Items filtered by date: June 2026

The parking lot at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre has turned into a performance space with a crowd growing too big for even the Metro to hold. Q101’s Jamboree is an aide memoire of the magical second stage; the kind of stage that broadcasts newer music to the masses and is able to rock the crowd harder than any main stage act. The crowd is eager. People are hungry for music that will give them the bragging rights to say they saw a band before they became HUGE, and trust me when I say that the Crash Kings will be huge!


Crash Kings have an amazing product that you will hold on to. Brothers Tony (piano and vocals) and Mike Beliveau (bass) have orchestrated a new breed of rock. A classic piano, bass and drum-style trio that consists of one major thing that bands like Keane lack: balls. Mike, along with drummer Jason Morris, provides a rhythmic driving force reminiscent of a 1970s Pontiac GTO — full of force that keeps your pedal to the metal.


Tony approaches his keys with a fire like Jerry Lee Lewis or Jimi Hendrix. He embraces it and plays harder and faster. He uses a regular instrument that is played with effects that no synthesizer could even touch. You can easily tell that Tony has taken the time to adjust every knob and button to his liking. He is able to create sounds from a piano that will never be matched by Pro-Tools or any computerized-processed instrument. Tony brings a voice that matches his intensity of piano playing perfectly. His intuition and musicality matches the tour de force that follows the name of the band perfectly.


Crash Kings’ music explodes like a crash of sound that will astonish your senses. As producer Dave Sardy said, “Crash Kings are the missing link between Queen and Rage Against the Machine.” So hop in and enjoy the pure ecstasy of a rockin’ life-changing experience.

The Court Theatre’s revival of Athol Fugard’s classic Apartheid-era polemic Sizwe Banzi is Dead is the culmination of the collaborative Chicago Fugard Festival (other works were performed by the Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and TimeLine Theatre). The play is a stark look at the impact of South African Apartheid policies on the lives of individuals, told in an unconventional narrative by very different lead characters. 

Banzi’s narrative weaves the story of its titular character, an unemployed South African forced to leave his wife and children in search of work in a larger city, together with those of two men who impact his life. The piece opens with an extended monologue by Styles (played with gusto by Chiké Johnson), the proprietor of a small photography studio specializing in personalized postcards. Styles tells a sprawling tale of his journey from the factory lines at a local Ford automobile plant to self-made business owner, and in the process gives the audience an introduction to the social climate of Apartheid-era South Africa. Johnson’s over-the-top performance serves the role well, from his mimicry of the uptight white factory foreman Baas Bradley in his clumsy interactions with the African workers to the re-enactment of a long Old West-inspired shootout with petulant cockroaches at Styles’ newly acquired storefront. Just as Styles is seemingly established as the story’s protagonist, he receives a visit from a bewildered stranger who introduces himself as Robert Zwelinzima and asks to have a photo taken for a postcard to send to his wife. After an amusing  portrait session, Styles fades abruptly into the background and the focus shifts to his mysterious customer.

The customer, as it turns out, is Sizwe Banzi himself (Allen Gilmore). A work-seeking migrant to the South African township of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, Banzi has been discovered as an unregistered worker under Apartheid laws and marked by white government officials for expulsion from the city. Banzi reveals in a note to his wife that “[he] is dead, in a matter of speaking,” and the story flashes back to his attempts to hide and then shed his identity with the goal of remaining in New Brighton to find work and earn money to support his family. Banzi finds shelter in the home of Buntu (also played by Johnson), a family man with an anti-authoritarian streak and a desire to help Banzi find his way. After a night of drinking, the two men stumble upon the body of a dead, presumably murdered African man, and Buntu hatches a plan for Banzi to assume the identity of the dead man (Robert Zwelinzima) and continue living in New Brighton. Banzi’s struggle to retain his identity while facing the loss of his name (or worse) becomes the heart of the piece, and ties his story with those of Styles and Buntu to the larger theme of black Africans’ fight for equality and self-actualization in the white-dominated South Africa of the 1970s.

