I don’t go to concerts often, not that I don’t like to, just that I don’t pay close enough attention to the bands I enjoy. A classmate/friend of mine had a favorite band coming into town and needed/wanted someone to go with her (other friends were being mean and she didn’t want to take them) and through a series of events I got to go, which was great way to end a super busy day of two midterms and a writing group.
Lincoln Hall is attached to a nice restaurant/bar called Schubas. We sat down while we waited for the hall to open and the waitress came over automatically and asked us if we wanted to drinks, she was very patient and helpful despite how packed it got throughout the night, which I’m sure is a regular occurrence, she even went through the crowd during the show picking up people’s drinks that they were done with. The hall is through doors behind the bar and an upstairs with a balcony to look down on the stage.
I had never heard of Electric Guest before, my friend suggested that I looked them up, but I figured I’d just decide what I thought about them at the show. The pre-shows were two bands, one Line and Circle (which wasn’t bad but I couldn’t understand the words), and No, a band from New Zealand on their first tour. No had five band members, four sang while playing instruments, and one played practically everything other that needed to be played, their harmonizing was beautiful. Their lead singer was crying during at least the first song, “Another Life” and all the band members had a solemn look to their faces which made me wonder what happened to make the song. My friend explained to me how it was really hard to find anything on them online, because their name is No, so you get the definition. They do have a twitter though (@NO) They were super excited and even took a picture of the crowd.
The downfall to the trip was random aspects of the crowd, a man would do a high pitched whistle during the performances, just at random parts and there were plenty of drunk people. However once Electric Guest appeared on stage it seemed to calm down a bit. The lead singer danced around, and once my friend started singing a loud with all the songs she caused him to start laughing. She explained to me that he’s super shy (My friend was basically my guide to everything about the bands) and that at most of their concerts they’ll be playing to a stoic crowd holding wine glasses or in a small venue like playing in a tree house.The crowd was there for the band, a lot had waited until they got on stage before getting there. He would respond to the crowd, explaining the last time he was in Chicago, complaining of the cold which he’d been told it gets worse which seemed to blow his mind. In the crowd was a photographer that is a friend of theirs who would sing along and cheer causing the rest of the crowd to cheer. The crowd called for an encore and they came back saying “We only have 10 songs to our name and we’ve played 9” so they played one last one for us.
At the end of the show I bought two CD’s, one from No and one from Electric Guest. I got most of No to sign one. We waited for the other band and then out of curiosity walked around and found that the lead singer had gotten trapped in the hallway by the bathroom. He didn’t have a marker so he left to go get one from No to sign my CD, probably got stopped a million times along the way. Pictures were taken with him and he gave everyone hugs and chatted with anyone who wanted to.