Fitz & the Tantrums, Riviera Theatre, Chicago, Illinois

On a relatively warm but rainy night for Chicago in late November, the line for the second sold out night of Fitz & the Tantrums was out the door even 30 minutes after they opened. Despite opting to wait out the line to dissipate, at least somewhat, we still able to find a spot in the back center of the lowest tier. Unlike a few other shows at the Riviera Theatre, it was still reasonably comfortable when Fitz and the Tantrums took the stage around 10pm.

The band consists of Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (co-Lead vocals and percussion), James King (saxophone, flute, keyboard, percussion and guitar), Joseph Karnes (bass guitar), Jeremy Ruzumna (keyboards) and John Wicks (drums and percussion). I had seen the soul-influenced, indie pop band once or twice before at musical festivals, but this would be my first time in a club, comprised on only their fans. Better that atmosphere and the fact that it was their last night of their fall tour, they doubled down on the high energy they’re known to bring. Their set up included fairly standard lights and lasers with a large light up heart as the backdrop, the cover art of their most recent album, More Than Just a Dream (2013). Fans and the band would make that heart symbol with their hands.

Their set included most of the songs from Pickin' Up the Pieces (2010) and nearly all those from More Than Just a Dream. It also show included a few elements to further engage the audience. When we arrived, theatre staff were handing out bracelets that would illuminate on impact. When everyone would clap their hands above their heads, the room was illuminated. Towards the end of the show, everyone was also asked/commanded to squat down and then jump up in unison. They also rained confetti down on the audience twice, and the end of the main set and then at the end of the show.

Setlist:
Get Away
Don't Gotta Work It Out
Break the Walls
Breakin' the Chains of Love
Keepin' Our Eyes Out
Spark
MerryGoRound
Winds of Change
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [Eurythmics cover]
Out of My League
House on Fire
Fools Gold
Last Raindrop
6am
Tell Me What Ya Here For
L.O.V.
Encore:
Tighter
MoneyGrabber
The Walker

Damien Rice, Métropolis, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

After having to stop and reschedule his Chicago show the previous month after only five songs due to illness and the realization that I wouldn't be able to attend the rescheduled show, I opted to fly to Montreal to see the final show of his tour at Métropolis. I had actually been to the venue approximately five years ago for Modest Modest. Except for the balcony, the main part of the venue is all general admission, though there are a few first-come, first-serve standing tables towards the back under the balcony. Given the distance that we had come, I preferred to get a spot as close to the stage as possible.

The doors opened around 6:30pm, and we arrived fifteen to twenty minutes later. We were almost dead center and about eight to ten people/rows from the stage. Considering that the Athenaeum

Theatre has an unutilized orchestra pit, and I was seated a bit off to the side for that show, I was probably about as close to the stage at the Métropolis as I was at the Athenaeum. Also, like at the previous show, there was no opening act. Though Damien Rice was scheduled to take the stage at 8pm, he kept us waiting till 8:35. At his request, the venue closed the bar at the beginning of his show. Since there were many quiet moments throughout the show, for which unfortunately there’s often someone still talking, my guess is he realized that sober people are at least relatively quieter.

As before, he took the stage alone with his guitar, which he sometime played with a pick and other times finger style. While it started as a fairly dark stage with only a single spotlight on him, other lights flicked to life at proscribed times throughout the show, orchestrated in time with the music. So he DOES have a lighting guy. It was even quite bright at times, though never anything more than just plain lights. There were not any colors or imagery whatsoever. He was wearing ‘traditional’ Irish workman’s clothes, as if he had just stepped out of the early 20th century, including suspenders and a collarless button-down shirt.

He started off the show fairly quietly with a few of his concert staples including “Elephant” and “Delicate.” Slipped in between those two was “Woman Like a Man,” a B-Side track. He did these first three songs and many throughout the show with a standard acoustic guitar. He was fairly stoic at the very beginning of his set. It was tough to get a read on him; what kind of night would we be in for? After a few songs, it was clear that he was a different man than he was in Chicago, with a whole lot of energy. Beginning with “My Favourite Faded Fantasy” and used sporadically throughout the set, he utilized effects pedals for some songs to create reverb, an electric guitar sound, or even add a deep bass. The most effective use of this and probably the highlight of the entire evening was a rocking version of “9 Crimes.” Beginning the song acoustically, he let it build for a while, stepping away from the main microphone, hunching over, and actually singing into his guitar mic, something I had never seen before. As the song reached its crescendo, the lights blazed, and he kicked on electric and bass effects. Following “9 Crimes,” which would have been the perfect note on which to end the show, he instead brought it down a notch with “The Greatest Bastard.”

