The Return Of The Stranger
By Michele Lenni in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 15, 2010 9:40PM
Monday is usually the night to stay in and couch. This Monday was a night worth putting on some pants and making it out of our ice-cream-eating, re-run watching den of sloth, have a buck-fifty PBR and see a free show and the reformation of one of Chicago’s great local acts.
Through a red cast of incandescent stage lights in the back of The Empty Bottle stood five-men tuning up for a nearly packed house of tattooed, dark-denim-wearing, rockabilly types. “This is the night you’ll tell your friends you saw the reformation of The Stranger,” bellowed the lead singer, “and they’ll say, ‘the who?’”
The Stranger is a group of formerly four, now five gents that play raucous, foot-stomping, beer-swilling music that is bound to even make the shyest of wall flowers move their feet. They rose to fame in the early ‘00s with their debut 7-inch Prison Called Life released on Haunted Town Records, home to local punk heroes Naked Raygun.
In 2007 the band played a show on Black Wednesday and mysteriously disbanded, not to be heard of until last night. Though three-years have passed, and some have forgotten their promise to be one of the city’s unforgettable acts, we felt it was our duty to attend and see if there was anything to make a fuss about. We were not disappointed.
The sheer heart-pounding, foot-pounding five-some seemed to have never left the stage. The songs, both old and new, were still as completely thrilling as they were three-years-back, if not even more energized and just, well, just damn good. While other bands shy away from their influences The Stranger wears them like a badge of honor, brazenly on their sleeve. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly would not be rolling in their grave if they heard these tunes; they‘d be tapping their feet.
At points during the set we felt like we were at a sweaty Southern Baptist church with a congregation alive and writhing and flailing to each chugging rhythm and a preacher spinning fiery tales of sin and redemption, much like their predecessor and obvious influence, Reverend Horton Heat.
Highlights of their set read off more like a rap sheet than a set list with songs like, Well We Lost One, The Robbery, and Turn Out Your Prisoners. Each song seemed to be more powerful than the next with a force that was simply undeniable. For those that were fans, their expectations were exceeded, and for those who were new to the music, their conversion was clear. Either way, we are sticking around for another round with this insanely great band.