Guster & Rhett Miller, Vic Theatre, Chicago, Illinois

We arrived well after the doors opened but with enough time to get down towards the front and find a place towards the back of the pit without having to cut in front of anyone. The opening act was Rhett Miller, lead singer of the Old 97s, an alternative country band that I just became familiar with last year. Not recognizing his name, I didn’t realize what we were in store for until after I was in the building. It was a nice surprise to be familiar with quite a few of the opening act’s songs. I think he even played a few hits that I the Old 97s skipped last year at Thalia Hall. I still thinks he looks a bit like the third London brother, though he’s less pretty up close. However, considering I haven’t seen a movie featuring either of them in a couple of decades, they probably don’t look all that good up close either.

Between sets and as Guster was taking the stage, we gradually shuffled a little closer to the middle, though we were never that far from the back railing. Tonight’s performance would be my ninth time seeing Guster, the only bands that I have seen more are my perennial favorites Phish and Dave Matthew Band. Until I actually counted it up, I didn’t realize that it was so many. While I always like seeing Guster, I never set out to see them many times or even realized just how many. It just seems that they’re often in town, have reasonable ticket prices at good venues, and I can usually find a friend interested in going.

Guster now has five members. In addition to the original three –Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, and Brian “Thundergod” Rosenworcel – multi-instrumentalist Luke Reynolds joined the band in 2010. They also are touring with an additional drummer/pianist. I’m not sure who he is.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the setlist, which contained a good mix of old and new songs, including five from both Keep It Together (2003) and their latest Evermotion (2015), four from both Lost & Gone Forever (1999), three from both Ganging Up On the Sun (2006) and Easy Wonderful (2010), and one from both Parachute (1995) and Goldfly (1997). They also played a pair of covers, "Nothing But Flowers [Talking Heads]" which they've been playing for many years and has even appeared on their release Guster on Ice: Live from Portland, Maine (2004). While I don’t have a strong emotional connection with their newer music the way I do with their older songs, there are still many that I like. I suspected that I was one of the few in the audience, at least on the floor, familiar with their older stuff. I was one of only a few people on the floor who knew to clap during a notable moment in “All the Way Up to Heaven,” a previously common fan response. They also played “Airport Song,” which was a pleasant surprise. I was under the impression that they didn’t often play that song anymore, so I didn’t bother to bring any ping pong balls. Fortunately, other audience members did have me covered for that one. I was also really happy that they played “Parachute.” At one point in the show, Ryan provided with audience with a choice of three songs. Earlier in the show, he had stepped into the crowd to sing while precariously perched atop a fan’s shoulders. Ryan admitted he agreed when the fan told him that they had “had a moment,” and the fan was allowed to be the deciding vote between the shouts for the three songs. He accidently announced “Parachute” as one of the songs though, which is what the fan decided on. I was very pleased to hear the title track of their debut album, as they don’t frequently play much from it anymore. I wondered if I had ever heard that song live before. Unlike Phish and Dave shows, it’s much hard to run stats of previous Guster setlists. I certainly don’t have recordings of each either.

The end of the show included their standard fake encore, during which they just step to the side of the stage with a clueless look, then pretend to be surprised when they’re invited back. At the end of this first encore, Brian stepped to the mic to cover George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.” After actually leaving the stage, they returned for an actual encore, “Jesus on the Radio,” as I’ve seen them do several times before. I feel their whole encore shtick has become a bit disingenuous. Though I’ll admit that I liked being in the know.

Setlsit:
What You Wish For
(Nothing But) Flowers [Talking Heads cover]
Hercules
Doin' It By Myself
Homecoming King
All the Way Up to Heaven
Architects & Engineers
Parachute
Kid Dreams
Manifest Destiny
Airport Song
Ruby Falls
Gangway
Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Amsterdam
Never Coming Down
Ramona
Satellite
Barrel of a Gun
Encore 1:
Long Night
Do You Love Me
Happier
Careless Whisper [George Michael cover]
Encore 2:
Jesus on the Radio

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is the named for its two founding members, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. Both were successful musicians in on their own prior to meeting. Tedeschi formed the Susan Tedeschi Band in the early 90s and released a number of records throughout the following years. Derek Trucks is the
nephew of Butch Trucks, drummer and founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. Trucks was a guitar prodigy by the age of eleven and had played with musicians such as Bob Dylan and Stephen Stills by the time he was twenty. By this time, he was also a frequent guest performer in his uncle’s band. By the late 90s, he had formed his own band, The Derek Trucks Band, and a few years later had also joined the Allmans as a full member. Tedeschi and Trucks married in 2001 and formed a band bearing both their names in 2010, though they had collaborated on and off for a number of years prior.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band carries on the legacy of The Allman Brothers Band, following the latter’s dissolution in 2014. Tedeschi sings and plays rhythm guitar; Trucks plays lead guitar. Rounding out the band is a large group of talented musicians including a bassist, three brass players, three backup vocalists, keyboards, and a pair of drummers. Opening act Leon Russell also joined them onstage on his grand piano for a few songs as well. At one point in the show, one of the backup singers took over on lead vocals, and Tedeschi stood with the other backup singers. I thought it was pretty cool that even though the band bears her name, she had the grace and lack of ego to step entirely out of the spotlight. She later left the stage for Derek to do an extended jam.

