Groupie

The past two months have been full of music and concerts in some really cool places in Chicago. I thought I'd share the goods about four concerts I've attended in the last few weeks. Please don't think I'm  all that connected and in the scene on my own - I just mostly tagged along with my friends who are much cooler than I to these events.

Love random reunions

 The first I'm going to share is the most recent. Passion Pit. Matt & Kim. Icona Pop. OH MY GOODNESS. First of all, my sister-in-law cued in me into this infectious anthem by Icona Pop a few weeks ago and when I found out they were the opener it was a sweet, sweet moment. These chicks are some badass girls, let me tell you. There's something super cool about a girlband who can do all their own music. Girl power. Then, the second band and probably the most entertaining portion of the evening was Matt & Kim. They're together together and are the coolest music power couple I've ever seen. Kim goes crazy on the drums as Matt plays keyboard and sings in his hallmark voice. A really sweet feature of their concerts is that they have up-close cameras showing their faces on huge screens as they perform. Watching the unadulterated joy that flooded Kim's face as she drummed away for about an hour made me want to drop everything and take up percussion. Then, when I thought nothing else would make me happier, Passion Pit took the stage and was just so good. They have so much imagination. It is really cool to see. Plus the lead singer was wearing a suit and tie, and let me tell you I am a sucker for a guy dressed in a nicely fitted suit. I could relive this concert once or twice if I had a time machine. I went with my good friend Gina, who is a senior at Trinity and on her Chicago semester. I also got to see my fab TFA friend Sam (you've met her on this blog many times before) who was there with her boyfriend and coincidentally a few rows over. This was at the UIC Pavillion just about a mile up the road from my apartment. All in all, amazing concert. 

Gina and I 

Okay. Next event. The Darkness. Zach, my co-teacher from the summer and friend who has been lost to Milwaukee's TFA crew, came down to Chicago and offered me an extra ticket at the last second. This was a hilarious time. The lead singer is completely ridiculous. He rides that fine line of crazy/talented/funny/obnoxious. These guys are incredibly talented. Face-melting guitar solos to last a long, long time. This one took place at The Vic. I got the feeling that this venue is a little bit more geared toward the grungier rock crowd, which was cool. I do, in fact, believe in a thing called love.

Then comes Wakey! Wakey! This was at Schuba's up in Lakeview at a really small venue. It was cool to be so close. I went with two people from my small group at church and had a really good time. This guy is hilarious and I almost enjoyed his comments as much as his singing. For all you One Tree Hill fans (I am not one of these, but I have many good friends who are), his songs were featured on that show once upon a time and he blew up from there. He's got incredible range and just the right amount of nasally whiny goodness to satisfy a girl like me who went through high school listening to Dashboard Confessional and Secondhand Serenade. He is great.

Finally, you've already heard about the concert I went to at Lincoln Hall, a medium-sized venue that featured The Freelance Whales. I went with my TFA Chicago friends for a fun little reunion to reminisce on the craziness we shared this summer as well as enjoy some cool music. Again, I want to be a vintage-dress-wearing-girl who plays bass in one of these bands. Maybe they take ex-french-horn players? I'll submit an application.

All in all, Chicago's music scene has been good to me as of late. I am dying to see Rihanna on March 22nd, but alas, I'm not a millionaire and would rather not drop 200 bucks to be in the very last row in the United Center. I was too late on the draw. I already have T-Swift tickets lined up for Soldier Field coming this August (yes, we were NOT GOING TO MISS THAT ONE) and am on the search for other good shows in the area. Fun times will be had by all.