Andy Grammer is music’s easiest guy to root for, and tonight the Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter brought his headlining tour to the House of Blues in Chicago, IL. Dubbed “The Good Parts Tour”, in support of his brand new LP, the multi-platinum selling artist treated a packed crowd to performances of his new album and fan favorites from his 2011 self-titled debut and 2014’s Magazines or Novels.
From humble beginnings, the 34-year old Grammer has gone from selling CDs to tourists in Southern California to taking the world by storm with huge singles like ‘Honey, I’m Good’ and ‘Good To Be Alive’. And tonight fans in Chicago helped celebrate Grammer’s come up, by singing along word-for-word as the ‘Fine By Me’ singer and his talented band put on a show that the House of Blues will not soon forget.
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
Grammer kicked things off with two tracks from his new album, as well as an entertaining performance of ‘Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)’. Throughout the night Grammer performed the majority of The Good Parts, while still sprinkling in tracks from his first two albums. They say if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life, and Andy Grammer is the epitome of just that, as his infectious energy on stage can’t help but make fans smile. No one had a greater night tonight than Andy Grammer, but his Chicago fans were a very close 2nd.
And to end the night on a high note, Grammer ended the main portion of his set with his mega single ‘Honey, I’m Good’, before treating fans to one last song, with an encore performance of the new album’s title track, ‘Good Parts’.
Justin Timberlake brought his 2018 Man of the Woods Tour to Chicago’s United Center this week, for two nights of amazing live music. With an elaborate stage full of cat-walks, a party pit & bar, B-stages and even a campfire, JT brought his A-game and his huge catalog of hits for the Windy City.
And with such a great live show for his Illinois fans, we made sure to capture some of the best moments from the entire night. Needless to say, Chicago is already counting down the days until Justin bring the tour back to Chicago on October 5th.
Check out our photos from Wednesday’s performance below.
Oakland native and Hip-hop Heavyweight G-Eazy is a frequent visitor and Chicago favorite, who may even claim Chicago as a second home. It’s hard to disagree after G-Eazy delivered yet another sold-out show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom this weekend.
Returning to the historic venue for the third time, this time for his new critically acclaimed, The Beautiful and Damned Tour, Friday night was maybe his best visit to the Windy City yet.
G-Eazy performed from his F. Scott Fitzgerald inspired album the Beautiful and Damned. He also threw it back with hits from his previous works, like These Things Happen and When It’s Dark Out. Records like ‘Me, Myself and I’, ‘I Mean It’, and his last song of the night ‘No Limit’ made G-Eazy’s set an almost perfect routine of non-stop thrills and a seamless flow of hits. Seeing G-Eazy on stage, one can wonder just how big the Oakland native can become.
If you missed G-Eazy’s set, no worries! He is set to return for a meet and greet/signing back in Chicago for his personal brand of whiskey, Stillhouse. For more information on his next visit click here.
Check-in to a P!nk concert on Facebook and get ready for a stampede of comments and text messages of jealousy. And lucky for the city of Chicago, ensuing jealousy was curbed as P!nk delivered not one, but two, performances at the United Center this weekend (her 2nd and 3rd Chicago shows of the past year), giving more fans a chance to witness her critically acclaimed performances live and in person.
A woman that needs no introduction, and a tour than needs no opener, P!nk got the party started on Saturday night in Chicago, of course with her 2001 Grammy-nominated hit, ‘Get The Party Started’. And what better way, than in total P!nk fashion, high flying throughout the sold-out arena, hanging from a giant chandelier. With just one song, the performance was more entertaining than any other show that the United Center had seen in 2018.
From there on out, the hits, entertainment and energy levels never stopped for the Beautiful Trauma Tour. Through the 21-tracks that P!nk performed throughout the night, the ‘Raise Your Glass’ singer moved left-to-right, up-and-down, and all around her heart-shaped stage (complete with cat-walks and two wild fan pits) to make sure that no one in the audience felt left out and everyone got to enjoy their favorite P!nk record.
What was maybe most impressive is the different type of risks P!nk took throughout the night. With the Cirque Du Soleil type moves that she pulls off in the middle of her tracks, P!nk would easily get a pass for lip synching. Yet P!nk’s vocals were real and on-point for the entire night. It’s unrealistic to put on that much of a physically demanding show and still sound great, and yet she manages to do it.
