American Football Kicked Off Chicago Return Last Night

By Katie Karpowicz in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 31, 2014 8:30PM

American Football, photo by Shervin Lainez

If 2014 truly was the year of the hotly debated #EmoRevival, then it felt only right to wind it down with the Chicago return of Champaign-Urbana neighbors American Football. More than 15 years after the release of its first and only album and 14 years since the band called it quits, the emo pioneers are back for four nights surrounding the New Year.

Not surprisingly, last night's kickoff show at Bottom Lounge was a sold out affair and their compatriots in Braid were a perfect pick to open it up. The opening set weighed heavily on Braid's long awaited 2014 album No Coast but classics like "A Dozen Roses" weren't forgotten. Between Bob Nanna's emotionally fraught vocals and Chris Broach's more controlled approached to mic duties, the band continues to find great balance onstage.

Mike Kinsella, along with his brother Tim, has been hugely influential on Illinois music's DIY scene in the last twenty years with bands like Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owen and most recently Their/They're/There. It's not hard to catch him performing around town in some format, but it's been quite some time since American Football was among his active roster.

Cast in the shadows of the Bottom Lounge's pale yellow lights, the four piece let the twinkling notes from their limited but powerful selection of math rock tracks illuminate the stage instead.

In case you're wondering, the band's first reunion set in Chicago included songs like "Letters and Packages" off American Football's debut EP, "Honestly?", "For Sure," "I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional" and "Stay Home" were all unearthed for the special night. A decade and a half later it was hard to listen to "The Summer Ends" and claim that it hasn't gotten better with age. We're sure Kinsella didn't set out to create classics when he originally penned lyrics like these, but that's exactly what he did.

Everything sounded incredibly crisp last night. Between the tangled guitar melodies, their crescendos and decrescendos and the intermittent introductions of Steve Lamos's trumpet playing into the mix, parts of the set had an undeniable hypnotic quality. We just hope that a surely rowdier New Year's Eve crowd will be just as receptive tonight.

American Football play Bottom Lounge again tonight and Lincoln Hall on Jan. 1 and 2. As of this morning, tickets were still available online for tonight's Bottom Lounge show. Both Lincoln Hall concerts have sold out.