At its core, Sizwe Banzi is Dead is about the performances of the leads and their interaction with the audience, and director Ron OJ Parson takes a mostly hands-off approach. The performance-friendly direction allows the actors, Johnson in particular, to fully inhabit their characters and create a sense that the lives we see on stage have real physical and cultural histories. There are times when Parson could rein in the action on stage – while Banzi was conceived as an interactive piece dependent upon the connection between the characters and the spectators, one digressive sequence in particular sees the leads lingering a little too long in drunken conversation with what seems like every member of the audience. Scenic designer Jack Magaw utilizes a spare, effective stage setup consisting of little more than a camera and tables and chairs, and the actors are game for miming parts of the environment that Magaw leaves to the audience’s imagination. The backdrop consists of photos of South African citizens with their government –issued passbooks. While the decision to incorporate famous images (notably Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu) with those of anonymous South Africans is occasionally distracting, it adds a touch of familiarity for the audience and is a reminder of the far reach of Apartheid-era policies.

The performances are excellent. Johnson’s versatility is a wonder – the almost Vaudevillian antics and exaggerated facial expressions of Styles satirize the cultural climate of Apartheid so heavily that the performance toes the line of parody. In a stark contrast, his Buntu is a picture of quiet determination and fierce intelligence, a physically and emotionally solid presence in a play full of movement and uncertainty. Gilmore’s Banzi alternates between sheepishness, defiance, and desperation with relative fluidity. Gilmore is particularly effective in portraying the conflict in Banzi’s impossible decision to leave his family, and the resultant fear that the character feels in spite of his physical strength is played out in a particularly heartbreaking moment.

They might have become men over the past several years, but we still know them as New Kids on the Block, or more recently, NKOTB. Call them what you want, but they are back and, yielding to cliché, better than ever. Currently on their Casi-NO Tour the one-time mega popular boy band recently returned to Chicago where they played three sold out dates at The Venue, located in the Horseshoe Casino, in Hammond, Indiana. Though the actual venue is plenty large enough to accommodate big-name acts – and does with regularity – I half expected the New Kids’ set to be scaled down with minimal props and lighting. However, that was not the case at all. A large riser took center stage while a wall of lights that would constantly change per beat stood as the backdrop. The show was big, and the band was jammin’, thanks to a Chicago-based drummer and a guitarist who looked like he’d fit in better with Slayer.  

Jordan Knight, Donny Wahlberg and Joey McIntyre took turns singing the leads just as they have always done, only this time with more mature and seasoned vocals. They would later take turns performing their own solo numbers in which Joey sang a steamy rendition of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”. Danny Wood and Jonathan Knight contributed with perfectly tuned harmonies and backing vocals to round out the New Kids’ sound, while also busting some very impressive moves.

NKOTB did not disappoint the crowd that was mostly comprised of 25 to 35-year-old women, playing a set that included “The Right Stuff”, “Step By Step”, “Full Service”, “Favorite Girl” and their ever so popular ballad, “I’ll Be Loving You”. The dancing was well choreographed and even better – youthful and fun. The boys also played an acoustic set with Danny taking on the guitar in which “Please Don’t Go Girl” set the mood along with the soft, light-filled curtain that fell behind them.

One concert highlight was when all five New Kids’ walked through the crowd, still singing and waving their arms through the air. Once in the swarm of fans, the five separated, making themselves accessible to most of the main level while Donny took it up a notch and headed closer to the rear of the venue where he balanced on a seat with the help of a few eager helpers.

The night finally came to a close, but not before NKOTB performed one of their top hits, “Hangin’ Tough”, ending the show on a high note and sending the fans home asking when the tour would hit Chicago again.          

They say opposites attract. So what do you get when a recently divorced sportswriter and eternal bachelor acquires an uptight, compulsive hypochondriac as a roommate? You get a polarized reaction that is pure comedic gold.

Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple comes to life at the Raven Theater with a witty and irreverent cast. The play brings together best friends Oscar Madison, played by Eric Roach, and Felix Ungar, played by Jon Steinhagen, in a simple tale of tragic circumstances and true friendship. When Felix is thrown out of the house by his wife he stumbles his way to his best friends’ bachelor pad where Oscar, having recently been divorced himself and concerned for his neurotic best friend, takes Felix in. The easy-going and carefree lifestyle of Oscar is turned upside down when Felix’s compulsive tidiness and penny pinching thriftiness threaten to destroy his sanity and their friendship. Can this odd couple learn to live together? Can they get it together before they drive each other insane?

