Gnarls Barkley 9/11/06 @ Riviera Theatre

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John Legend 9/7/06 @ The Black Orchid

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Allman Brothers Band 8/30/06 @ Rosemont Theatre

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Foo Fighters 8/25/06 @ Auditorium Theatre

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American Idols Live Tour 2006 8/19/06 @ Allstate Arena

'Idols' onstage give fans what they came for

By Andy Downing
Speicial to the Tribune
Published August 21, 2006

American Idols Live, a concert featuring finalists from the fifth season of the insanely popular television program, rolled into town Saturday, turning a packed Allstate Arena into a de facto living room.

The crowd reflected the diversity of the program's viewing audience. In one row were Leann Irlbeck, 41, and her 7-year-old son, Dylan, both of Lake Zurich, celebrating the lad's birthday with his first "grown up" concert. Two rows behind them sat cousins Renita Eskridge, 51, of Gary, Ind., and Marie Boyd of Chicago, out on the town for Boyd's 49th birthday.

"We're part of the older crowd here," says Boyd. "But this is a very family-friendly environment."

Eskridge was looking forward to seeing Taylor Hicks, while Dylan Irlbeck was more interested in Chris Daughtry.

"They had a Future Day at school where they had to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up," Leann Irlbeck says. "He [Dylan] didn't dress as a doctor or a lawyer. No. He wanted to be Chris from `American Idol.' The only thing I wouldn't let him do is shave his head."

The 10 performers reacted to the crowd's adulation with a uniform "aw shucks" demeanor, thanking the fans and God for their good fortune. Only Daughtry, whose intensity borders on terrifying -- think Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" -- maintained an edge, defined by a scowl that rarely left his stubbly face as he tore into tunes such as Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love."

The rest of the evening's performers, each of whom get three to four songs in which to strut their stuff in front of an agile five-piece band, were far more malleable, delivering competent but generic versions of rock 'n' roll and soul classics (alongside several not-so classics).

Ace Young elicited some of the evening's loudest cheers from the females in the crowd with his workmanlike versions of George Michael's "Father Figure" and Maroon 5's "Harder To Breathe."

Frequent collaborations, used to bridge the gap between singers, often fell flat (Bucky Covington and Kellie Pickler took a hatchet to "You're the One That I Want" from the "Grease" soundtrack) -- none more so than a four-guy version of Guns N' Roses' "Patience" that ripped the lovelorn heart from the tune and replaced it with overwrought, boy-band harmonies.

This crowd, of course, didn't care. They were there to see the Idols.

For young Dylan Irlbeck, Katharine McPhee's two-song appearance turned out to be a highlight, and Eskridge found Hicks "everything [she] hoped for."

The "Idol" winner, who started his run as a shaggy oddball, has since been scrubbed clean by the show's stylists, though whirlwind versions of "Hollywood Nights" and "Livin' for the City" remain comfortably sloppy.

As Eskridge noted, Hicks is quite the entertainer. Even when his vocals fall flat, his gyrations and general chutzpah are enough to keep the crowd dancing happily in the aisles.

Click Here for the American Idols Review on ChicagoTribune.com

the church 8/18/06 @ Park West

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Anna Nalick 8/17/06 @ Park West

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Widespread Panic 8/11-13 @ Chicago Theatre

Widespread Panic at The Chicago Theatre for 3 Sold Out shows! Review the shows here!

Tom Waits 8/9/06 Auditorium Theatre

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Waits' music distorts all but the truth

By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
Published August 11, 2006

Everything about Tom Waits is done with theatrical flair, no expensive props required.

At the sold-out Auditorium Theatre on Wednesday, the 56-year-old troubadour entered as a scarecrow-like silhouette from behind a backlit curtain. He didn't so much wave as extend a claw in greeting. With his porkpie hat and black jacket, he lurched and contorted his frame like a Skid Row hunchback on a center-stage riser. He bellowed into a megaphone and turned a large magnifying glass into a distorting lens, his face contorted as he observed the crowd observing him like a curious insect.

The last stunt sent a ripple of laughter through the audience, but it was an apt symbol for Waits' music. In the broadest sense, he is a singer-songwriter, but he is also a genre unto himself. Facile comparisons to Captain Beefheart have been attempted, but the Captain's growl was in the service of the avant-garde blues. Waits is a defiled saloon singer who turns songs into noir-ish cinema, little movies about the human condition. When he aims his magnifying glass at the shadows, he inevitably comes up with some amazing discoveries. The human race, it turns out, has a lot of dirty little secrets, unspoken passions, unrequited desires. Waits' songs give voice to them all, and he finds poetry in even the tawdriest details.

"What the hell is he building in there?" Waits asked with increasing agitation, one of several story songs told between a hoarse whisper and a growl. Ostensibly about a reclusive neighbor, "What's He Building?" turned into a song as much about a nosy gossip who extrapolates all sorts of horrible conclusions from relatively mundane details. As social commentary it's not only wickedly funny, it also packs wicked insight into a culture that rushes to judge those it doesn't understand. Just as telling was the heartbreaking "Day After Tomorrow," which Waits played with acoustic guitar and minimal backing from his excellent four-piece band. It's a letter home from a soldier fighting another hopeless war, and it brought a standing ovation. "We're just the gravel in the road," Waits sang, and the gravel in his voice made the audience feel the narrator's hopelessness.

Waits sat down at the piano for only two songs that recalled his 1970s incarnation as the bard of the barflies. He took one more slow, sad spin 'round the dance floor with Waltzing Matilda on "Tom Traubert's Blues," and the fans roared with appreciation. Since that era, however, Waits has became a far more challenging and subversive musical force. It was in this guise that he spent most of the show, as he created dank, oppressive atmospheres and howled over gutbucket beats. Marc Ribot's manic guitar would've been the perfect foil, but Duke Robillard's cleaner, blues-soaked lines put some order in Waits' shambling step.

After two hours, Waits reprised "Time," a beautiful song, even in a land where it's raining hammers and nails. Waits' voice sounded like that hard rain. Even at its most tender, it was a gruff, unrelenting force of nature.

Click Here for Tom Waits' Review on ChicagoTribune.com

Butch Walker & The Let's Go Out Tonites 8/2/06 @ Metro

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