list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.05.2013

Going light (and late) this week, given that the recap is large. And a moment of silence for George Duke, who passed away on Monday. Do yourself a favor and pick up You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Volume 2 from Frank Zappa to hear some of his amazing keyboard work.

Pick of the week
First off, the D'Angelo show on Wednesday has been cancelled. Otherwise that would have topped the list. Second, I need someone to go see Volto! on Saturday at Lincoln Hall and report back.

list.in.to.COZ
We are back at Fado on Saturday with another Diver show. I suspect Tony is going to be raring to go if he is, in fact, shuttling teenagers to the Taylor Swift concert earlier in the evening.

Recap
Okay, so Heart with Jason Bonham playing Led Zeppelin on Monday was amazing. Like, "top ten concerts ever" amazing. I've seen their Kennedy Center performance of "Stairway to Heaven," but seeing it live gave me goosebumps, and that was after an already epic version of "Kashmir." The Heart set of their own songs was pretty great, too.

Stick Men scratched that prog rock itch on Wednesday, and was the second time I've seen Tony Levin in that venue, I think. The opening set from Grood was as hot as I've seen them. Really glad Matt Walker is back in town for an extended stay.

Thursday was far and away the best show I've seen from Queens of the Stone Age out of three or maybe four. A lot of that came from drummer Jon Theodore, formerly of Mars Volta, who did a great job executing some of those integral parts from the records. I also ran into a guy who recognized me as the guy who writes list.in.to.chicago, which was pretty cool.

And then, Lollapalooza. I'd say all three headliners met my expectations, although my expectations varied from high for Nine Inch Nails, to low for Mumford & Sons, to somewhere in-between for The Cure. NIN was on par both visually and sonically with their last time on that same stage, while Mumford just doesn't scale well into that setting. Lots of chatter in the quieter bits, for one, although having such a huge crowd clapping totally wrong at the beginning of "Little Lion Man" was awesome. Robert Smith sounds almost exactly like he did 25 years ago, which meant the delivery on all those classic Cure songs was pretty spot-on.

Other bands that stood out were Ben Howard, Local Natives and Baroness. The most disappointing acts we saw were Jessie Ware, Palma Violets and Theophilus London. There was more (New Order!), but I'll once again promise to get to that in a full-on review that I'll probably never write, along with pictures I'll never post.

8.07   wednesday
Bad Things with Champions, Software Giant (Lincoln Hall)
This band features X Games mainstay Shaun White, and ended up filling in for Death Grips on Saturday when they "decided not to show up" for the Lollapalooza festivities.

Tributosaurus   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Two sets as Bob Dylan, with probably too many jokes and references about his voice to count.

Glittermouse, Last Nighters, Maid Myriad, Earth Program (Subterranean)
A quick followup to their CD release party from a few weeks ago.

8.08   thursday
Chick Corea & The Vigil (SPACE, Evanston)
With Tim Garland on reeds, who had played previously with Bill Bruford's Earthworks. Two shows (with a top ticket price of $108!) and the early show is sold out.

Rivals of the Peacemaker with Dirty Generals, Woodrow Hart & the Haymaker (Empty Bottle)
Another friend of friends of Coz here, who just played an early Sunday afternoon set at Lollapalooza. Guessing the smattering of local bands who made the cut aren't subjected to the same radius clause as the big guns.

8.09   friday
Bumpus with Swamp Heat (Martyrs')
Good to see the local funk band still at it, although I'm curious where they landed a new practice space after our building switched to visual arts only last year.

Frank Russell Band (Andy's)
One of the standout jazz bassists in the city playing a couple of nights in River North.

Eddie Money with Phil Angotti (City Winery)
I can neither confirm nor deny whether tickets for this show were only available in packages of two, or if you had to request them in song.

Polarcode with Ayoh, Aly Jados, Rachael's Surrender, Skye Daru (Double Door)
Apparently MOBfest is still a thing. This astounds me on many levels.

8.10   saturday
DIVER (Fado Irish Pub)
We may actually have some new songs for this one, both new as in "recent" and as in "new to us." Should be fun.

Volto! with Burning of Rome (Lincoln Hall)
The main attraction here is going to be Danny Carey from Tool on drums, along with one of his buddies from Pigmy Love Circus on guitar and a bass player I haven't heard of before now. Going to disagree with Wikipedia on this one, where it says the band's music has evolved from jazz fusion to sound more like progressive rock. It's still really fusion-heavy, and heavy fusion at that. But really good heavy fusion.

Daryl Stuermer (Reggie's Music Joint)
Yes, that Daryl Stuermer, the Milwaukee native who has played with Genesis and Phil Collins since the late 70s.

Taylor Swift with Ed Sheeran (Soldier Field)
Not sure how long she's in town surrounding the big stadium show, but it's probably enough time for you to date her, break up, and have her write a song about it before she takes the stage.

Frank Russell Band (Andy's)
See Friday's listing.

8.11   sunday
Robby Krieger's Jam Kitchen (Double Door)
The guitarist from the Doors is joined by Zappa alumni Arthur Barrow and Tommy Mars, along with veteran jazz/studio drummer Tom Brechtlein and some other guy. Could be fun, completely self-indulgent, or both.

Wertico, Cain and Gray (SPACE, Evanston)
Drummer Paul Wertico and bassist Larry Gray have played together a ton, and here they're partnered with David Cain. Both Cain and Wertico are credited with "iPad" as part of their contributions to the project. The future!