It had been a too long four years since The Futureheads last played Chicago when they popped on the stage at Lincoln Hall last Saturday, but the group immediately began to make up for lost time. It was the final date of the band's North American tour, and the crowd was lighter than we expected, but the quartet from Sunderland played as if a sold-out crowd at Wembley was cheering them on. One of the band's hallmarks is their ability to wend incredibly intricate multi-part vocal harmonies through a minefield of buzz saw fast riffs and hooks so sharp they'll make your ears bleed, the sort of aural acrobatics that could easily trip up a band in the live setting, but The Futureheads made such dizzying tactics look easy. more ›

The Futureheads' live show is a spectacle to behold. The band combines ultra-tight four-part harmonies with whip-snap drumming and razor sharp guitars. Their debut album was the best thing XTC hadn't recorded in two decades. The band seemed poised to have it all. more ›

The kid with the glow stick in front of the stage valiantly waved it over his head, until four songs into the sold out Klaxons show at Schubas last night he realized that the band onstage wasn't actually "new rave" at all. Part of the problem with Yanks getting caught up in British music press hype is that NME loves simple labels, and those labels often have almost nothing to do with the actual band.... more ›

Last week, we recommended catching this weekend’s Cold War Kids show at Hideout. You listened, because the show is sold out. But we’ve got our hands on a pair of tickets to the show and we’re giving them away to you!. As one of our commenters pointed out, Cold War Kids was on tour with The Futureheads with a stop at Metro planned for this Saturday before that tour was cancelled due to an injured... more ›

As the group Liars droned on with their less-complicated-than-it-looks brand of noise rock, they repeatedly intoned the words “the weather is fierce.” It was a lyrical aside that would define the weather, if not necessarily the atmosphere, of the second Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. Though Pitchfork was instrumental in creating last year’s Intonation festival, a split with some of last year’s organizers led to two separate events this summer. So the site... more ›

Approximately 17,000 indie rock fans now have tans thanks to the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. With temps in the 90s all day long and plenty of humidity radiating off the bodies of a sold-out crowd, Day One was a sweat-filled celebration of some of the best indie rock has to offer, including Chicago groups like Hot Machines and Chin Up Chin Up. Many attendees lined up to enter the park as... more ›

Hey, have y'all been using our new "Recommend this" feature at the bottom of each post? This week we're bringing you the "Most Recommended" posts from across the -ist world, as well as recommending some of our own. more ›

Rarely does Chicagoist get so excited that we are tempted to abusive superlatives but The Futureheads is one of those bands that severely tests our self-restraint. There’s a whole crop of bands copping that XTC/Jam/post-punk pop thing but few of them have the conviction that courses through this foursome from England who write incredibly dense pop songs that speed by in blasts of sonic euphoria. On-stage the group operates as a single unit, tight to the point of bursting, yet multi-layered in both their instrumental and vocal approaches. more ›

We’ve got another giveaway today in conjunction with The Futureheads acoustic show this Friday the 10th at the Hard Rock Hotel bar presented by MSN/Swatch Paparazzi. You can pick up a free ticket to this performance by stopping in at the Swatch store at North Bridge. If you’re out in the ‘burbs you can also stop by their stores at Oak Brook Center or the Westfield Stores at Old Orchard. Tickets are also still available... more ›