Unsurprisingly, the crowd was older and nearly everyone sat throughout the show. My back was bothering me, and I stood in the aisle in front of my seat before the show started. I was also waiting for my friend to return from the bathroom so I didn’t make my rowmates get up twice. As soon as the lights came down, but before the band was even on stage, I start getting booed to sit down. This was an audience that was committed to sitting, or at least I thought. Really, it was probably just one woman in my section, as she again started yelling that I wasn’t sitting low enough in my chair. Frankly, it gave me great pleasure when all the people between us told her to shut up before I had a chance. There was one section in the middle in which a bunch of people were standing. While a couple of the people behind weren’t happy about it, it was too many people to guilt them all.

Their set consisted of five songs from Let Me Get By (2016), three from Made Up Mind (2013), one from Revelator (2011), one unknown song of theirs that I’m not quite sure where it came from, half a dozen covers, and an extended imrov jam. One of the covers was David Bowie’s “It Ain't Easy,” likely added to the setlist recently following the glam rock legend’s death less than two weeks prior. There were no songs in particular that I wanted to hear, but it was an overall enjoyable show with equal parts driving guitar and southern charm.

Setlist:
Laugh About It
Don't Know What It Means

The Letter [The Box Tops cover]
Made Up Mind
Darlin' Be Home Soon [The Lovin’ Spoonful cover] [with Leon Russell]
Sticks and Stones [Titus Turner cover] [with Leon Russell]
Idle Wind
Anyhow
I Want More
Within You Without You
Just As Strange
I Pity the Fool [Bobby “Blue” Bland cover]
Bound for Glory
Improvisation
The Storm
Encore:
It Ain't Easy [David Bowie cover]
I Cannot Make It [Sly & the Family Stone cover]

Wild Belle, Metro, Chicago, Illinois

Wild Belle was playing at Metro as part of Tomorrow Never Knows festival, an annual five night festival at several of Chicago’s most prominent independent music venues. I had attended the festival in 2014 for a night, and four nights in 2015 when there happened to be a bunch of acts that caught my eye. Unfortunately, though there were a few things I was moderately interested in this year, there wasn’t anything that was really pulling me to the festival. Nonetheless I hoped to go to at least one night to see something…anything. I settled on Wild Belle, who I had heard of but didn’t know well. The show was sold out, and I didn’t even have ticket. While having a few drinks before the show with some friends next door, I popped my head out to see if I could find a ticket. Before I finished my first pass, someone offered to sell me a ticket for half of face value. I guess he didn’t notice that there were others standing outside looking for a ticket. I would have paid face, someone else might have paid more.

I finished my drink next door, and shortly thereafter we wandered into Metro. Though we arrived during the opening act, a female guitarist/singer, her name escapes me and I didn’t see enough of it to warrant any type of description other than that I didn’t find it particularly engaging. We moved into position at our typical spot on the far left side towards the back, but out from underneath the overhang. Wild Belle is comprised of siblings Elliot and Natalie Bergman, who grew up in and around Chicago. She did most the singing, but didn’t play an instrument. He mostly stuck to backing vocals, but played a variety of instruments. He did take over lead vocals on at least one song. They were joined by five other musicians including a pair of back up vocalists.

I was anticipating upbeat indie pop, but both the band’s sound and the audience’s demeanor was a lot more subdued than I was anticipating. They remind me a bit of The Cardigans, the Swedish pop band from the 90’s with the hit “Lovefool.” Both bands had a light pop rock sound and are fronted by a pretty girl with platinum blonde hair. There just didn’t really seem to be any songs which the audience seemed really excited to hear. This was in contrast to a couple audience members that mentioned that that they were very excited for the show, and it would be one of the few concerts that they would likely attend all year. In the end, it was a pleasant show but didn’t particularly impress me.

Muse, United Center, Chicago, Illinois

I had seen Muse once before when they opened for U2 at Fed Ex Field. At the time, I had heard of them but wasn’t too familiar with their music. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with their performance. Following that concert, I started listening to them a bit more. However, I never connected that significantly with their music until the release of Drones (2015), which soon became my favorite album of 2015. I’m always drawn to concept albums, and the entirety of Drones tells a tale related to the dehumanization of modern warfare. The protagonist is brainwashed by society into becoming a drone, losing his humanity and doing horrific things without feeling anything. He eventually defects, revolts, and overcomes the system. The album effectively ties together themes of ecology, empathy, and war.

