This Week In Chicago Music News: Taking Back Sunday To Play Northerly Island And More
By Justin Freeman in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 18, 2016 8:19PM
Recent Chicago news has been dominated by Tuesday's primary, but summer music festivals have also been making waves this week as they start rolling out their lineups. Ruido Fest, the Pilsen based Latin Alternative music festival backed by Riot Fest, released their initial lineup. Meanwhile, Radiohead announced a summer tour without a Chicago date, allegedly because they’re headlining Lollapalooza along with Red Hot Chili Peppers and LCD Soundsystem. And Drake was kind of a jerkish troll at a Bulls game. Let’s talk about some other interesting music news from the week.
Photo: Ryan Russell
Taking Back Sunday Will Return To Chicago This June For Taste of Chaos
Well, that was unexpected. Out of nowhere, it was announced that not only would the long-dormant Taste of Chaos festival return, but it would also be headlined by Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional. On hiatus since 2010, Taste of Chaos was a spinoff of Warped Tour throughout the mid 2000s. It returned last year as a one-time special event near Los Angeles, and now it's back as a full-blown national tour, scheduled to stop at FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island on June 3. Tickets range from $30 to $60 and went on sale today at 10 a.m.
Taking Back Sunday is always solid, but we find ourselves just as excited for the return of Saosin, who sound reenergized with their original lineup. Listen to a stream of Taking Back Sunday’s “A Decade Under the Influence” below.
photo via his Facebook page.
Local Rapper ShowYouSuck Released a Song About Crocs and Racial Equality
ShowYouSuck has been in the zone lately. Between his recent Alf Fan 420 EP and a collaboration with Celine Neon, he’s been putting out a lot of good stuff. That run of quality continued this week with the release of his newest single, “Crocs or Nah.” In it, over a slinky bassline, he uses the divisive shoes as a mechanism to discuss believing in and being comfortable with yourself. We saw him do a rough draft of this song during a Riot Fest-produced show at Double Door last year and remember the crowd going ballistic, not only for the song but also for the giant dancing pizza onstage with him. In addition to a show at Cubby Bear Saturday, ShowYouSuck will perform at The Whistler next month as part of the Stars Align series. You should check it out, and stream of “Crocs or Nah” below.
They’re Making A Book About the Empty Bottle
Empty Bottle started out as a small dive bar in Ukrainian Village, but over the decades, it found itself transformed into the closest thing Chicago rock has to church. Empty Bottle recently celebrated its 21st birthday, and now it's the subject of an upcoming coffee table book. The Empty Bottle Chicago: 21+ Years of Music / Friendly / Dancing comes out in May and is stacked with photos and poster art, as well as interviews with clubgoers, bartenders and all the people who helped turn the bar into a community. The book has essays from contributors such as the Flaming Lips drummer Steven Drozd, OK Go bassist Tim Norwood, and Girl Talk. Chicago Magazine published a preview of the book, and it’s definitely worth a look. Check out a video of The White Stripes performing “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” at the Empty Bottle way back in 2000 below.
Kanye Updates The Life of Pablo On Tidal, Even Though It's Been Out For A Month
Kanye released his latest album, The Life of Pablo, on Tidal last month, and his artistic output hasn’t stopped since. In recent tweets, Kanye proclaimed several things—that he'd fix “Wolves," that he’s working on a new album and his fashion line, that he’s not releasing CDs anymore, and that he’s working on the final mixes for Pablo even though the album has been available for about a month now.
Earlier this week, Kanye made good and updated the album promises. The song “Famous” has some new instrumental flourishes as well as some minor lyrical changes on Rihanna's part. The major change, though, is on “Wolves.” Vic Mensa was featured on the song when it debuted on SNL last year. When Pablo was released, Mensa’s part was removed to make room for Frank Ocean. On the updated version, Mensa’s verse has been restored and Frank Ocean’s contribution has been moved to a new song called “Frank’s Track.” In explanation, Kanye tweeted that “Life Of Pablo is a living breathing changing creative expression.” Meanwhile, Kanye is launching a pop-up shop in NYC this weekend selling Pablo inspired clothing that he designed. Chicagoans have seen this before, thanks to Kanye's Yeezus store downtown in the Loop a few years ago. No word yet of any Chicago dates for the Pablo concept shop, though.
Check out the updated version of The Life of Pablo on Tidal.
Chicago DIY Is Dead, Long Live Chicago DIY
Humboldt Park DIY space Young Camelot was shut down after a show got out of control in January, but that doesn’t mean the arts collective is finished. They’re curating a show at Empty Bottle next week, and it’s becoming clear this is just the beginning of their plans to gain legal legitimacy. Chicago Reader took a really great look at the rise and fall (and rise again) of Young Camelot, and it’s definitely worth a read.
In other Chicago DIY news, Wally’s World is shutting down on April 1st. Based in the rapidly gentrifying Logan Square neighborhood, they’re being forced out of their building to make way for a new construction project. They’re ending with a series of shows that start tonight and go until the March 26; the full lineup of final shows can be found here.
Before it was shut down, Meat Wave played at Young Camelot. Check out a stream of them performing “Delusion Moon” from that show below.