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October 07, 2014

list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.06.2014

Another really strong slate. I need to just block October out every year so I can go to three or four shows a week.

Pick of the week
Hot damn, you've got We Are Scientists at Lincoln Hall on Wednesday, Sharon Van Etten at Thalia Hall and Afghan Whigs at Metro on Friday, and then Delta Spirit at The Vic on Saturday.

list.in.to.COZ
Just regular office hours Tuesday night at Vaughan's to go along with what I'm told is baseball that you get to play after the end of the regular season on the TV. As a Chicagoan, I am not familiar with this concept.

Recap
When you're Robert Plant, you've earned the right to play as much music from your new record as you want to, but what surprised me was how much the audience was okay with that. It helped that it was a particularly engaging mix of traditional blues, world music and trip-hop, as defined by the material and the musicians. Greg Kot noted that Plant treated Zeppelin as just one stop along a musical journey, but I felt like we were only treated to the new material, a half dozen or so Led Zeppelin songs, and then some traditional blues. I would have loved to hear this band interpret something like "Big Log" from Plant's solo career as a bridge to the new stuff, but it was still pretty great.

Also, Diver on Saturday night featured a violinist who has been joining us at Vaughan's lately, and a particularly raucous international crowd.

10.07   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Tony added a song I've been doing for a while to his repertoire, so I think we might need to try it out as a duo this week.

Screaming Females with Pujol, Tenement (Logan Square Auditiorium)
The first of several (okay, two) "bands I've at least heard of" for the week.

10.08   wednesday
We Are Scientists with Surfer Blood, Eternal Summers (Lincoln Hall)
High energy, great hooks, and some really great guitar playing are the main reasons I enjoyed the show from these guys so much earlier this year.

Pete Yorn (Double Door)   SOLD OUT!
An acoustic evening with the singer/songwriter in a relatively small venue, so expect to get up close and personal.

Todd Snider with Jesse Aycock (SPACE, Evanston)
Reading over the capsule preview for this one in the Reader, it seems that the smirking attitude that got him on the map in the first place is still very much a part of the folk singer's sound.

Lucius with Lapland (Metro)
Another band I've heard of.

10.09   thursday
Rachel Yamagata with The Dove & The Wolf (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
Unless nobody is minding her Wikipedia page, the former Bumpus singer and Chicagoan hasn't had a song featured in a TV show in almost two years, after a high-water mark of 8 back in 2009.

Secret Chiefs 3 with Cleric, Pavlov (Double Door)
When I first learned this was a band that included Trey Spruance (and, I think, Trevor Dunn) from Mr. Bungle, I got excited. But the one CD I ended up buying was way too avant garde for me.

Todd Snider with Jesse Aycock (Old Town School of Folk Music)
See Wednesday's listing, but in the city this time.

10.10   friday
Sharon Van Etten with Tiny Ruins (Thalia Hall)
The indie singer/songwriter has released another acclaimed album, and her live show at Lollapalooza was pretty darn good, so I'm looking forward to hearing her in my new favorite venue.

The Afghan Whigs with Joseph Arthur (Metro)
While I knew about this band for a long time, it wasn't until the last couple of years that I really started listening to them. Once again, there's energy, hooks and guitars that I like so much, but also a dark, almost menacing intensity that Greg Dulli projects that gives it a whole other dimension.

Ahmad Jamal (Symphony Center)
Legendary jazz pianist. I think I may have seen him when I was in college, or shortly thereafter, at a small club that may or may not have been on Hubbard Street.

Tony MacAlpine with Dark Trilogy, Lonero (Reggie's Music Joint)
Good god, it would be really fascinating to go back and figure out what happened to all those Schrapnel Records artists from the late 80s and early 90s. I remember wanting MacAlpine's Edge of Insanity album based on who rounded out the trio, but I don't remember who it was now.

Rachel Yamagata with The Dove & The Wolf, Hemming (Lincoln Hall)
See Thursday's listing, only in a bigger room and with tickets still available.

10.11   saturday
Delta Spirit with Peter Matthew Bauer (The Vic)
I still have a vivid memory of this band at Lollapalooza a few years ago before the storm that cleared out Grant Park. The heat and humidity were clearly taking their toll on the audience, and the lead singer took it upon himself to put every ounce of energy that he had into his performance to compensate. It was tremendous. I haven't given a hard listen to the new record just yet.

J. Mascis with Luluc (Subterranean)
The Dinosaur Jr. singer and guitarist clearly has a strong relationship with the Subterranean folks, as he seems to turn up there more often than not.

Jayhawks with Trapper Schoepp & The Shades (House of Blues)
Really good pairing of national headliner and regional opener, as both hit that sweet spot of indie rock and alt-country.

10.12   sunday
No Age with Basic Cable (Thalia Hall)
This is the first anniversary of Dusek's and the Punch House, which gives it more credence than the headliner, who I don't particularly like.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (City Winery)
I was going to tell this whole story about how I got a triathlon suit from a company called Zoot, and whenever I would put it on, I would start singing "Zoot Suit Riot," but then I realized that was Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Now, where was I?

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