Lep and his boy Petey rolled in from The Brew to catch The Pogues with me on Thursday here in Chicago. It was the second of a two-night run at the Riv for The Pogues and from what I heard around the venue the Thursday show was the better of the two – Shane was a bit more coherent for this one (although to be honest I didn’t understand a word the man said all night).

All in all the show was a blast. We managed – thanks to Petey – to charge our way right up to the front which I’ve decided is the only place to be for a Pogues show. The crowd up front was wild in a soccer hooligan kind of way – a true Irish melee that only Chicago can provide. The highlight of the night was undoubtedly ‘Dirty Old Town’ about two-thirds of the way into the performance… unforgettable.

Shane looking his best.

Needless to say there was a lot of Jame-o and Guiness going around before, during and after the show. Friday was a bear but all was worth it.

I finally got the chance to see a Spoon show from start to finish. I saw the first half of their Lollapalooza set this summer but had to split to catch Interpol. Actually, I thought the portion of the Lollapalooza performance I did get to see was better than the Riv set Friday. For one, the sound was better at Lollapalooza and secondly I thought their performance was a bit sloppier this time around. That being said, I really enjoyed the show and will certainly make an effort to see them again.

Britt kicked things off with the great opener “Utilitarian” from the Series of Sneaks album. I was surprised how few songs they played from the new album – at least until the later half of the show. One thing I must credit Spoon with is that they don’t really have any bad songs. You know, the one a band starts to play and you’re like “ah fuck”. Some additional older numbers they busted out early were “Jonathon Fisk”, “Chicago at Night”, “The Fitted Shirt”, “I Summon You”, “The Beast and the Dragon Adored”, and “I Turn My Camera On”. It seemed they played as much from Gimme Fiction as they did from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

Towards the later half of the show we started to hear more from the latest album including “Rhthm & Soul”, “Don’t Make Me a Target”, “The Underdog”, “Don’t You Evah”, and my fav “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”. Spoon even had a three-piece horn section to help with the new material – something they lacked at Lollapalooza.

They mentioned before the show that Spoon’s playing New Years Eve at the Metro. I don’t know if tickets are still available but it would be a blast.

Afterward we met back up at the Uptown Lounge, poured a few drinks on the floor and started a dance party. I got the rare opportunity to kick it with Colin – one of my favorite people to see a show with.

Jimmy is so sick of getting his photo taken with me.

Caught the Andrew Bird show at the Riviera Theatre this weekend here in Chicago. I was surprised to find that it had sold out – a big step up from playing the Logan Square Auditorium about 18 months back… I guess that’s what happens when you play Lollapalooza (and it doesn’t hurt to make an appearance on Letterman as well).

Seeing as the show was sold out, the place was packed – making it difficult to get any worthwhile photos (as you’ll notice). He played a ton of stuff from his stellar new album Armchair Apocrypha including ‘Heretics’, ‘Simple X’, ‘Imitosis’ and ‘Fiery Crash’. The one song from the album that he unfortunately did not play was ‘Darkmatter’ – my personal fav. Oh well, he sounded great and the crowd loved him.

This was my first time seeing Andrew Bird and I was surprised to find that he loops quite a bit of his material when performing live. I guess I’m okay with his approach since he basically plays an instrument (say the violin) to open the song and then somehow has that opening riff loop throughout the rest of the song when he picks up another instrument (say the guitar) to play another layer of song. I remember seeing The Flaming Lips years ago and they were looping stuff and I was a bit disappointed (they claimed ironically enough that it had to do with maintaining the integrity of the band) but I guess I’m a bit more lenient these days. All in all, a great show – I would’ve loved to have seen Andrew Bird back in the day when he played The Hideout.

It’s been a while – I know – all apologies. Not as many things going on around the city when the winter weather rears it’s ugly head, but I did jump at the opportunity to see The Decemberists perform for a sold out audience last night at the Riviera Theatre here in Chicago.

The highlights of the show were the songs from the new album, starting with ‘The Crane Wife 1 & 2′. Much like on the album, the song began softly, with Colin playing acoustic guitar and singing while the band slowly began to build upon the melody. About half way through the number the band fully kicked in and the audience began to liven up and dance.

One thing I noticed upon first seeing The Decemberists a couple of years ago is how amazing Colin’s voice sounds live. So many bands today rely heavily upon studio techniques to get the most out of their limited vocal ability but with Colin you hear immediately that he can truly carry a tune. Add Colin’s exceptional narrative and lyrical stylings and one can’t help but be thoroughly impressed.

Another notable song from the evening was ‘Sons & Daughters’ where Colin encouraged the crowd to sing along for the ending chorus of ‘Here all the bombs fade away…’ and I noticed a girl in front of me ask her friend ‘Here all the Bums or Bombs?’ – love it. For ‘16 Military Wives’ they split the floor crowd right down the middle and had them battle each other as to who could sing the harmony part loudest while waving their fists at each other. All the interaction was great but seeing as they only played for an hour and a half I would have liked to see them cover more material instead of drawing out every other song by engaging the audience. Other songs from the night that I recall were ‘July, July!’, ‘We Both Go Down Together’, ‘O Valencia!’ and the encore kicked off with ‘Red Right Ankle’.