Boulevard Music Festival, Logan Square, Chicago, Illinois

After dinner in the area, we stumbled upon a small local music festival in Logan Square. With a bit of gentle encouragement from me, the group agreed to venture in for a little while.  Brooklyn-based electronic musician Eliot Lipp was the main onstage when we walked in. His blend of hip hop, electro, house, and dubstep was enough to entice me to encourage everyone to enter. Unfortunately, he only had another song or two in his set. After watching a vaudeville act for a while, we wandered over to the other side to see a fun unnamed Brazilian samba Band. Conga lines and so forth. On the way out, we caught BoomBox, consisting of singer/songwriter Zion Godchaux on guitar/lead vocals and producer/DJ Russ Randolph on sequencers, groove boxes and turn-tables. They pull together an eclectic combination of rock, psychedelic, and house. Certainly not the greatest festival and we didn’t stay that long but it was nice to stumble upon.

Peter Frampton & B.B. King, RiverEdge Park, Aurora, Illinois

B.B. King, the King of the Blues, was another music legend that I had wanted to cross off of my bucket list and considering his advanced age, time was probably running out to do so. While I didn’t enjoy the long, congested drive out to Aurora, a Chicago exurb, the combination of Peter Frampton was a worthwhile bonus. The venue itself was quite nice as well, outdoors with nice views. However, while most of the venue is general admission, the closest GA sections are concrete where you’re expected to sit on your own lawn chair. So if you’re without one, you’re SOL. We were instead a bit back on the lawn, though we could hear quite well and I was able get closer whenever I wanted.


Not long after we arrived, B.B. King’s backing band started off the evening with some blues for 15-20 minutes without him. They then introduced King, who shuffled out and plunked himself in a chair in the middle of the stage in front of the drum kit. With him was of course Lucille, his name for each of his signature black Gibson guitars. She was named following an incident in the winter of 1949. King was playing a dance hall in Arkansas. As was common practice at the time, a barrel half-filled with kerosene was lit. During his set, two men knocked over the barrel in a tussle, sending burning kerosene across the floor and setting the building ablaze. After being evacuated, King realized that he left his guitar in the building. He reentered to retrieve his beloved $30 Gibson guitar. Though he safely rescued his guitar, two people died in the fire. The next day, he learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. He then named that guitar Lucille, as well as each one that he has owned since, as a reminder to himself to never do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over a woman. His set lasted a little less than an hour, during which he was charming, personable, and flirty with the idea of all the ladies in the venue. He jammed out on Lucille quite a bit and noted that he had just put new strings on her. And when he puts new stings on her, “she gets sassy.” He played a few of his own songs as well as a few covers including the U2 song “When Love Comes to Town” that featured him dueting with Bono (on the record, the man in the sunglasses was unfortunately absent). It was great to see him still on stage knowing that he would be celebrating his 88th birthday in exactly one month. As old as he was, he seemed quite sharp, both in his wit/speak as well as his hands. Peter Frampton joined him on stage for his last song, “The Thrill is Gone.”

BB King Setlist:
Introduction Jam I
Introduction Jam II
[Band Intro by BB King]
Nobody Loves Me but My Mother
Rock Me Baby
You Are My Sunshine (Jimmie Davis cover)
When Love Comes to Town (U2 cover)
How Blue Can You Get
The Thrill Is Gone (with Peter Frampton)


Night had fallen by the time Peter Frampton took the stage, creating a different vibe for his performance as compared to B.B. King’s. I was less excited to see Frampton, but it was certainly a nice bonus. He was a good showman, was clearly having fun on stage, and seemed to genuinely appreciate that he was on tour for B.B. King and that audiences still came out to watch him play. He had several guests during the show including Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick from nearby Rockford, Illinois, as well as Larry Carlton, a less famous solo and session musician, and his son Julian. They pulled in a lot of musical elements – rock, jazz, jam, blues, etc. We didn’t stay the entire show,

leaving midway through “Surrender.” Seeing the setlist later, I kind of wished we would have stayed for the cover of “Black Hole Sun” and his hit, “Baby I Love Your Way.” I was a little surprised that he didn’t play “Do You Feel Like We Do” or “Show me the Way” which became live staples of his, particularly after the release of Frampton Comes Alive (1976), his breakthrough album and one of the top selling live albums of all time.

Peter Frampton Setlist:
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite (First Verse Only)
Magic Moon (Da Da Da Da Da!)
Doobie Wah
Lines On My Face
Show Me the Way
Wind of Change

Double Nickels
RCM (with Larry Carlton)
Friday Night Shuffle (with Larry Carlton)
(I'll Give You) Money
I Want You to Want Me (with Rick Nielsen) (Julian Frampton on Backup Vocals)
Surrender (with Rick Nielsen) (Julian Frampton on Lead Vocals)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
Baby I Love Your Way
Encore:
Off The Hook
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles cover) (with Rick Nielsen & Larry Carlton)

Greensky Bluegrass, Lincoln Hall, Chicago, Illinois

Though I had only first heard of them a week ago and still hadn’t heard a single recording, I agreed to go to see Greensky Bluegrass. I correctly assumed that the name said it all. They are a five-piece American bluegrass band from nearby Michigan, consisting of a banjo, guitar, mandolin, small upright bass, and steel guitar. We arrived very early, to such an extent that we were the first people in the venue. When the opener took the stage, it was in the form of a similarly arranged bluegrass band, though with a violin instead of a steel guitar. I wasn’t sure if it was the main act or an opener.

The show was what I expected, fun bluegrass on par with Yonder Mountain String Band, though they had a little more of a jam band than country influence. They did a few extended jams and I noticed that folks around us were wearing Phish and Dead t-shirts. They announced that they would play 2 full sets, also very jam band-like, though we had had our fill by a bit into the second. Certainly a band I would see again if I came upon them.

Post #100!