It wasn't until prior to “The Professor & La Fille Danse,” which features a few French lyrics, that he finally spoke to the audience. Though he mostly spoke English, he also chatted a bit in French, much to the excitement of the audience, except for me of course. I felt a bit left out whenever he spoke in French, though only a bit because he never said more than a few snippets. He also carried a glass of saké with him on stage and sipped from it liberally, explaining that he needed to catch up with the excited audience. Before starting the “The Professor & La Fille Danse,” he provided an allegorical explanation of the song’s meaning, “About the complex things that men have deal with. We are burdened with the difficulty…so imagine, that someone gives you a suitcase for your 13th birthday. In that suitcase is a million dollars. You’re told to keep it safe and use it wisely. You put it underneath your bed. The next day you’re thirteen years old and one day and you get another suitcase with a million dollars. You’re told put it somewhere safe and be careful what you do with it. You put it under your bed again. This continues every day. Eventually, there’s no room underneath your bed. So you put it in your wardrobe, but that gets full. Soon your whole bedroom gets full of these suitcases with a million dollars and you’re only 13 years and 27 days old. And you keep on getting told, be careful what you do with it and don’t do bad things with it. And at 13 years of age you’re trying to find what to do with all these millions of dollars. Well, as a 13 year old boy, you get a million sperms delivered into your testicles every day. And you’re told, be careful what you do with those. And don’t use them badly.”

In his banter, he didn't shy away from poking a bit of fun at the audience. When a fan yelled out his support in a moment of relative quiet, he imitated a clapping trained seal. Throughout the evening, he also took audience requests. One of the first songs requested was “Cheers Darlin'.” He responded “I can’t do ‘Cheers Darlin',’ because I’ll be terribly drunk and won’t be able to do anymore songs. So if you want one more song, I could do ‘Cheers Darlin',’ but if you want a few more songs, then I will not. Wine and saké doesn't probably go together anyway.” At the time, I didn't understand the exchange. It would become a bit clearer later in the evening.

I was a bit surprised that fans requested songs from his most recent album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy (2014), almost as much as his previous two. The first accepted request for the evening was “The Box,” from the aforementioned album. Again he explained the meaning of the song. It is about how for better or worse we compartmentalize all that is good and bad in life. “You eventually have to face down the people in your life that are bad for you. This one particular friend criticized everything I did, all the good ideas I had. He was always the first person to put doubts in my mind. So I decided to sit down with him and sort it out. So we sat down, and I walked up to him, and I looked in the mirror, and I said ‘You’ and I sang him this song.”

Following “The Box,” he stepped away from the mic for an unplugged version of “The Blower’s Daughter.” The audience was mostly quiet. He then ended the main set with “Volcano,” for which he invited us to participate. He directed us to snap our fingers in the beginning of the song, which would build to hand claps, then finally to foot stomps for the crescendo. He also broke the audience into three segments. Each was instructed to sing part of the chorus. It was fun, though I've seen artists “conduct” an audience better. Our middle section was having quite a bit of trouble delivering a well-timed “Ah, ah, ahhhhh.”

Following his brief encore break, I was expecting to hear another two or three songs. When he asked for requests, I was one of several people yelling for “Rootless Tree,” which he threw into the set. Though I enjoyed it immensely, he delivered a stripped down version, which I thought would have benefited from being dressed up a bit with some electric and bass effects. I thought that would be the end, and not a bad ending at all, but then he stated, “Maybe I will drink some wine.”

A table and pair of chairs were brought on stage. He asked for a volunteer to join him, one that liked wine and wasn't driving home. He specifically picked up a girl who had previously informed him that it was okay to mix saké and wine, a cute brunette named Angelique. She looked like she was barely old enough to be served a drink. He then proceeded with the narration of a mini-play that was the basis for “Cheers Darlin':” On a night out in the city, a young Irish man accidentally bumps into and knocks over a pretty girl. He insists he buy her a glass of wine to apologize. They get to talking and realize that they live in the same village outside the city. One glass of wine turns to two turns to three. Meanwhile on stage, Damien Rice is pouring each of these glasses of wine for himself and Angelique. The two of them slam down a full bottle in a matter of minutes, after which he requests another from a stagehand. After downing her third or fourth glass, Angelique was having a bit of trouble getting anymore down, instead requesting to sip some of his aforementioned saké. Back in the story, even though our young Irish protagonist doesn't have money for a taxi, he opts to miss the last bus home, hoping that since the beautiful young girl he’s with isn't running to catch the last bus, neither should he. After pointing out that they have missed that last bus home, she replies that her boyfriend is picking her up. Embarrassed and drunk, “Cheers Darlin'” is a note written by the young man to the girl, scornfully wishing her the best with her boyfriend. Having put down his guitar in favor of a glass of wine, Damien sang along to prerecorded music, which included drums, piano, and violin as well as guitar. It was the only instance all evening in which the sound wasn't directly created by him or his guitar. The alcohol he just drank couldn't have worked its way into his bloodstream quite yet, so the slurred words and swaying demeanor during the song were part of the performance.

