Frontier Ruckus Plays Intimate Show at Lakeview Living Room
By Jessica Mlinaric in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 8, 2014 6:45PM
Michigan troubadours Frontier Ruckus performed an intimate show last night in a Boystown living room. The sold out event was part of the band’s current tour of a handful of Midwestern living rooms. For fans of the band, who are no stranger to the stages of Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, it was a unique opportunity to witness the ruckus up close.
Upon purchasing tickets the venue’s location was revealed to be a living room four floors above Halsted Street. The roomy space was appointed with a disco ball, vintage furniture, and a stately deer head mounted above a roaring fireplace. About 75 strangers and friends sipped beer perching on furniture or sat cross-legged on the floor, like kids at story hour of lyrical Americana.
The evening began with a set from fellow Michigander Fred Thomas. Although his work spans genres, Thomas stuck to acoustic folk and a sampling of spoken word poetry. Chicago’s Odd Folk followed, the project of Frontier Ruckus-influenced musician and songwriter Paul Cherewick. Multi-talented musician Mat Roberts rounded out the duo in his first official Odd Folk outing as they delivered wistful tunes like “Die Young.”
Opening with “Latter Days,” Frontier Ruckus treated fans with a two-part set spanning old folk favorites from their three albums and a smattering of new numbers.
Frontman Matthew Milia was emotive, delivering imagery aching with Midwestern melancholy charged with energy, even falling to his knees at times to attack his guitar. David Winston Jones on banjo and Zach Nichols provided the musical backbone with obvious enjoyment.
Nichols seamlessly rotated between trumpet, keyboard, melodica, and musical saw. The band was joined by former member Anna Burch; her vocals a ringing addition harmonizing with Millia in classic Frontier Ruckus fashion.
The performance was a warm conversation between the band and audience. Milia introduced songs with vignettes about first cars and finding a stash of porn behind a Taco Bell while the band sipped Rolling Rock and Maker’s Mark. The crowd sang along attentively, throwing out questions and requests which Frontier Ruckus mostly tried to fulfill.
“That’s a hard song,” Milia replied to one woman’s appeal. “I want to play that song for you, but we’ll sit down and figure it out after the show.” When he stepped out for a bathroom break, Nichols and Jones delighted with a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” played on banjo and saw. Regarding the timing of a forthcoming album, Milia could only offer, “We’re not sure yet, it’s out of our hands at this point.”
After about two hours of unraveling haunting homespun melodies like “Mona and Emmy,” Nerves of the NIghtmind,” and “Eyelashes,” Frontier Ruckus closed with “Dark Autumn Hour” before inviting the audience to stay and drink with them.
I headed home buoyed by one of the most memorable musical experiences I’ve had, my head swimming from slugging wine and whiskey and from the rich outpouring of stories set to song. Outside, the “Black Ice World” we've been living in was beginning to thaw.