The Polaris Prize-winning musician, who plays Lincoln Hall tonight chatted with us about NATO, protesting, Japanese border security and the biggest lessons he learned from touring with James Brown. more ›

I Break Horses was just in Chicago a few weeks ago opening for M83 and they return tonight to play a headlining gig at Lincoln Hall. Looking back to their last appearance, it's no surprise this Swedish duo was opening for M83 since they draw their sound from the same mid-'80s well. But while M83 goes deeper into teenage longing I Break Horses opts to layer on the shoegauze (sp. intentional) creating an effect that often feels as if you're about to float away. more ›

Whether this new chapter of the Strange Boys' sound is the band embracing a bone-dry interpretation of "maturity" or simply the lull before a (hopefully) voracious return to big, bad, blistering rock, we're not ready to look away just yet. more ›

Treated. more ›

Tonight Lincoln Hall features a trio of must-see bands; one local, one from Brooklyn and one traveling all the way here from Australia. Opening the evening is YAWN, a band we've covered extensively (and always well worth checking out) so let's move on to the out-of-towners. more ›

Usually when someone like Fiona Apple plays a small venue you're either gonna get all new material or a toned down show. That was NOT the case at Lincoln Hall. more ›

Ben Kweller's coming to Lincoln Hall and this is a show you should not miss. Here's why. more ›

Zola Jesus performed a powerful set at Lincoln Hall Tuesday night, belting out ethereal sounds over a pulsing electronic beat. more ›

Any girl (or guy) who was angsty in the late 90’s surely belted it out with Fiona Apple a time or two to her breakout song “Criminal” (or over and over and over again to the entire Tidal album). And what jaded girl (or guy) can’t appreciate using a 90 word poem to title an album? more ›

During the first of two sold-out shows she played at Lincoln Hall, Van Etten was captivating as ever. Playing a set loaded with her latest material, Van Etten activated her remarkable ability to grab your ears and your attention almost effortlessly. more ›

The last time we saw Sharon Van Etten, her star was rising high and fast as she sang about having spirits that were down in the dumps. We were impressed with Van Etten's knack for crafting songs that so authoritatively tug at your heartstrings without making you want to stick your head in an oven. With a gentle directness and gorgeous voice, we fell in love with the artist who apparently had so little luck with it herself. more ›

You could call The Asteroids Galaxy Tour a commercial band since their initial break onto the scene was through an Apple commercial with their tune "Around the Bend," and recently they resurfaced with "The Golden Age" and its prominent placing in an international beer commercial. So you could call the band commercial. Get it? Though the sound the band produces, while slick, isn't exactly commercial. more ›

The nomadic and enigmatic singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has long been one of our favorites here on the Chicagoist staff. It is no wonder really that we are very anxious to take in a live performance by this traveling minstrel this Sunday, January 28 at Lincoln Park's gorgeous eat, drink, musical merry-making rock club, Lincoln Hall. more ›

Italians Do It Better Records played Lincoln Hall this week during the Tomorrow Never Knows Festival. more ›

Instead of a prescription for more cowbell, we get a tour through the Loop featuring upright bass, yodeling, and banging on barbed wire in Dastardly's new video for "Fever." Fair trade to me. more ›

This Saturday, GlitterGuts will celebrate four years of prolific and quality work by throwing the fourth annual Jukefest and Underground Dollar Store at Lincoln Hall. more ›

Local orchestral-pop act Canasta is kicking the year off strong with a local show, a Midwest tour and a new music video. more ›

Home is where the heart is so they say, and being that many of us grew up here in the big city, or have transplanted and now consider it home, we stay on our own turf when the holiday season rolls around. Luckily for us there are a merry myriad of magnificent musical events taking place over the holiday weekend. Take a gander at some of our favorites and spread the holiday cheer accordingly: more ›

It takes just a few songs by The War On Drugs for your brain to fall into "oh, the places you'll go!" mode. The wanderlust spirit of the Philadelphia-based band captures nearly every feeling of open road Americana grandeur, with one catch: everyone who's influenced the band (Petty, Dylan, Springsteen) has shown us that road already. more ›

Though summertime is associated with heady road trips on the open highway, it's right about now that everyone really wants to get away. In August, Philly-based The War On Drugs released their sophomore album Slave Ambient and quickly became our unofficial soundtrack for dreaming of somewhere else. more ›

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is touring the states in support of their latest release, Hysterical, and they’re stopping by Chicago to perform Lincoln Hall tonight and tomorrow. more ›

There's something remarkably big about M83. The '80s-tinged shoegazers, led by Anthony Gonzalez, have for the last ten years captured a certain intergalactic essence, which is no surprise given the fact that the band is named after a galaxy 15 million light-years away. Such is the aesthetic of M83's sound: at once futuristic and nostalgic, alienating and intimate, elated and melancholic, M83's catalog feels like space traveling with a lover, armed with a complicated past and unbridled optimism for the future. Thursday's show at Lincoln Hall sent that feeling into hyperdrive. more ›

Future Islands used to be the soundtrack for a broken but manic heart, perfect for days when unrequited love made you downright rowdy. On the eve of Halloween Sunday night, the band veered away from their danceable, lovelorn tunes to play material that was chilling and delightfully dark. more ›

OK, so there's not an official fan-club style "I love Future Islands" group, but praise for the Baltimore-based group and their recent "On the Water" has been pretty much non-stop since the kickoff of their fall tour. Since their breakthrough early last year with "In Evening Air," Future Islands has climbed out of the "buzz band" category and earned themselves a sterling reputation on the strength of their intense live shows and tightly-crafted post-wave electro fun breakup music. more ›

It's only a matter of time before Bailiff is no longer a hometown secret, so we caught up with them to talk about recording, evolving and what's on tap. more ›

Get your credit cards ready. Here are the best upcoming concerts to go on sale this week. more ›

Sub-Pop label mates, Fruit Bats and Vetiver, played Lincoln Hall Thursday night, churning out their folky brand of back-to-basics songwriting and classic Americana rock ‘n roll to a sea of plaid shirt-wearing twenty-somethings. more ›

If you have yet to hear The Errant Charm by Vetiver, you are missing the perfect soundtrack to Summer 2011. more ›

When a freak summer hail storm hit Chicago over a month and a half ago it caused incredibly extensive damage to the Garfield Park Conservatory. The hail was unusually cruel to this building built mostly of glass whose sole purpose is to protect and house botanical treasures for Chicagoans and visitors to take delight in. It seemed to us at the time an unforgivable act of nature attacking itself. more ›

Bacon Takedown returns to Lincoln Hall for a second go-round of overindulgence. more ›