11/27/15 Lotus @ Riviera Theatre - Chicago, IL

The day after Thanksgiving I make a relatively spur of the moment decision to see Lotus at the Riv. This is one of my least favorite venues in the city but Lotus is a band that I'm really enjoying currently.  I feel like they,re the best of the livetronica acts. (sorry STS9 and Bisco)  Not only do they bring the dance grooves but they bring a superior guitar sound thanks to Mike Gempel.  The drive into the city was relatively uneventful on Black Friday.  I parked in Wicker Park and made the chilly walk to the L train.  Before I left I destroyed a few leftover turkey sandwiches with stuffing. 


At the Riv you're always treated like a criminal at the door by S3 security.  It's tiring.  The layout of the venue sucks.  The seats in the balcony are way too close to the floor to be comfortable.  Sightlines at the back of the floor leave a lot to be desired.  Hopefully when the new Brooklyn Bowl Chicago opens on the near west side that these type of shows no longer happen at the Riv.  I only attended Friday but it seems like this could have been at the Vic with the size of the crowd.  I recognized the second song from the new EP they just released.  Golden Ghost is one that I like.  The first set was fun but that was clearly the warmup.  I saw the usual jamtronica Geneseo people.


I loved the song selection and flow of this second set and have been enjoying it on my stereo since I purchased the livedownload.  Bubonic Tonic was the highlight of the show.  This segued into Hammerstrike which explored some very dark terrain.  Soma and Debris are two songs I wasn't familiar with but I've grown to really like.  The hard rock cover of Elephant was a nice surprise.  There was a very seemless transition between Its All Clear To Me Now and the set closing Tip of the Tongue.  Great set.  Bubonic and Tip of the Tongue are two songs I've liked from Lotus since I discovered them sometime ten years ago.  The slower Cain & Abel started off the encore and provided a nice juxtaposition with Intro to A Cell which ended the evening.  I took the train back to my car and drove home.  Per usual I stopped in Utica at McD for breakfast around 3 am.  This show wasn't that great of an experience but musically it was amazing.  The Riv sucks as a venue but I knew that going in. 

10/30/15 Umphrey's McGee @ Riverside Theatre - Milwaukee, WI

It's been 45 days since my buddy Frank and I went up to see another longtime friend of ours who lives in Milwaukee, Sand.  The drive up to New Berlin was uneventful.  We took 80 to 39 to avoid the construction on 88.  Frank and I started seeing shows in 1999.  I'm glad we still see music together.  The GD50 show we saw together over the summer really made me reflect on the 15 years of traveling and seeing live music.  It's been a long strange trip.  That being said it's not over.  As much as I occasionally want to reinvent myself I'm always drawn back to how much I love what I've been doing.  Seeing music makes me feel alive. 


It was nice seeing Sand's apartment and meeting his girlfriend Laura.  I liked their two cats.  Admittedly it was unusual seeing Sand in such a domestic setting but I was happy for him.  This fall there was a huge amount of music at the Riverside Theatre.  I was unable to get tickets for SCI and WSP since those shows sold out so quickly and I was tapped out from Phish tour.  The Halloween UM show sold out.  Thursday UM didn't make sense because we all had to work.  By default this Friday UM show became the choice.  We felt a little old in this contemporary UM crowd.  It's really turned over from my hey day of seeing UM which was 04-07.  I think the improvisation has dulled a bit from Umphrey's since they've all gotten married, had kids, and moved apart.  However, they still bring consistent energy.  IC and Educated Guess both were highlights in the first set.  They brought out a saxophone player during Wappy.  There was an awkward transition into Comma Later but they did their best with it.  Even the August encore was energetic.  My friends were impressed with the show and they aren't Umphreaks by any means.  This was my 155th Umphrey's McGee show.  They are still fun to see but admittedly I get bored with it at times these days.  While waiting for our Uber I saw Pony, Kevin Browning, and some of their old buddies walk off into the night.  Later Sand drove us to Taco Bell and was obnoxiously honking his horn on his truck.  I'm surprised they didn't spit in our food.  I'm glad we went up to Wisconsin.  It was a rainy Halloween for the drive back. 

10/23/15 STS9 @ Orpheum Theatre - Madison, WI

2015.10.23 - Orpheum Theater - Madison, WI
Set I: Vapors, Only Light Remains > Grow, By The Morning Sun > Move My Peeps, Pianoir, The Rabble, Click Lang Echo
Set II: Moon Socket > Crystal Instrument > Water Song, Shock Doctrine, Scheme > 1103 > Scheme, Totem, Frequencies Peace 2 > Frequencies Peace 3

ENCORE: Baraka


It's been over a month since my mom and I traveled up Highway 61 through Dubuque to Madison.  It was a dark rainy autumn night in Wisconsin.  We met up with a longtime friend of mine Soren.  Mom went off to see our friends Margaret and Fritz in Middleton.  Soren met us out by the beltline and from there we took the Equinox with his girlfriend Melissa to downtown Madison to see STS9 at the Orpheum Theatre.  I've never seen State St. so busy on a Friday night.  The parking garages were full and we were fortunate to finally find a spot.  We missed the Tauk opening set which wasn't a big deal to me.  It was a decent sized crowd but plenty of room on the back of the floor where we hung out. 


I have listened to a lot of STS9 in the last year but I'm still largely unfamiliar with the song titles.  With Alaina Rocklin on bass I've become a much bigger fan of their music.  Pianoir was a highlight of the first set.  During the setbreak I walked down State St. to a coffee shop.  The opening trio of songs in set II was very impressive.  It was good seeing some of the usual Geneseo livetronica fans.  It was good to see Soren.  We've been friends all our lives.  He was born 10 days after me and they lived next door to us in Glen Ellyn.  We ate a delicious breakfast with Margaret, Fritz, and Whitney in Middleton.  When I was younger mom and I would go on road trips and I would always ride shotgun.  It was fun to go on a little getaway to Madison with her.  The rural Wisconsin and Iowa scenery with the changing foliage was pretty during the drive home.