Given the amount of wine he had just consumed, I thought it would be the end of the show as he had previously threatened, but he was just getting warmed up. If anything the alcohol got him more revved up. After an unplugged version of “Cannonball,” he asked his tour manager at the soundboard what time he was required to stop, clarifying “At what time do I get fined?” I couldn't hear the response. The show continued even though he said it was a bad idea to play after “Cheers Darlin'.”

By this point, he was quite drunk, not Shane McGowan, slurring, stumbling, and smoking a cigarette drunk, but drunk. He was still happy and energetic, just getting a bit more verbose with his stories. For example, “Trusty and True” required a significant amount of humorous explanation, as follows: “Often the most painful things are linked with romance because romance is filled with….bullshit. We grow up with the story of romance, and I was the same. I wrote songs about it and people loved that shit. You know? [In a strained voice, faking being on the verge of tears], ‘Yeah, fuck you!’ I don’t really think that way anymore. I can still sing the songs, but it’s not how I think anymore. But anyway, sex and pain sells, so hey, I can keep writing painful songs….I’m joking, I told you it a really bad idea for me to keep going after ‘Cheers Darlin',’ but hey, last night of the tour and all. So this song is a bonfire, and anyone that has any pain, things their frustrated at, jealousy….jealousy is hilarious. I think people probably do the most stupid, passionate, and crazy things ever because of jealousy. I know I have. This song is a bonfire to throw all those things into and let it go. Angelique, have you vomited yet? You’re fine? [Giggles] I’m fine too [lifts glass]. Tomorrow morning on the plane, I’m not so sure.”

He then started a few bars of “Trusty and True” before again stopping to request for a group of 25 to 30 reasonably talented singers from the audience to join him on stage, offering them the rest of the wine. He quickly taught them the chorus for “Trusty and True” and began again. However, halfway through the song, he stopped again: “Oh by the way, I want you to imagine: If you’re a woman, if you feel like you've been hurt by a man, the truth is you've never been hurt by a man, you've only hurt yourself.” The audience booed, so he clarified, “We all only hurt ourselves. The same applies to men. So if you've been in that situation, imagine these next verses are all the men in the world standing on a hill, singing to all the women in the world. And all the men in the world are going ‘we’re sorry we did our best.’”

Wrapping up the song, he took the time to greet each person on stage with him before they exited. Again I thought it was the end of the show. So did the theatre manager because the house lights came up. We moved from our spot up close toward the back of the venue only discover he still had more in him. I didn't mind though. I could still hear very well but had a different vantage point and a lot more space.

Next, he agreed to sing “It Takes a Lot to Know a Man,” even though he had never done it live and had yet to figure out how to fit all the pieces together in a single performance. Though he admitted that if he was sober, he wouldn't have attempted to it, I believe that sober Damien Rice would have botched just as many of the lyrics as this one.

The show continued with “Back to Her Man,” more or less a song about opening up for Leonard Cohen and witnessing the veteran performer’s effect on women, and a fantastic version of “Me, My Yoke, and I,” more of less about Catholic sexual repression. He played the latter after it was requested by a guy standing near me at the back of the room. When he agreed to play it, he noted that he hadn't done so in about seven years. Naturally, the fan was quite pleased with himself; I would be too. After saying several times that the next song would be the last song of the night only to add in another, he finally ended the evening with “I Remember.” He tried translating it into French, though quite poorly. He finished his performance about five minute after midnight, meaning he played for a total of three and a half hours. Basically, his encore was a full second set, longer in fact by almost 50 minutes. He pointed out that while it might not be his longest show, it was certainly his most elongated. I had been standing for about five hours.

