Concert Review: The Afghan Whigs at Metro

The Afghan Whigs played at Metro Sept. 22 and 23, 2017.

Live Review: The Afghan Whigs at Metro (Chicago), Sept. 23, 2017

Midway through the set Saturday night at Metro, Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli momentarily halted the band’s momentum after the song “Algiers” to address one particular fan:

“Wasted and flipping me off is not going to work,” he said to a woman near the stage. As the crowd murmured, he continued, “This is not a negotiation--walk her to the back of the room.” She obliged and Dulli finished with, “I haven’t done that in 10 years. I’m so upset I’m not going to sing this next song.”

And as the band began “Demon In Profile,” just one of many songs played from latest album “In Spades,” a guest vocalist from opening band Har Mar Superstar filled in and sang, perhaps with new meaning: “All over your body, this electricity / It was all that I wanted, now it’s killing me.” Guitar and piano exorcised the tension, with the singer crooning “I’m so far inside you now, I’m your silhouette.”

The band followed that song with a cover of The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence,” after which Dulli confessed, “I feel better.” The crowd did, too.

About an hour earlier, the band’s second night in a row of shows at Metro began with Dulli taking the stage solo to sing “Birdland”--the only accompaniment was a backing track of cello and other strings--before five other band mates (three total guitarists, including Dulli) joined him for “Arabian Heights,” also the first two songs on “In Spades.”

This lineup (with bassist John Curley the only other original member) allowed the Whigs to forego nuance and subtlety in song choice. Instead, the set list favored wall-of-sound guitar selections from the band’s deep catalogue. Some violin and cello were incorporated sparingly, but the multi-guitar line-up was the showcase.

The rocking “Honky’s Ladder” (from 1996’s “Black Love” album) solidified early Dulli’s swaggering persona: “If you tell me ‘don’t get mixed up with the devil,’ that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.” The band reached further into its past to play “Turn On The Water” from 1992’s breakthrough album “Congregation.” That was followed later with the rollicking “Fountain and Fairfax” (from 1993’s groundbreaking “Gentlemen” album) with Dulli desperately beseeching: “Angel, I’m sober / I got off that stuff, just like you asked me to.”

Dulli continued his trademark come-ons with “Somethin’ Hot” the opening track on album “1965” (released in 1998), with the lyrics “I want to get you high / I want to get next to you.” The Whigs, around for decades now, know something of temptation and regret, of angels and demons.

“Can Rova” served as a double tribute: to recently deceased soul/R&B artist Charles Bradley, as well as to Dave Rosser, a Whigs guitarist who died of cancer earlier this year. Dulli pointed out that the last time the band played at Metro, in 2014, that Rosser played guitar “right there,” pointing to stage right.

The band had the crowd clapping in unison for “Oriole” with opening lyrics, “Light the candle, lock the door too / Draw the circle, I’ll fall into you.”  Also from the latest album, the band played “Copernicus,” “Toy Automatic” and finished the set with “Into The Floor,” melding lyrics from Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” into the ending.

The encore featured “Parked Outside” from 2014’s “Do To The Beast” album--during which Dulli appropriately sung, “If they’ve seen it all, show them something new”--and the bombastic “Summer’s Kiss” from the “Black Love” album. With Chicago baking under record-breaking heat, and the heat generated by the band’s 90-plus-minute rocking set, Dulli’s exhortation seemed a little difficult to accept: “Did you feel the breeze, my love? / Summer’s kiss is over, baby, over." Link to review of the album "In Spades" Link to review published by Illinois Entertainer magazine

Concert Review: Mastodon plays benefit show at Metro

The lasers were in full effect for "Crystal Skull."

Mastodon at Metro, Chicago, Sept. 9, 2017

Mastodon rarely plays an encore. Instead, the band merely thanks the crowd and walks offstage. Saturday night at Metro, though, the band’s parting words carried more weight as they played an intimate benefit concert for Hope For The Day, a Chicago-based mental health education and suicide prevention organization.

At the end of the show, bassist/singer Troy Sanders said “thanks for one of the best nights of our lives” before drummer/singer Brann Dailor more directly addressed the heavy topic in the room. He spoke of his experience losing a sister to suicide and underscored the positive message of the night: there’s hope every day.

The music before the parting words was delivered with equal heart, as the band roared through a 90-minute set that pulled from nearly every album (absent were songs from “The Hunter”). Mandatory live songs “Crystal Skull,” “Megalodon” and “Colony of Birchmen” set the crowd into a frenzy but much of the the set list reflected the special nature of the event: rather than just focusing on songs from the latest album (“Emperor of Sand”), the band also performed many tracks from the album “Crack The Skye”. They opened with “The Last Baron” and also delivered mightily on “The Czar,” songs from an album that Dailor has said is a tribute to his sister who died at age 14.

Hailing from Georgia, Sanders mentioned the threat of Hurricane Irma (bearing down on the Florida Keys during the concert and generally threatening the entire Southeast), before starting “Precious Stones.” The song’s lyrics--”Don’t waste your time / Don’t let it slip away from you / Don’t waste your time / If it’s the last thing that you do”--suddenly carried even more meaning as layers of green and pink lasers etched a grid through the smoke above the crowd’s outstretched arms.

The twin lead-guitar attack of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher cut through the haze on “Oblivion” and “Ancient Kingdom.” But the most poignant moment came during Dailor’s vocals on “Roots Remain,” perhaps the most emotionally vulnerable song the band has released. Dailor sang: “And when you sit and picture me / Remember sitting in the sun and dancing in the rain / The end is not the end you see / It’s just the recognition of a memory.” Rarely has a heavy metal band been as equally ferocious and empathic as Mastodon was this night.

Powermad opened the evening with an energetic hardcore set, and Brain Tentacles’ distorted saxophone and guitar attack delighted the crowd before Mastodon headlined.

And, to further solidify the theme of the night, Three Floyds brewery debuted a special libation made in collaboration with the band and Dark Matter Coffee: Crack The Skye Imperial Coffee Stout.

Set List

“The Last Baron”

“Sultan’s Curse”

“Divinations”

“Crystal Skull”

“Ancient Kingdom”

“Colony of Birchmen”
“Megalodon”

“Andromeda”

“The Czar”

“Oblivion”

“Precious Stones

“Roots Remain”

“Chimes At Midnight”

“Steambreather”

“Mother Puncher”

“Crack The Skye”

Link to originally published version for Illinois Entertainer magazine.