My goal is to see one show per week. Yes, I might be that annoying friend that just has to tell you about the thing you missed, but I’m also catching every great show in the city of Chicago–with plenty more ahead of me. Welcome to the Chicago Concert Dispatch.
At the time of this show, it is 9 weeks into the year, and I have seen 28 shows.
There is a particular energy when musicians performing together are doing it for the love, not just of the music, but for each other. All three bands performing at the Bottle are strengthened by their friendships. The joy eminated off the stage, and looking around at the audience, I saw it manifested in a legion of smiles.
The Jungle Green set had a musical chairs kind of feel to it. The vocalist is the only one that sticks to the same role, everyone else rotates between instruments. The constant rotation made for a dazzling array of energies bouncing around. You can also feel the creative joy as they get to mix things up and challenge themselves. And move in different ways. When at the keys, you can spin around between notes, but when you have a guitar you can move with the instrument, lunge and then scoop the neck up to the sky like a rock flag bearer. The drummers bop around as they keep a bouncy rhythm. The energy zigzagging and shifting and made it just as exciting for the audience as it looked to be for them. I could see this group of musicians have found in each other kindred spirits. They all embody a musically fueled performative energy that is earnest and groovy and not afraid to be a little weird. I mean playing tambourine by scooping it up with a foot and jumping around on your other leg. I just. I can’t. I must see them again.
Drummer Nadi McGill told us that these three friends decided four years ago they wanted to be in a rock band. So they picked up instruments and formed Gully Boys. Now they have released an EP and are touring the country and eliciting wails and squeals and hoots from an audience that doesn’t even know who they are. Such is the tight powerful rock that blasts off the stage at us. Their rock is so catchy you will fall in love with it on first listen. The cheers rang out with the last note of their first song, “Neopet Grave” in a way you really only expect for a headliner. Their energy and power grew as the set went on. “Hear You Callin” and “Nosy Heart” were back-to-back highlights for me, but it was “Favorite Son” that truly brought the fire out in this band. It kept burning for the rest of the set. I could call out every song as a killer jam. This trio definitely has that something, that magic chemistry that many musicians spend a lifetime trying to find. I feel lucky to have this band based in nearby Minneapolis, as it means we can hope they will traverse to Chicago fairly often.
For anyone who has experienced Sabrina Ellis or Sean Tillman, Heart Bones is a dream come true. Their other projects (Ellis’s A Giant Dog and Sweet Spirit, and Tillman’s Har Mar Superstar) are more grounded in rock and soul, but all have pop-like hooks and movement inducing beats. Bringing together these two creative energies to make glistening synth disco jams in Heart Bones is pure joy. Seeing their live performance unleashed their full power pop potential. “I kinda like the way you move, like you aint got nothing to prove…cause when you do it makes you sweat, when I see you dripping wet, I gotta light a cigarette.” I could say these words (from “I Like Your Way”) to either of them. They had moments of synchronized moves back and forth across the stage. Coming together and feeding off each other with luminous joy. At other times they would move in their own ways. Tillman gestured with power and thrust, sexual chemistry dripping from his cut offs. Ellis’s moves felt like an uncontrollable need to express. An ingrained part of who they are, but improvised at the moment of feeling. They both made it impossible to take your eyes off of them. And impossible for them to perform on a small stage. Actually, I wonder if they would always take more if given more. The poor bass player, Adam Hurlburt, ended up pressed against the wall as Ellis accidentally trampled his pedal board.
Ellis and Tillman could not perform to their fullest without their amazing band. Ryan Mach on drums was the backbone. Hurlburt was slapping out funky grooves on his bass. “Hungry Eyes” guitar shredding, and synth/keys melodies/everything else compliments of Aaron Baum. But it was clear that this whole thing is a product of the love between these two friends. Their music revolves around relationships and the things we look for both within ourselves and outside of ourselves. Tillman and Ellis’s on stage collaboration was a relationship glowed with mutual respect and admiration. The love overflowed from the stage and spilled onto us. The whole audience took in the love and let it lift them up. It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday night. I hope I can hold onto that warmth, love, and joy for the rest of the week.
Heart Bones Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Gully Boys Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Jungle Green Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
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