In summary, he did quite a mix of songs including eight of ten songs on O (2002), four songs from 9 (2006), seven out of eight from My Favourite Faded Fantasy, and four B-sides/rarities. He missed a couple that I would have liked to have heard including “Accidental Babies,” “Coconut Skins,” and especially “Eskimo.” No complaints though as it was easily my favorite set of the year.

Setlist:
Elephant
Woman Like a Man
Delicate
My Favourite Faded Fantasy
Older Chests
I Don't Want to Change You
9 Crimes
The Greatest Bastard
The Professor & La Fille Danse
The Box
The Blower's Daughter [unplugged]
Volcano
Encore:
Colour Me In
Amie
Sex Change [Juniper song] [snippet]
Rootless Tree
Cheers Darlin'
Cannonball [unplugged]
Trusty and True
It Takes a Lot to Know a Man
Baby Sister
Back to Her Man
Me, My Yoke and I
I Remember

James Vincent McMorrow, House of Blues, Chicago, Illinois

In six months’ time, Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow had upgraded from Lincoln Hall to the House of Blues, a significantly larger venue. We arrived early, hoping to be reasonably close to the stage, even though we expected we wouldn’t be able to repeat the propinquity of last time. Our goal was to be close without being squished. One of the drawbacks to the House of Blues is that the back areas of the theater are somewhat disconnected from the stage, making it hard to see and hear. However, since the show was nowhere near sold out, it was easy for everyone in attendance to get close enough to see and hear well.

The opening act was a somewhat depressing hip hop duo – a DJ and an MC. At first, I found them a bit of a strange pairing for James Vincent McMorrow, but as their set went on, I came to find them quite analogous. They are to hip hop what James Vincent McMorrow is to folk. Both have their roots in their respective genres but have taken their sound in a new direction. James Vincent McMorrow himself joined the openers on stage for their last song, his song “Cavalier” with hip hop beats and rap overlaid with McMorrow’s normal vocals.

James Vincent McMorrow used the same set up as his last show, a circular disk backdrop ornamented with pyramids plus additional illuminated pyramids spread across the stage. More importantly, his voice was just as ethereal and beautiful as before. Three other musicians joined him on stage, including guitar/keys, keys/synthesizer, and drums with James Vincent McMorrow on guitar/keys.

The setlist utilized the previous show’s list as a base but threw in a few additional songs including “Higher Love,” a Steve Winwood cover. He also included “When I Leave,” a brand new songs that will likely appear on his next album, currently under development. I really liked the song, but thought it was ripe for some loops. I’m not sure if that’s something that interests him though. He also did an unplugged version of “And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop” at the beginning of the encore, unplugging his guitar and stepping away from the microphone. The audience did a better job than average job of keeping quiet throughout the performance. However, I still heard a few whispers. Why are there always a few people that are just incapable of staying quiet for a few minutes?

Setlist:
The Lakes
Hear the Noise That Moves So Soft and Low
Glacier
Red Dust
Down the Burning Ropes
You Know
Higher Love [Steve Winwood cover]
Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree
Breaking Hearts
This Old Dark Machine
Post Tropical
Look Out
From the Woods!!
All Points
We Don't Eat
Gold
Cavalier
Encore:
And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop [unplugged]
When I Leave
If I Had a Boat

Sun Kil Moon, Park West, Chicago, Illinois

On a bit of a whim, I decided to see Sun Kil Moon, a moniker for singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek. I had been a fan of his since I discovering his album of Modest Mouse covers several years ago and had enjoy his own music as well. However, it was his most recent album, Benji (2014), that finally came to be a high rotation selection on my stereo. I enjoy his voice and the personal stories he tells through his lyrics.

I had been to Park West once before for Matisyahu. Previously, most of the theatre was laid out as first-come, first-serve tables with a GA section up front. I assumed there would be a similar set up for this show, so I planned to slip up into that front GA section as the show started. I was happy to stand. I was disappointed to find that there were now seats in this section, all of which were full. Though it took some searching, I was able to find an open seat just one section back. I would have enjoyed being a bit closer for a quiet show like Sun Kil Moon but not bad for showing up at the last minute. I was also a bit annoyed to find that even as the show was starting, there were a dozen or more seats marked “reserved.” There was no opener, so I slid into my seat just a few minutes before Sun Kil Moon took the stage.

It was once again a case in which I wasn't sure who to expect on stage. However, this time I really thought that it would just be him with his guitar, but when I entered the theatre I noticed a much larger set up. He took the stage with three other musicians – drums, electric guitar, and keyboards. Mark Kozelek played the acoustic guitar, though put it down for a half dozen songs, just using his voice. He also invited another artist on stage to sing a few songs. They did one of each of their songs, plus a few others. Like the Damien Rice show, the stage was very dark, such that I could barely see his face the entire show. It created a very pleasant ambiance, even though my pictures didn't turn out very well.