The other major risk P!nk takes on her tour is a literal one, as she essentially risks her life with the acrobatics. At a point, P!nk was raised above her fans, hanging from her back-up dancer with no noticeable safety harness. While other pop artists in her shoes only float throughout arenas with slow-moving platforms, even they have safety belts attached, just in case all goes wrong. How P!nk finds someone to insure her tour is beyond me, but irregardless her show is definitely high-risk high-reward, and her audience is the beneficiary.
And although most of P!nk’s singles are very fun and upbeat, the Pennsylvania singer took a moment on stage to get serious and share a conversation she has with her 6-year-old daughter. After her daughter had been teased by children over her appearance, and after P!nk had to contemplate whether she was allow to kick a child’s a**, the singer told her daughter that despite the fact that many people feel the need to critique P!nk’s appearance and body, she still stands confident and sells out arenas throughout the world. And the United Center and all fans in attendance this weekend can obviously attest to that.
Too often, high production in a tour can come off as gimmicky and borderline desperate, but not in this case. The reason for P!nk’s elaborate and immensely entertaining performance is, if not for no other reason, to truly give back to her fans and ensure that they have the best night possible.
If you haven’t seen P!nk live, chances are you know someone who has and who has told you that you need to as well. Take their advice, because P!nk’s Beautiful Trauma Tour is like none other.
Fans in Chicago had their pick when it came to live music Friday night. With P!nk kicking off her 2-night residency at the United Center, and G-Eazy treating rap fans to a great night at the Aragon, our loyalty landed with the awesome co-headlining lineup of DJ Khaled and Demi Lovato. Also billed the Tell Me You Love Me Tour, after Lovato’s newest studio album, fans at the sold-out Allstate Arena were certainly gifted with a great time from the tour’s opening act, Kehlani, but the night was all about the co-headliners of DJ Khaled and Demi Lovato.
After Kehlani set the mood with some of her best tracks, including her infectious single ‘Honey’ and her Calvin Harris and Lil Yachty collaboration ‘Faking It’, it was time for the wildly entertaining DJ Khaled to really get the party started.
Opening his set with the cutest video, showing off Khaled’s adorable son Asahd, the Miami-based mega producer hit the heart strings of the crowd, telling fans: “every morning I tell Asahd ‘I love you, I got you’, but the truth is… he’s got me.” After that moment, DJ Khaled asked Chicago where the winners were, as he emerged from stage right to his record ‘All I Do Is Win’ and Fat Joe’s ‘All The Way Up’.
The majority of DJ Khaled’s performance fit the mold of his opening, balancing between hit tracks and Khaled’s life coaching and thoughts on family. Where else are you going to party to your favorite songs while also enjoying the quotables and spiritual guidance that only DJ Khaled, the world’s best hype-man, has to offer. Khaled even gave love and a special shoutout to all the mothers and fathers in the audience, for bringing their sons and daughters to the show.
While DJ Khaled’s set is likely and expectedly similar for every night of the tour, Khaled took time to get behind the DJ booth and play some records special for Chicago, including some Chance The Rapper and Kanye West’s ‘N*ggas In Paris’ and ‘Good Life’, and Khaled’s Windy City fans were certainly living the good life. “Is this Chicago!?”, Khaled asked the crowd.
And if you went into the performance wondering how DJ Khaled would keep your attention, given the fact that the majority of his songs are performed by his A-list friends like Drake, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Rihanna, any doubts you had were quickly shattered by DJ Khaled’s contagious positivity and unique stage presence. And you didn’t need Rihanna and Bryson Tiller to come on stage to thoroughly enjoy ‘Wild Thoughts’, but Khaled did invited Kehlani back on stage for one more song, as DJ Khaled praised the Bay Area singer as the future.
Whether you mostly enjoyed his hilarious dancing, his record scratching, being part of his Snapchat and Insta Story or his curation of the perfect playlist, the performance was full of highlights to choose from. Star artists need to take note, and join Demi by making DJ Khaled a major key to their tours.
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
So with DJ Khaled delivering the ideal performance to set the stage for the night’s second headliner, Demi Lovato was ready and waiting to slay. No stranger to the Allstate Arena, having most recently visited the Rosemont arena for the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball with Halsey and The Chainsmokers, and also making a stop at the Allstate on her last co-headlining tour with Nick Jonas, Lovato has found a second home in Chicago.
