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Local Concert Preview for Chicago: August 11-17, 2009
First Appeared in The Music Box, August 2009, Volume 16, #8
Written by John Metzger
Mon August 10, 2009, 06:30 AM CDT
8/11 - Phish - Toyota Park - Chicago - 7:00 p
Seven weeks ago, Phish performed a pair of shows at Alpine Valley in East
Troy, Wisconsin. The band pulled out all of the stops, too, delivering energetic
renditions of fan favorites such as You Enjoy Myself, Run Like an
Antelope, Runaway Jim, The Divided Sky, and Slave to the
Traffic Light. Now that Lollapalooza has left town, Phish will return for a
final concert in the region on August 11 at Toyota Park. If the outfit is paying
any attention to its set lists, it is quite likely that tracks such Tweezer
and Chalk Dust Torture are in the cards. No matter what direction Phish
chooses to take, though, attendees of the concert can expect to dance the night
away to the playful refrains of what undoubtedly has become its best tour in
years. 
8/11 - Love/Jerry Miller - Shank Hall - Milwaukee - 8:00 p
8/12 - Love/Jerry Miller - Double Door - Chicago - 8:00 p
It really is unfair: Overlooked for most of his career, The Seeds’ Sky Saxon
had the misfortune of passing away on the same day as Michael Jackson. Even so,
the California ’66 Revue received an unexpected boost of publicity in the wake
of his death. It also gained purpose and meaning. Saxon had been planning to
spend several weeks on the road with the Electric Prunes and a new version of
Love that was fronted by guitarist Johnny Echols. Originally, the tour was
envisioned to be a reminder of the potency as well as the diversity of Los
Angeles’ music scene in 1966. Now, it will serve as a roving memorial to Saxon
as well as Love’s Arthur Lee, who died three years ago. In a move that further
cements this updated perspective, Electric Prunes subsequently dropped off the
bill, while Moby Grape’s Jerry Miller was tapped to fill Saxon’s slot in the
show.
8/12 - Tracy Chapman - Park West - Chicago - 7:30 p
8/14 - Tracy Chapman - Pabst Theater - Milwaukee - 8:00 p
Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut provided the perfect antithesis to the
sterile, manufactured music of the 1980s. Nevertheless, after the outing’s
overwhelming success, her career unfortunately had nowhere to go but down. This,
however, is more of a reflection of a fickle marketplace than it is of her
talent. After a misguided attempt to translate her commercial appeal into pop
superstardom, she wholeheartedly returned to her roots-oriented ways on her
aptly titled 1996 endeavor New Beginning. Ever since, she wisely has
remained content with chasing her Muse instead of the charts. On her latest set
Our Bright Future, Chapman continues to raise social and political issues
while also turning her poetic eye toward painting vivid, confessional portraits
of life. Considering how much she has gleaned from Joni Mitchell’s canon, it’s
somewhat surprising that the outing is the first one she has made with producer
Larry Klein at the helm. Regardless, Chapman has a wealth of material from which
to choose when she visits Chicago’s Park West on August 12 and Milwaukee’s Pabst
Theater on August 14.
8/14 - AC/DC - United Center - Chicago - 7:30 p
AC/DC should have been buried alive after the
untimely passing of front man Bon Scott. Yet, after Brian Johnson was tapped to
replace him, the group became even more successful and issued two of its most
popular outings (Back in Black and For Those about to Rock We Salute
You) immediately after Scott’s death. Over the next two decades, each of
AC/DC’s albums sold reliably, but the buzz surrounding the outfit began to
dwindle. Just when things seemed to have run their course, however, AC/DC came
storming back with last year’s Black Ice. Tickets for its current world
tour have been gobbled up with enthusiasm. It might seem ridiculous not only
that the band still shoots off cannons from the stage, but also that
Angus Young routinely prances around like a teenager without a shirt while
ripping blistering guitar solos. Then again, AC/DC essentially is a cruder,
harder-edged rendition of the Rolling Stones. Anyone who buys into the act
likely will go home happy after the outfit’s performance on August 14 at the
United Center. Over the years, many poseurs have surfaced, but none of them have
been able to topple AC/DC from its perch.
Of Further Interest...
Local Concert Preview for Chicago: August 6-10, 2009
Local Concert Preview for Chicago: August 1-5, 2009
Local Concert Preview for Chicago / Milwaukee: July 22-31, 2009
Local Concert Preview for Chicago: July 12-21, 2009
Local Concert Preview for Chicago / Milwaukee: July 1-11, 2009
Copyright © 2009 The Music Box
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