AFI 7/7/06 @ Vic Theatre

AFI delivers glam and gloom
By Bob Gendron
Special to the Tribune
Published July 10, 2006

Standing cross-legged atop a wooden riser and dressed in an all-white outfit complete with suspenders and wedding gloves, Davey Havok reared back his head and summoned a pained facial expression, his eyeliner glittering under the spotlights.

The AFI vocalist's glam appearance suited his quartet's continuing move away from hard-core punk and embrace of bleacher-stomping pop. On display at the second concert of the group's two-night stand Saturday at the Vic, the evolution also fueled an artistic incongruity that witnessed blood-, death- and sorrow-filled lyrics crooned over wimpy refrains and uplifting, arena-size hooks.

Havok's bandmates also wore white duds. So did their instrument technicians. In fact, nearly everything about AFI -- from its matching ashen-colored amplifiers and microphone stands to its depression-clouded themes and formulaic music -- screamed of a smartly marketed fashion statement.

But misery loves company, and AFI's catchy brand of gloominess is attracting dedicated throngs. A primarily teenage audience soaked up the band's words and sang along with nearly every line, allowing Havok to rely on their contributions whenever he felt an urge to preen or strut. The singer couldn't consistently carry a tune, but it didn't matter. When in doubt, he pulled back the microphone, pretended he was wounded or simply screamed bloody murder, the latter approach serving heavier fare such as "Death of Seasons" and "Bleed Black."

Yet the majority of AFI's 70-minute set dealt in mascara-streaked melodrama that coasted on climactic emo-lite payoffs and power-ballad fireworks ("Summer Shudder"), leaving little opportunity for intense workouts. A handful of token screamo efforts were overshadowed by songs built around electronically enhanced dance beats ("Love Like Winter") and candy-coated chants ("Miss Murder") that would've been right at home at a junior high basketball game.

During the encore, Havok waded into the crowd and gingerly balanced his feet upon fans' outstretched hands. Leading the faithful through one last "whoa-oh" gasp, he choked back what seemed to be a smile, remembering that the secret to remaining a goth savior involves feigning despair.

AFI Review at ChicagoTribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0607100120jul10,1,5165715.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Keane 6/27/06 @ Metro

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Radiohead 6/19 & 6/20 @ Auditorium Theatre

What did you think about the Radiohead shows? The Chicago Tribune's rock critic praised the show - does anyone disagree?


Radiohead as always a challenging, thrilling work in progress

By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
Published June 21, 2006

This story contains corrected material, published June 21, 2006.

Things have been ominously quiet in the Radiohead camp for a couple of years, accompanied by reports of near-breakups and false starts on a slow-developing new album.

But the U.K. quintet looked and sounded rejuvenated Monday in the first of two sold-out concerts at the Auditorium Theatre. And it came bearing gifts: Nine new songs that bristled with fresh ideas.

It was a treat to see a band of this stature (six acclaimed million-plus-selling albums in 14 years) in such a relatively small and acoustically pristine space. During the course of the nearly two-hour, 23-song set, the band dipped into its formidable back catalog with vigor and authority. "There There" rode a triple-stacked drum barrage until Jonny Greenwood's guitar tolled like a funeral bell; Greenwood hunched over his armada of keyboards to conjure sonic poltergeists and send them screaming across the horizon of "The National Anthem"; and "Bones" was excavated by Colin Greenwood's plaster-busting fuzz bass.

But the real reason to see this show wasn't to revisit past triumphs, but to glimpse the works in progress. With the band's last studio release, "Hail to the Thief," now 3 years old, Radiohead is using the current tour to road-test a batch of songs for a forthcoming album, tentatively set for release in 2007. It seems each Radiohead album arrives with growing pains. Every few years, the band endures an internal reckoning, and the turmoil bleeds into anxious, deeply unsettling, frightfully beautiful music. A band bent on not repeating itself is setting itself up for frustration and conflict. So far, the battles have been worth it; each new release has held surprises and songs with staying power.

Will the new material hold up just as well? It's too early to tell, certainly, because Radiohead songs inevitably go through several transformations before they're recorded. But there were several promising new additions showcased at the Auditorium.

If there was a thread connecting the new songs it was this: a leaner, almost cutthroat sense of economy and rhythmic drive, and renewed reliance on guitars instead of the keyboard textures that have dominated the arrangements since the 2000 landmark, "Kid A."

"15 Steps" boasted a hip-hop feel, with hand-claps and electro-rhythms pounding out a syncopated beat while Thom Yorke's normally elongated vocals ventured into clipped, rap-like phrasing. A frantic soul groove gripped "Bangers 'n' Mash," with Yorke on tambourine and a cocktail drum kit augmenting Phil Selway's stampeding backbeat (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). "Open Pick" was a straight-up rock song, three guitars revving over Selway's foundation, a nod to the Radiohead of 1995, circa "The Bends." A terse but bracing instrumental, "Spooks," took the treble-soaked surf guitar of Dick Dale and tripled the intensity; this was the sound of a tsunami turning the beach into a wasteland. Best of all was "Down is the New Up," another surging, stacked double-drum groove with Ed O'Brien sending shivers down spines by bending a single guitar string until it moaned.

The new ballads found Yorke once again pulling lovely melodies out of turmoil. In "Videotape," the singer arrives at the gates of heaven, only to have Mephistopheles grasping at his ankles. "Nude," which has been floating around on Radiohead set lists since the '90s but has never surfaced on an album, now appears ready for its close-up: a tinge of reggae in the rhythm section, with Yorke in falsetto cry, even as Jonny Greenwood's guitar chords turned violent. The hymn-like "4 Minute Warning" prompted the band to huddle around Yorke's upright piano as if in a bomb shelter, an appropriate scenario as the song references Britain's nuclear defense strategy during the Cold War.

But the most surprising mood swing was accomplished by the penultimate song, "House of Cards."

It arrived with little fanfare, just steady handclaps and a delicate vocal, as if a weight had been lifted from the band's sloped shoulders.

The wan melody floated like a leaf in a breeze, then settled on Jonny Greenwood's guitar, and with a single sustained chord he gave it a majestic sendoff.

It's anyone's guess if any of these songs will end up on Radiohead's next album.

But this foreshadowing of what might be surely left the band's fans hoping for the best.

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gregkot@aol.com

Click here for the review at ChicagoTribune.com

Joe Jackson 6/15/06 @ The Vic Theatre

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Les Claypool 6/14/06 @ The Vic Theatre

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Tom Verlaine 6/12/06 @ Double Door

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Jackie Greene 6/12/06 @ Martyrs

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