Immediately, as Lovato appeared and kicked off her set with her Tell Me You Love Me record, ‘You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore’, the crowd erupted. Clearly Demi still “does it” for her fans, because not only was the show sold-out, but energy levels throughout the arena never reached a low.
After the set’s opening track, the first of many video interludes played, as Demi was already making her first outfit change of the night. Demi then performed another song from her 2017 album before throwing it back to her hit track ‘Cool For The Summer’.
While Demi opted out of a major and over the top production for the tour, she easily made up for it by killing it when it came to the essentials. The tour might not have the laser lights, pyrotechnics and huge props that other artist’s may offer, but last night stood out with the amazing talents of her supporting dancers, the plethora of gorgeous outfits, an emotional trip to the B-stage and piano, and most importantly with the A+ pipes that Demi has been blessed with. Although it’s no secret that Demi Lovato has a great voice, Friday was evidence of the fact that Lovato doesn’t get quite enough credit for easily having one of the biggest and best voices in music today. Even if she didn’t have the catalog of hit records that she has, the majority of pop artists today can’t hold a candle to Demi’s vocals.
The night’s setlist was heavy on Demi’s Tell Me You Love Me LP, tracks that can be also heard in the singer’s new documentary “Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated”, a unique and personal window into Demi’s life, and the same can be said about last night’s performance. As Demi ended the main portion of her set with a trip to the piano, to perform her song ‘Father’, a song dedicated to hate late father; Lovato told the crowd that she initially decided to never perform the track live, as it was too difficult and personal. But as Lovato has succeeded in finding a great grip on her confidence and metal health throughout the years, a message which resonated with the crowd, she decided that she was ready to share such a performance with her fans on tour. Needless to say, the performance was beautiful and tear jerking.
And after such a raw moment, Demi Lovato brought the crowd’s spirits back up with an awesome 2-song encore of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ (joined by the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus) and her new album’s title track, ‘Tell Me You Love Me’, ending the night on a great note.
Get your tickets for the remaining dates of Demi and Khaled’s tour at here.
Having performed at the infamous Wisconsin venue a number of times before, Vince Staples was welcomed back by his Milwaukee fans at The Rave tonight. Currently on his co-headlining tour with Odd Future’s Tyler The Creator, Vince and Tyler gave fans twice the dosage of great live music, each performing their respective new albums.
After a DJ set from Odd Future’s Taco, Staples got the night started on a high note, as he delivered the first of two headlining performances for the sold-out crowd. Vince Staples opened the set with his 2017 track, ‘BagBak’, and continued to kick things off with a number of songs from his new LP, Big Fish Theory.
Throughout the performance Staples showed love to the majority of his critically acclaimed project, while also performing fan favorites from his debut studio album, Summertime ’06. Although Staples’ doesn’t quite deliver the energy that Tyler The Creator brings, tonight was evidence of Staples’ growth as a performer. With every visit to The Rave, Staples leaves us more and more impressed, as he puts on a set filled with far more production value than just a rapper on stage with a laptop and microphone.
From the setlist, to the light show, to the raw emotion that Staples shows in his performance, Vince Staples is as good of a rapper on stage as he is in the booth. The ‘Norf Norf’ California native gave fans their price of admission tonight, leaving a wild Tyler The Creator show as an added bonus.
Check out our photos from tonight’s performance below and get your tickets and info for the remaining dates of the tour at Vince Staples’ official website.
After a couple dry months for live music in the city, the concert train is gaining speed in the Windy City this month before festival season sneaks up on music fans everywhere. With huge arena performances to come from Justin Timberlake, P!nk, Demi Lovato and more, and some awesome shows from G-Eazy and Vic Mensa, to name a few, March is bringing some of the biggest names in music to Chicago.
Check out our list of our 10 can’t miss concerts in Chicago this month!
Country music’s rising star, Kelsea Ballerini, gave a very special visit to the Riverside Theater tonight for her headlining Unapologetically Tour, named after her 2017 sophomore album of the same name. Marking the 24-year-old singer’s first performance in Milwaukee, Ballerini gave fans plenty of reasons to fill up the beautiful venue for a rare general admission show, which allowed for an especially intimate performance.
If you’re not familiar with Kelsea Ballerini, you either don’t follow country music or you recently woke up from a 4-year coma. One of the Grammy’s 2017 Best New Artist nominees, Kelsea Ballerini has hit the ground running ever since the release of her single ‘Love Me Like You Mean It’, and rightfully so, fans across the country have loved her sound ever since.