The Odd Couple first premiered on Broadway in 1965 followed by a film and a very successful television series. What makes this play timeless is the relate-ability of Simon’s work. Rumors have it that the play was first dreamt up when Simon witnessed the odd pairing of his brother rooming with a playwright But whether the play was created out of actual events or completely fictionalized, it’s the exposure of human weaknesses and the a portrayal of characteristics that define the American Experience theater that make this play worth seeing. It’s not prophetic, does not have some great moral conclusion, it merely reveals the frailties and familiarity of the human spirit, something that the Raven Theater grasps so accurately with this Odd Couple Cast.

With set designs that completely immerse you in a 1950s/60s bachelor pad, stale pizza and beer included, and the wonderful stage direction and character choreography of Michael Menendian, The Raven Theater captures the Odd Couple as spot-on as when it first premiered in 1965. Everyone has an Oscar and a Felix in their life, so take that special person to the Raven Theater, located at 6157 North Clark Street, for an experience that will leave you thankful that you can afford that one-bedroom studio all on your own.

Has your partner stuck your heart in a little plastic baggie, seasoned it, shook it up, put it in the oven and forgot it was in there? So, now, have you been burned and shrunk to the degree you qualify for a room with a single bed at the infamous Heartbreak Hotel?

You may have dashed off to vent to a shrink, who you caught checking his or her watch in an OCD-mirrored-manner, because he or she couldn't wait another second until your session was to be over and you'd shut the "f" up! If such a catastrophe of humanity has happened to you, the good thing is, there are musicians in existence whose shows can sew and mend a broken discontented soul. Are Cheyenne Mize and Bonnie "Prince" Billy (A.K.A. Saredren Wells) amongst the healers?

It's atypical to not have a feeling of satisfaction during hearing artists singing, well, lyrics of exactly how you are feeling at the present moment or have previously. That was the incredible gift I received from Cheyenne Mize and Saredren Well's performance the other night at Chicago's pleasingly mellowing lit "Uncommon Ground" restaurant and lounge. The first song they played was Cheyenne's "Waiting," with a line "Waiting for you to keep me, but not completely." If those aren't words everyone with a ticker can say "I can relate" while listening to them, I don't know what are. Plus, the song "Why Didn't Someone Tell Me?" that was written by Saredren carries the same weight, along with the majority of their others.

Furthermore, the performance of songs were from Cheyenne and Saredren's individual CDs, with the premise being love and relationships mostly. It was also coupled with them playing acoustic guitars together, but Cheyenne switched frequently during their playtime to use the fiddle. Cheyenne's voice was not always pretty, as a result, she showed she has the range to execute rawness and believable anger. Saredren's vocals were well projected while they both threw easy-to-decipher-lyrics up onto the laps of the audience.

Cheyenne and Saredren's material did not fall into the category of implementing only 3 chords, normally heard in songs. They have the versatility to also play upbeat songs, which they did so later in their set, and it made their performance not sound like just a pity-pot-party.Besides, Saredren's comment he made between songs that he named all of his 8 cats "Old Lady" resumes to make me chuckle! The fact the venue they played is called "Uncommon Ground" is an entertaining thought, as well. I'll tell you this: My logic leads me to conclude it is not "uncommon" for people to have difficulties walking on the unusual unlevel "ground" of the place, or tripping over unexpectedly planted steps, and coming so embarrassingly close to falling flat on one's face. While one lady walked the same pathway twice, she had to catch her footing, stealing the limelight from Cheyenne and Saredren for a few minutes!