The best seats in the house went quickly, and though we were not able to get one of the very limited tickets for the GA section on the floor, we were able to get some seats in the 100 section towards one of the corners. The main stage was set up in the center of the venue with the band facing all directions. The stage was designed to provide as much of a 360 degree experience for the audience as possible. Perhaps they picked that trick up from U2. In addition, there was a pair of smaller stages on either end (approximately where the nets would be placed during a Hawks game) and a platform connecting them to the main stage. It would have been nice to have been a bit more towards the middle and lower, but overall they were pretty good seats. The whole show was quite a production, and like the U2 show the experience was crafted with the view from the seats in mind. Furthermore, being the middle of January and quite cold outside, it was nice to have a seat on which to rest your coat instead of having to carry it into GA.

Muse is comprised of Matt Bellamy on lead vocals, guitars, and keyboards/piano; Christopher Wolstenholme on bass and backing vocals; and Dominic Howard on drums. All have been with the band since its inception in 1994. Both Bellamy and Wolstenholme had wireless instruments and would step up to various microphones around the stage. They would also switch out instruments fairly frequently. Wolstenholme’s basses had a string of colored lights running up neck, so even in moments when the stage was dark, you could still see where he was. Both musicians would run around the stage with a lot of energy. Towards the end of the show, Ballamy sat down at the piano for a couple songs. Howard’s drum kit was situated in the center of the stage on an occasionally rotating platform. Once throughout the performance he left his kit to play a smaller kit on the runway. For the past decade their performances have also included Morgan Nicholls on keyboards. He was relegated to a mini orchestra pit directly behind Howard’s drums.

We arrived a bit before Muse took the stage. The drill sergeant track began the evening, with a video of that sergeant barking his orders of conformity and inhumanity. They opened with a few tracks from Drones, but then mixed it up with old and new songs throughout the show. Considering the concept nature of the album, I would have preferred a Drones set and another hits set.

The show featured some pretty impressive visuals and production, including multiple video segments and a rotating stage, which at times looked like one of the games from the film Tron or a helicopter landing pad. Perhaps the coolest element were large holographic hands with beams of light projecting down onto Bellamy and Wolstenholme on either side of the stage, as if controlling them like puppets. During “Starlight,” a dozen or more large black hullaballoons that floated and bounced across the audience. Nearly as soon as they were released, the balloons started exploding with confetti, one after another, such that after several minutes, they were gone. There were other clear balloons that were first on the ground, then above in the rafters but they were never utilized. Later, the crew released a large inflated zeppelin drone during “The Globalist” towards the end of the show that took a lap around the venue, ominously shining spotlights on the audience below. The encore involved more explosions of light and confetti from the stage.

The set included 22 songs, including four each from Absolution (2003) and Black Holes & Revelations (2006), three from The Resistance (2009), a pair from The 2nd Law (2012) and seven from Drones plus a pair of spoken word taped elements from drill sergeant and JFK that were incorporated into the show. The band didn’t take a proper encore break, rather they left the stage but video kept playing during a very brief encore break, essential keeping the show going.

Overall, the show was a lot more focused on visual production and creating an experience rather than the sound of the band. While Bellamy’s operatic voice and ability to sing vibrato and falsetto was used to great effect, sometimes the show didn’t seem to take full advantage of it. At times his voice seemed a bit strained and muffled. I’m not convinced that the entire performance was actually performed live anyway. For starters, the instrumentation was just so layered and full, it was hard to believe that it was all coming from four musicians. There were also moments which I wasn’t sure that Ballamy’s vocals matched his on stage performance. For example, he would often run the full length of the stages, but his voice didn’t reveal any additional effort. Perhaps the most egregious moment was when Bellamy tossed his guitar across the stage as one would throw dirty laundry into a hamper. The guitar crashed to the ground, and it even appeared that a piece broke off from it. I assumed that he would leave it there and pick up a new one from a tech. However, he picked it up and kept playing it! You’d think it at least be out of tune. How could the sound from that guitar possibly be coming out of the speakers? Apparently, Bellamy has a penchant for such antics. According to at least one online source, he holds the world record for breaking the most guitars in one tour – 140 on the 'Origin of Symmetry' tour in 2001. Despite this minor complaint, Muse still provided an overall incredible experience; truly a memorable spectacle.

Setlist:
(Drill Sergeant)
Psycho
Dead Inside
Interlude
Hysteria [AC/DC's 'Back in Black' riff outro]
Map of the Problematique ['Who Knows Who' riff outro]
The 2nd Law: Isolated System [Shortened]
The Handler
Resistance
Supermassive Black Hole [Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Child' intro]
Prelude
Starlight
Apocalypse Please
Munich Jam
Madness
Undisclosed Desires
[JFK]
Reapers
Time Is Running Out
Uprising [Extended outro]
The Globalist
Drones
Encore:
Mercy
Knights of Cydonia [Ennio Morricone's 'Man with a Harmonica' intro]