Similar to her fellow Best New Artist nominee, Maren Morris, Ballerini delivers an infectious sound and style that casts a huge net, winning over country music fans and pop fans alike. And as a result, Ballerini is drawing early comparisons to Taylor Swift, praise which is both fitting and deserving.
But Kelsea Ballerini isn’t anyone else but Kelsea Ballerini, and she is unapologetic about that on her new album. Performing the 2017 LP from start to finish, track one to track twelve, ‘Graveyard’ to ‘Legends’, Ballerini takes a risk on her new tour by performing her Unapologetically album in it’s entirety.
For the first hour of the performance, fans from the floor to the balcony sang along throughout the entire album. But if you also came out to hear some of Ballerini’s biggest tracks from her earlier work, records like ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Dibs’, you left the night happy because Kelsea put the cherry on top of a great night with a memorable 4-song encore.
And what better way to complete the performance, than with her mega-hit single, ‘Love Me Like You Mean It’? Tonight may have been Kelsea Ballerini’s first performance in Milwaukee, but with the way her performance and energy was received tonight by the Wisconsin crowd, she will surely return.
Check out our photos from tonight’s performance below and get your tickets for the remaining dates of the tour here.
Following his show-stopping performance at Milwaukee’s Summerfest last June, the entertaining, uber-talented and cake throwing Steve Aoki returned to Wisconsin and brought his Kolony Tour to The Rave in Milwaukee, WI.
Joined by a huge cast of EMD acts, including Grandtheft, Deorro and Bad Royale, and GOOD Music‘s Desiigner, Steve Aoki brought the party to Milwaukee on a cold Wednesday night.
Soon after doors opened, the music started as the EDM openers, complete with Aoki’s friends and collaborators, got the crowd moving from the very beginning. Energy levels really turned up though, as the ‘Panda’ MC, Desiigner, hit the stage. Performing a number of records from his debut project, New English, the Kanye West-signed rapper brought his wild stage presence to the opening set.
After a brief set change, it was time for Steve Aoki to greet his Wisconsin fans. From start to finish Aoki performed some of his best tracks and remixes, and most importantly he took control of the night, ensuring that every fan left sweaty, out of energy, without their voice and some covered in cake.
Since his memorable Summerfest performance, less than a year ago, Aoki has showed his new found love for Milwaukee on social media a number of times. That love was more than apparent tonight, and you can surely bet that after his past two crazy performances, Milwaukee will be a staple in Steve Aoki tours in the future.
Check out our photos from tonight’s performance below and get your tickets for the remaining dates of the tour here, where $1 of every ticket sold goes to the Aoki Foundation, which supports brain science research.
While Wisconsin’s own, Bon Iver, was performing his critically acclaimed but very chill and mellow album, For Emma, Ten Year, music fans in Milwaukee who were really looking to rock out went to The Rave’s Eagles Ballroom for a wild and energetic performance from Corey Taylor’s Stone Sour.
Although without guitarist Josh Rand, who is recently entered treatment for an unspecified issue, the heavy metal Iowa natives put on a hell of a show for their Midwest crowd.
Opening with their 2017 track, ‘Taipei Person / Allah Tea’, from their newest LP, Hydrograd, the crowd erupted as Taylor greeted his Milwaukee fans. Not even half way through the track, Corey Taylor was already head banging at 100 MPH to the music as the pyrotechnics blasted from stage left to stage right. This set the tone for the rest of the night, as the “Slipknot” founder and his band kept the energy levels high until 11:30.
Despite a relatively short setlist of about 13-songs, fans were still treated to a roughly 90-minute set, complete with songs from the new album and Stone Sour’s catalog of hits, including ‘Tired’, ‘Say You’ll Haunt Me’, ‘Through Glass’ and more. While fans would have loved to hear a performance of the band’s 2002 single, ‘Bother’, it’s impossible to imagine any fan leaving the venue with their voice.
And to cap off the memorable evening, Taylor ended the performance with a great performance of their Hydrograd track, ‘Fabuless’, the first single from the album. From start to finish, Stone Sour put on a sweet set that Milwaukee will not soon forget. It’s hard to imagine that the Bon Iver fans a mile away had the kind of night that those at The Rave had.
Check out our photos from tonight’s performance below and get your tickets for the remaining dates of Stone Sour’s headlining tour here.
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