He was funny and personable on-stage with a wry, dark sense of humor. Those on stage with him were all old friends and musical collaborators. Throughout the set, he gave all of them a hard time, dispensing joking insults like, “What kind of tempo is that? What am I paying you for?” The aforementioned insult also speaks to the experimental, casual nature of the show. He was figuring out the tempo and the songs as he went throughout the show. On one occasion, he restarted a song not once but twice. For another song, he required a copy of the lyrics in front of him. Not wanting to turn up the house lights, he instead opted to borrow the phone of a woman in the front row to use for a light source.

He has an extensive catalogue and in addition to his Sun Kil Moon songs, he played songs from the various groups/duos with which he has made music over the years. I wasn't familiar with many of these songs, but most of his songs are stories, so it was easy to become engaged. It was also quite glad to be able to find a setlist after the show and pleased that his set did include at least a couple songs from Benji. . While he didn't specifically say he was taking requests, he honored the few people that did yell out song titles, once noting, “I forgot about that one, yeah, we should do that.”

I was told by the venue that he would play from 7:30 to 9. However, though he came out more or less on time, his set lasted until almost 10 including an encore break of only a minute or so.

Setlist:
I Know It's Pathetic but That Was the Greatest Night of My Life
Gustavo [Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle song]
Black Kite
Caroline [Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle song]
Dogs
Micheline
He Always Felt Like Dancing [Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle song]
I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love
Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes
I Got You Babe [with Advance Base]
Natural Light [Casiotone for the Painfully Alone cover] [with Advance Base]
Jim Wise [with Advance Base]
I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Same
Hey You Bastards I'm Still Here [Mark Kozelek & Desertshore cover]
War on Drugs: Suck My Cock
Encore:
Ceiling Gazing [Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle cover]
Carissa
Elaine

Alt-J (∆), Riviera Theatre, Chicago, Illinois

It was already very crowded at the Riviera even an hour and a half before Alt-J (or is it ∆, I still don’t know how I should write their name) was scheduled to take the stage. We picked a spot on the second tier as close to the railing as we could find, so that we could see and hear pretty well. The evening started with opening act Lovelife. They were quite good, one of the better openers that I have seen recently. Their performance included a respectable visual show and a lot of energy.

Alt-J took the stage about 8:45pm. Four musicians were on stage: Joe Newman (guitar, lead vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards, vocals) and Thom Green (drums). Gwil Sainsbury (guitar, bass) was the former fourth band member when I saw them last summer. However, he amicably departed earlier this year. For their current tour, he was replaced by Cameron Knight (guitar, bass, sampler).

I had first discovered Alt-J following their release of their Mercury Prize winning debut album, An Awesome Wave (2012), and was instantly hooked. Though I have seen them previously, it was a Thursday evening set at Bonnaroo. While I was relatively close, it was extremely crowded, and I was exhausted. I was looking forward to seeing them a second time in a club setting. It was also an opportunity to hear a new set of songs from their sophomore album, This Is All Yours (2014), released earlier this fall.

They ended up playing a good mix of songs from both albums. The setlist below was technically pulled from their show the previous evening, but as near as I can tell it was the same setlist. I liked that Bloodflood, from their first album, was directly followed with Bloodflood Pt. 2 from the second. While I like the overall set of songs they played, I thought they put too many of them a bit too early in the set. Towards the end of the show, they didn’t have any of what I would consider their best songs to end their main set or include in the encore. It was also a bit on the short side, including only about 65 minutes of music in total. They could have included a few more without the overall quality of the show suffering. I did appreciate that their encore break only lasted a minute or two, and I was home a bit after 10pm.

The performance also included some pretty solid visual elements, including lights and an LCD apparatus.  For most of the show, the lighting seems to emphasize the overall ambiance instead of the members of the band themselves. Much of the time, you could barely even make out their faces.

Setlist:
Hunger of the Pine
Fitzpleasure
Something Good
Left Hand Free
Dissolve Me
Matilda
Bloodflood
Bloodflood Pt. 2
❦ (Ripe & Ruin)
Tessellate
Every Other Freckle
Taro
Warm Foothills
The Gospel of John Hurt
Encore:
Lovely Day [Bill Withers cover]
Nara
Leaving Nara
Breezeblocks