In summary of Cheyenne and Saredren's performance, true love of old-time music is the key ingredient to the musical delights and helpings they serve to their audience. Cheyenne Mize and Saredren Wells play on the vinyl "Among the Gold," which has gotten critical acclaim, and is "a collection of parlor songs from 1915 to earlier (http://thinkindie.com 2010.") Cheyenne's own CD is "Before Lately," and worthy of its' small chunk-of-change price, and so is sweet Saredren Well's "Memories Are Hunting Horns." Saredren's CD is significantly darker and avant-garde than Cheyenne's in all aspects, and each song includes various string and horn sections. Nonetheless, getting each CD should be a "feel good purchase," not just for Cheyenne and Saredren's therapeutic spell-binding lyrics and harmonies, but since a fan passed around a can at Cheyenne and Saredren's gig for people to give them spare change. Lets get these appreciative-acting and starving devoted-to-their-craft-artists away from a daily diet of shrimp-flavored ramen noodles, to at the very least, a platter of Jumbo shrimp at Red Lobster!

Sources:

http://thinkindie.com

“Fuerza Bruta: Look Up” was hands down the most exciting, sensual, life affirming theater piece I have seen in years!

 From the moment you enter the theater, Fuerza Bruta, which means “Look Up”, takes the "fourth wall" and literally breaks it over the audience's head - explosive! When I got home I found confetti in my undergarments. It was awesome!

I knew this was going to be a different kind of show when I walked into the normally staid Auditorium Theatre lobby and found a full fledged bar and disco party going on. I love the feeling of disorientation that occurred as we were ushered into the theater and away from the seats right onto the stage. I had no idea we were about to stand for the entire hour and fifteen minute show. As we got onto the stage, which also had club music pumping, the crowd looked expectantly around at each other, some dancing, and most wondering where the set actually was. Suddenly out of the darkness, a spot lit, beautiful man in a white business suit appears walking purposely on a treadmill. Soon he is running at full speed and, with the help of a harness, is eventually jumping through solid brick walls, which explode into bits onto the audience and without any words really gives the feeling of the obstacles we face in modern life. 

The dances grow more and more intense including two dancers flying/fighting/dancing up a twenty foot, undulating wall of color and silver fabric. During intervals a DJ sprays the crowd with a fine mist of water while music pumps and a fog horn blows, almost as a cue for the crowd to start jumping up and down, turning the entire stage into a bouncing rave.

Without giving away all the spectacles, one of the most remarkable is a transparent latex sheet like a gigantic kiddy pool that holds five female dancers, clad only in childlike cotton shorts and tops slipping and sliding like playful dolphins over the audiences heads. The occasional breast innocently and sensually pops out as the latex swimming pool is lowered right down onto the audience’s heads.

I can’t say enough about how refreshing it is to have the fourth wall of the theater broken down so completely, actively involving the audience directly in every action that occurs onstage. It really gives the feeling of great sex with plenty of passionate “throw down” as the crowd is moved, seemingly effortlessly, in the dark through one set change after another. As you are moved from one spot to another and another, a dynamic stage full of dancers rises out of the darkness giving you that wonderful feeling of awe and wonder about what will happen next in the play and how in the world did I get in this position?

I loved the attitude of the dancers, they seemed to have a gusto for life and a saucy, get up off your asses energy that radiated through the audience, making us dance and respond where we would all normally be sitting quietly in our theater seats hoping not to be singled out into participating.

One of the most beautiful and surprisingly “wet” moments of the show comes at the end where a rain shower opens up right in the center of the audience, pouring down large warm round drops of water onto whoever is willing to jump in and dance. After a brief hesitation that my blouse might be turned into a transparent wet t-shirt like the dancers in the pool, I just jumped in and danced and was happily drenched by the heated rain shower in just a few seconds. I really felt transported to a party somewhere on a beach in Rio, everyone’s arms upraised, jumping and dancing with friends and strangers, free and unfettered by the any of the usual protocol of theater decorum or life in the city.

I can’t recommend seeing this show highly enough. My suggestion to really get the full experience is to go with some good friends, have a drink or whatever loosens you up before this show and wear comfortable shoes.  If you see Fuerza Bruta prepare to have your mind blown by some incredible dancing and acrobatics and be willing to get really WET!

“Fuerza Bruta: Look Up” is playing at the Auditorium Theatre through July 25^th. For more information on this amazing show, visit www.auditoriumtheatre.org.

After a pretty big media sweep in the days leading up to the show, Nelson jogged people’s memories about who they were, are, and want to be in their music. Taking the stage last night at Tailgaters, fans were given the past present and future in a high energy, and fun show.

