They have done some renovations since my last visit. First of all, there’s some sort of purplish galaxy/constellation/1970’s-laser-light-show thing painted onto the ceiling. It used to have little lights that resembled stars, but this is a whole other deal. They’ve also updated the facades around the arena – where it used to resemble a Mexican hamlet, everything now looks more “castly”. Calling it a Mexican Medieval Times (Los Tiempos Mediamalos?) would not be far off. As expected, there were quite a few young kids. This was my first time at the Aragon over the age of 30, and if I’d been wearing a black leather jacket, I would have been the same thing to these kids as the dudes I used to view with scorn because they were busier drinking beer than going crazy at the show. Also, when I was that age, it was always 85% guys at every show. I couldn’t help but notice how many of the youngsters were girls. In fact, I think one of them asked me to Sadie Hawkins, but it was hard to tell because of the sound bouncing everywichway.
My brother is currently tour-managing for Silversun Pickups, so perhaps I feel more connected to them than I actually am, but I’ve seen them two previous times in the last nin

This show was a homecoming for OKGo, so I was curious to see if their fans had packed the joint. The show had been sold out for months, and as stated above, it was mainly Snow Patrol fans. The band’s set had great energy, featuring the fun they’ve become known for. Frontman Damian Kulash was entertaining as always. At one point, he said, “We've never played here, and in all the time I lived in Chicago, I've never been to a show here. I thought this was like a sports arena or something. Hey, can we do the wave really fast?" And the crowd followed his direction, sending a wave from one side of the arena to the other. He then said, "Aw, thanks. That was great. You have no idea how hard it is to get a wave going at the Empty Bottle.” Good stuff. I do think that the sound issues hampered their set a bit more. They do a lot of harmonies and the vocals didn’t seem to mesh together as well as they have when I’ve seen them in the past. Again, I’m blaming the Aragon’s barn-ness. The highlight of their set was probably when they covered ELO’s “Don’t Bring me Down.” They played that a bit heavier. I wondered if the kids were going to recognize that one, but Kulash did say that it was for the older folks in the audience (all sixteen of us?).
As I said, my brother is on this tour with SSP. Consequently, I hadn’t seen him in quite a while, so I ended up missing nearly all of Snow Patrol’s set to spend some time with him. So I can’t really give a proper review. I can say that the crowd seemed quite devoted and they sounded tight and clean. But it would be unfair for me to say anymore as I wasn’t even in a place where I could see the stage. I do hear that they are wonderfully cool guys, though.
The bands did the most they could with the venue considering its sonic problems, and were definitely entertaining. So I have to say the return to the Aragon was a clear success. Now, does anyone know whether you still have to buy the girl a corsage for Sadie Hawkins?
I can give a tentative "yes" to the corsage question. Its been quite some time since I've attended a Sadie Hawkins but I'm fairly certain things haven't changed that much...
ReplyDeleteAgreed with your review of the show...being an "older" audience attendee was interesting but I quite appreciated the ELO cover :) I'm a super fan of the SSPU's so i'm interested in how your brother got involved with them. They recorded their album right across the street from my house in Milwaukee!
Hey Anon,
ReplyDeleteShoot me an e-mail and I can give you the whole story, but it's really just kinda random. Thanks for the Sadie Hawkins tip. Turns out they were just seeking a chaperon who would buy them alcohol. I politely declined, but told them where they could probably buy without ID (Laurie's Liquors, yo!)...