muddy cesspool due to the mixture of mosh pits and rain. - Geoff Henao
Below are some of my photos of Against Me!, Rocket from the Crypt, and Brand New. As I mentioned, the weather deterred me from staying longer, so the selection is pretty meager. You can find the rest of my Day 3 photos on my Flickr.
[RH Photos] Riot Fest Day 2 Recap
Following an amazing Day 1 of Riot Fest, Day 2 had a very high bar to exceed if it was going to live up to the hype I built up for it. Sure enough, the 12 hours I spent on the Riot Fest grounds this past Saturday consisted of the best highlights of my weekend. Every band I saw on Saturday (Mephiskapheles, X, Glassjaw, The Lawrence Arms, Rancid, and blink-182) were all bands I was seeing live for the first time with the majority of them being very influential on my younger self.
The day began just after noon with Mephiskapheles' set. As I mentioned in our Riot Fest preview, Mephiskapheles is a third-wave ska band with a Satanist gimmick complete with Satanist iconography and lyrical allusions to demonology. However, whether or not you agree with their gimmick, their catchy third-wave sound can't be denied. The horn section plays some of the tightest horn lines I've heard in ska, a thumping electric upright bass, and vocalist Andre A. Worrell's gravelly voice carrying over the crowd full of curious onlookers and circles of rude boys and rude girls skanking up a dirt cloud on the Humboldt Park baseball diamond the stage was situated on.
Afterwards, I decided to catch X due to the long downtime in my schedule. To be honest, I don't know much about X outside of them being a '77 punk rock band. In a nutshell, 1977 was when the first major wave of punk rock bands began making moves to overtake the music scene. That's my little history lesson for the day.
Glassjaw was my next stop for the day. The post-hardcore band has always been on my list of bands to check out for the past decade, yet Saturday proved to be my first live experience with the band. As the first note began, the crowd erupted into a frenetic rush of moshing, screaming, and crowd surfing. A funny thing I noticed from vocalist Daryl Palumbo's performance was how he kept his eyes closed for the bulk of their set.
The Lawrence Arms followed an hour after Glassjaw's set ended. After years of following the band, it was good to see them live. The Chicago-based band amassed a huge crowd full of late-20s/early-30s punks singing along to every one of Brendan Kelly's raspy words and Chris McCaughan's sleepy vocals. While I'm admittedly a bigger fan of The Falcon than The Larry Arms, it was still amazing to sing along to older songs from the band's catalog alongside the smattering of older and younger punks in the crowd.
I made the long trek between the Rise and Roots stages to make it in time for the influential punk rock band, Rancid. As I had prayed for in our preview, Rancid ended up playing a majority of songs from ...And Out Come the Wolves. There were a few snoozers in the set from their post-Life Won't Wait albums, but hearing "Time Bomb," "Maxwell Murder," "Roots Radicals," "The 11th Hour," "Journey to the End of the East Bay," "The War's End," "Nihilism," "Radio," "Old Friend," "Olympia, WA," "Ruby Soho," "St. Mary," and even the Matt Freeman-led "Gunshot" was amazing. You could also separate new fans from the old based off of their ability to sing along to the more obscure songs from Let's Go! Side note: Riot Fest 2013 had the largest volume of Operation Ivy shirts I've ever seen in a public space. If only Op Ivy played... There's always next year. Side note 2: Security eschewed the "3 song" photographer rule, essentially handicapping myself and my fellow photographers from taking more varied photos of the band. Sorry, Lars and Matt, but I had to focus on Tim.
Finally, after 13 years of pining, I saw my junior high and early high school idols, blink-182 live. Just like Rancid's set, the photo policy was broken as we were only allowed one song to shoot photos of the band. However, that didn't rain down on the Geoff parade as I was able to carve a spot in the audience alongside Ruby Hornet homie and HOY photographer, Roger Tino Morales, to revel in the experience. While their set favored songs from their newer albums, blink-182 and Neighborhoods, they still played some personal favorites from Dude Ranch and Cheshire Cat, as well as some of the fan staples from Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Applause goes out to the 6' tall kid who stood in the middle of the crowd playing along on his acoustic guitar; that was both the stupidest and more awesome thing I saw that night.
My photos from Riot Fest Day 2 are below. As always, you can see the full set on my Flickr.