These smaller venues suit Nelson more than the early stadium rock days, because they seem to be at a level in their careers where making a connection to their fans is more important to them and the music than being part of a huge marketing machine.

It was kind of fun to see the video montages before Matthew and Gunnar took the stage, because things look totally different after twenty years. (Like bright red thigh high leather boots on a dude isn‘t exactly cool…I‘m talking to you, Gunnar. But when I was 12, they were hot and made him a Golden God.)

Yep, you read that right, twenty years since the release of "After The Rain." Thanks to Matthew for bringing that up and making me face the denial that is my thirties. But they had a great sense of humor about it, asking the crowd for a show of hands if they saw Nelson the last time they came through Chicago…then keep them raised if you were 6...

I was 13... do the math… yikes.

And at Friday’s show, all nostalgia aside, there on spotlight, was the songwriting and musicianship that had been glossed over during the whirlwind first part of their career.  Nelson came out and delivered the hits, as well as some new stuff to look forward to.  Despite some audio issues (I thought Matthew was going to whip his monitor at the sound board guy there for a sec), they had a solid sound with great collaborating band mates,  and gave studio quality the whole show. This is not the manufactured teeny bop pop band they were cookie cuttered into 20 years ago. These guys know their way around music, and shouldn’t be overlooked.

I will say, that after catching some of their acoustic shows, that is a genre that fits them like a glove. While the show was great, an acoustic set would’ve been a treat.

So, great show, check out Buzz’s interview with Matthew Nelson , for more info on Nelson’s journey over the last fifteen years.

Set List:

Fill You Up

More Than Ever

A Girl Like That

Love and Affection

Just Once More

Ghost Dance

Evermore

Only Time Will Tell

I'm Alright

After The Rain

Won't Walk Away

Invisible Man

It's All About You

Everywhere I Go

From the Neo-Futurists website:

Do you have what it takes to lord over your employees or are you doomed to a life in the mailroom? Find out in the Neo-Futurists' new interactive live musical game show. CRISIS is modeled after classic game shows of the 70's, 80's and 90's, challenging players in areas of corporate ethics, percentages, creative potential, economics, and of course, pop culture. Players climb the corporate ladder and the top executive takes home up to a third of the door sales in cash! (With a sell-out house, that means over 500 bucks to a single winner!) Also, 3% of all ticket sales are donated to charities of the winners' choice.

From the moment you walk in to the Neo-Futurarium (5153 N. Ashland Ave. -- corner of Foster and Ashland Aves -- Chicago, IL 60640-2831 -- Show Hotline: 773-275-5255), you're aware that something memorable is about to happen. The floor twists and turns down a hallway lined with wonderfully bizarre pictures leading to "The Kitchen", where tickets are purchased and you are presented with the option of taking a scantron test to be a contestant on the show. In the next room, projectors shine the test questions on surfaces scattered about the room (walls, ceilings, etc) while members of the troupe entertain and amuse.

The questions on the test ranged from movie trivia about Back to the Future to political history to physics.. it certainly takes a well-rounded individual to achieve a great score and win the right to play the game that evening.

With the tests complete and the top contestants read off, everyone files into the theatre itself to begin the evening's festivities! I won't spoil the show, but it was easily the most entertaining couple of hours I've had in a long time. Players compete in a series of off-the-wall games and competitions almost designed to be unfair (but in a good way.. not sure what that means? I"m not really either!). There are a scattering of well-performed musical numbers, backed up by the very talented band (who also add to the performance in a variety of ways, including at one point in the show when there were some technical difficulties and they had to kill a little time with an improv jam that I would call "Technical Difficulties"), and all of the performers absolutely killed their respective parts.

What's not to like about the topics discussed in the show? Globalization? Socio-Economics? Why not learn a little bit while having a night out on the town.. And what other show gives you the possibility to make hundreds of dollars in cash as an end result? Gripping.

I liked this show more than I like Mint Chocolate Chip icecream.. and that's my favorite flavor. I'll be seeing more of the Neo-Futurists, and I have no doubt that they will continue to be successful in their endeavors.