Things have been busy around the Chicagoist HQ and that's why it's been so long since we've been able to leave our office and come out to see you in the flesh! Let's fix that! more ›

Waters will play Pink Floyd's legendary 1979 album The Wall at Wrigley on June 9. more ›

We hadn't planned on attending the inaugural Chicago edition of the DMB Caravan but a last minute chance to see The Flaming Lips perform Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon set us on our way to the fest's south side location yesterday. The new Lakeside venue grounds intrigued us with the chance to set up a viable new concert location in a promising new spot. We admit, though, we are not exactly fans of the fest's curator and headliner (and, prior to yesterday, even less a fan of their fans) so we set out on our journey with a mixture of trepidation and honestly excited curiosity. more ›

It's really not hard to see why Sufjan Stevens, an artist known for making grandiose statements with his trademark softly sweet vocals, chose an artist like Simon and Garfunkel to draw inspiration from for his first new recording in five years, All Delighted People EP. The similarities on All Delighted People and Simon and Garfunkle's Sound of Silence aren't precluded to their lyrics, but the tone and story of portions Stevens' recording could easily fit in the same catalogue as the famous 60s-folk-masters. more ›

Pink Floyd changed their sound plenty of times over the length of their career, and we were fans of the band just about every step of the way, but it could be argued that the band's true masterwork that has held up mightily in the years since its creation is The Wall. Roger Waters led the band on that album to create a tour through one man's inner dystopia that took a little work to unravel but no work at all to get lost in. Once Waters and the band parted ways after the follow-up to The Wall, The Final Cut, neither party was ever quite the same. Pink Floyd would continue on under David Gilmour to tour stadiums and create music that was heavy on tech and distant from emotion. Waters' own solo output fluctuated greatly and his finest moment was probably the song-cycle of The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking, another look inward at emotional turmoil. more ›

Count on a band like The Flaming Lips to top off a year in which they challenged their fans to find even the newbies were up for the challenge by suddenly releasing The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs With Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon. The title pretty much tells the whole story, but don't worry ... Rollins doesn't do any singing. more ›

Imagine our surprise when gearing up to see tonight's performance by The Mystery Jets, a band whose live show we've greatly anticipated seeing, only to be stymied. So yesterday we checked the website of the club they were scheduled to play to confirm the set-time, only to discover the show had been moved to Schubas! Which, oddly enough, is where we were supposed to see them the first time they didn't come around when their... more ›

Eighty years ago AT&T was quite the different company when it came to privacy of its customers and free speech. A quote lifted from a Boing Boing post on Thursday where AT&T spoke out against warrantless surveillance, "The telephone has become part and parcel of the social and business intercourse of the people of the United States, and this telephone system offers a means of espionage to which general warrants and writs of assistance were... more ›

In his autobiography My Last Sigh, filmmaker Luis Bunuel describes going to the movies as a child during the silent era: "In addition to the traditional piano player, each theatre in Saragossa was equipped with its explicador, or narrator, who stood next to the screen and ‘explained’ the action to the audience." The movie experience wasn't just what was on the screen, there was also a live component. As we posted last week, in his... more ›

Has it really been two years since we were first introduced to The Mystery Jets? It feels like a lot longer. Now, that may be because the young band is particularly adept at kicking out a certain kind of timeless pop, but we’re willing to bet that the main reason is because we’ve been waiting forever for them to hit Chicago so we could finally experience their much buzzed about live show. A few weeks... more ›

Some days when Chicagoist is busy reading the trades, it’s almost enough to put us to sleep. Thank goodness for that that intravenous caffeine drip. Lately, these stories all have a “Chicago Connection”. From working with Jay-Z and Kanye West on his debut album to garnering three Grammy nominations, Lupe Fiasco has had some dreams come true. He’s decided to take Oprah’s advice and dream even bigger for what comes next. His high hopes include... more ›

Quick, check your music collection. Is there any Toto in it? No? Don't be so sure about that. According to the band's website, late drummer Jeff Porcaro alone has played on hundreds of famous albums throughout the decades. Got any Madonna or Celine Dion? How about Chicagoist favorites, Richard Marx and Michael McDonald? Phew, right? You've escaped ... except the hand of Toto has also touched the likes of Pink Floyd's The Wall and even... more ›

As Rocktober draws to a close, it does so with a helluva bang. Sure, there are still a few days left to this beast next week, but for all intents and purposes this is the last hurrah before the chill of November settles in, and holiday festivities begin to drain the attendance levels at local shows. Here are a few that we suggest you check out this week. Tomorrow night, the wrath of The Venom... more ›

This week Live Nation agreed to purchase the House of Blues chain for a cool $350 million. What does this mean to us? No one knows yet as neither company is commenting about what changes the acquisition may bring. Jim Derogatis helps us understand what it could mean for Chicago in terms of market domination by one company ala Starbucks or Microsoft. He also explains how Chicago is unique in that we still have Jam... more ›