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By Dave Miller

More than 40 bands played this past weekend at Northalsted Market Days, promoted as the country's largest street festival with attendance trumpeted at more than 100,000 over two days. While Olivia Newton-John, Sheena Easton and The Pointer Sisters headlined, savvy concertgoers knew the place to be was at the Belmont stage on Saturday afternoon. That's where two of Chicago's best bands, The Handcuffs and The Wanton Looks, rocked the colorful Boys Town crowd with back-to-back sets.

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The Handcuffs started uncharacteristically slowly as they tossed their fans an opening rarity with "First Class Bossa Nova," a deep cut from their first album, Model For a Revolution, and "Mickey 66," another from that release. Lead singer Chloe F. Orwell then uncorked the line of the afternoon as she invited passersby walking the festival's six-block drag down Halsted Street to watch her band. "You aren't afraid of girls, are you?" she asked. The performance caught fire there and burned the rest of the way. Orwell humorously dedicated "God is Sure One Funny Girl" to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his just-announced vice president pick, Paul Ryan.

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So much of The Handcuffs' material fit the event like, shall we say, a condom -- from "I Just Wanna' Be Free, Man" to new song "Pretty Pretty" to "Dirty Glitter" to "Vinyl Isabella" and more with the latter even detouring into a cover of "Lola." The always-stylish band's dress fit the occasion, most noteably keyboardist Alison Hinderliter's feather boa.

Brad Elvis' big-beat drumming and Orwell's sexy vocals define the Handcuffs, but this is a colorful outfit musically including Hinderliter's light dabs and bassist Emily Togni's facile thumps. The group has been sounding better and better over the past couple years and nobody is more responsible for that than guitarist Ellis Clark, who coolly has injected his playing more assertively into the band's mix of glam, rock and pop.

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It was good to see The Wanton Looks survived their first tour, a mini-jaunt through Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York City and Columbus. Road travails can test a burgeoning band on and off the stage. In this case, the road trip raised the group's performance level. In their first show since returning home, The Wanton Looks played tighter and more confidently than ever.

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Like The Handcuffs, The Wanton Looks have a dominant foundation in their lead singer, wildly charismatic Traci Trouble, and drummer Meg Thomas, who has earned her "Meg-a-bomb" nickname. Just how good the band sounds on a given night often rests on the shoulders of guitarists Inga Olson and Susie Q. Their playing and stage presence have become bolder and more adventurous. The result is a more balanced chemistry between the band's four members. It's made The Wanton Looks even more exciting to listen to and watch.

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This show saw Susie Q. working the big outdoor stage like it was her second home, venturing out to play on the tall speaker stack in front of the stage one minute and jumping on Thomas' riser the next. Trouble jumped in the air and dropped to her knees. Olson, dubbed the "Tiny Terror" by Trouble, shredded leads in deceptively understated fashion while looking like a guitar hero as she tilted and bended her body. As the concert came to a close, Thomas stood on her stool and raised her drumsticks in triumph. This was a compelling performance from start to finish. "Worst Side of Me," "Demons," "86 Me" and "Electromagnetic Force" stood out in a set full of force.

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It marked the third time the two bands have played on the same bill in five months, and the second in five weeks. They'll be at it again Wed., Aug. 15 at Double Door, co-headling a five-band show dubbed "Female Frenzy" with each group fronted by a woman. The acts have been slotted 25 minutes of stage time apiece. It's worth making the effort to see The Handcuffs and The Wanton Looks, even if it's only for that short time. They're that good. 

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The Handcuffs setlist:

 

The Handcuffs

August 11, 2012 @ Northalsted Market Days

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