Top Concerts of 2024
Elyanna
Feb. 14, 2024 @ Park West
By Dave Miller
Paging Paul Simon. We need a greeter for the darkness that's coming.
Call Randy Bachman, too. As bad as 2024 went, we ain't seen nothing yet. Oh, America, you've really done it this time.
As catastrophic as the election went down, it wasn't all doom and gloom in Chicago. For all its problems, the city remains one of the great ones in the world, and music is a big reason. You can see great shows here on any day of the week. We have a vibrant local scene and anyone elsewhere in the music world usually stops here on a U.S. tour. I saw performers from Palestine, Sweden, Canada, Guatemala, New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Argentina, Chile and the U.K. this past year. They made a great effort to play here and the rewards from watching them were great as well. Three cheers for open borders.
While I saw more concerts than ever this past year at 116 complete sets, I barely attended any after the election as I got my bearings while processing the reckoning that awaits. I credit Michele McGuire's music and humor at her monthly Friday happy hour shows at FitzGerald's with rekindling my desire to see concerts. The New Year's Eve punk show at Liar's Club felt the perfect way to blow out 2024 and recalibrate for 2025.
Let's resolve to take care of ourselves, those close to us and our home. That includes our live music scene. It was more than a little disappointing to see the plug pulled on the Pitchfork Music Festival and then see the arts-loving The Outtaspace close. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that the two unique places featured bands and fans who don't always have a home elsewhere. Hopefully it's not the start of a trend. I was reminded how there are more important things than money as the clock struck midnight sending us into a new year. Liar's Club passed out champagne bottles like other places passed out plastic glasses and the punk dive threw a popping party with quality bands for, and this is not a typo, 10 bucks.
Now let's get to the concerts. Here's a list of the best I saw in 2024, dedicated to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan -- and Beyonce and Taylor Swift, too:
1. Elyanna, Feb. 14 at Park West - The show was originally scheduled for October at Lincoln Hall, but the 22-year-old Palestinian-Chilean singer-songwriter postpones her first U.S. tour when war breaks out in the Middle East. The sold-out show eventually happens and moves to accommodate demand that saw fans lined up around the block before doors open. The crowd, mostly young and tilted female, is at least three-quarters Palestinian. Pro-Palestinian chants ring out in the venue an hour before showtime. A buzz is in the air. People are jacked to see the emerging artist who delivers her Arabic pop infused with Latin beats with swagger and celebrates her identity and that of most of her audience. Her artistry in music and dance translates language and borders. Highlights include "Olive Branch," a song written to Palestinians after the war started (translated lyrics: "I'm far away, but I'm praying for you/And I'm sending peace, on an olive branch/In the land of peace, peace is dead/And the world is sleeping on a hurt child") and a guest appearance by Massari. Her biggest hit, "Ghareeb Aly," closes an empowering, bang-up 55 minutes that does not require an encore.
2. Mannequin Pussy, July 21 at Union Park, Pitchfork Music Festival - I saw them a couple times at Riot Fest and enjoyed them, but was left thinking there was potential still to be tapped. After reading reviews and interviews heralding their new album, I Got Heaven, I give them another try and all they do is put on one the best shows I've seen. Frontwoman Missy Dabice amazes. She adopts a breathy, seductive Marilyn Monroe-like persona when speaking to the crowd, and sings ferociously like she's in the fight of her life. The message? Don't let religion and government control you. The band's loud bark is egged on by a good crowd headed by a teenage girl on the rail, who sings along to all the songs. She clearly spurs on Dabice, who hops on the speaker cabinet a couple times to howl in front of her. This is more than just a band playing music.
3. The Rolling Stones, June 27 at Soldier Field - It feels like a dream still being able to watch The Stones. How do 80-year-old Mick and Keith and 78-year-old Ronnie rock so hard at their age? How is it possible for Mick to move like that all over a stadium stage? I see it happen and still can't believe it. I feel extremely fortunate to witness the greatest rock-and-roll band at this late stage of playing it out like their Chicago blues heroes and doing it so unbelievably well. Best of the two shows here? Take your pick, but I side with this first one thanks to "Midnight Rambler" and Mick paying homage to the influence of Chess Records, just blocks away. The tribute seems like an expression of closure.
4. El Perro del Mar, March 25 at Old Town School of Folk Music - Sarah Assbring of Sweden presents an introspective dive into life, love, loss and death. She does so by shedding convention and ascending to a higher consciousness. All she needs are two electronic players, an overcoat, a bouquet of roses and smart lighting. My inclination is to say it was a dark journey with a light lifeline, but it was more elemental than that judgmental description. It's art at its deepest and most pure. Her bio describes her as one of the most intriguing pop artists of the 21st century. Now I know that's not hyperbole.
5. Alanis Morissette, July 21 at Union Park, Pitchfork Music Festival - Damn, if Morissette doesn't bring it as the festival's closing headliner. It's a good sign when she opens with "Hand in My Pocket" and sings it like it dropped yesterday before falling to her knees to end on harmonica. The next song features rolling screen graphics with arresting statistics about how bad women have it around the world. Later, her harmonica returns and the crowd loves it. She's in fine, energized voice. Even the people in back are with her. This is the kind of master performance with quality material expertly paced that makes a strong case for you to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
6. The Hives, Sept. 21 at Douglass Park, Riot Fest - Four members take the stage, settle into position and start the proceedings. Then Pelle Almqvist joins them and all howlin' hell breaks loose. It's not long before Almqvist hops off the main stage onto the lower runway and twirls the mic stand above his head like a baton. Almqvist is the ringmaster for a blistering set of energized garage rock in a hot sun. At one point between numbers Almqvist walks to the far end of the stage and chides the nearby crowd waiting for another band. "Why are you not here where the good shit is going down?" He's not wrong.
7. St. Vincent, Sept. 18 at Metro - Annie Clark makes futuristic music and her performances are a work of art, but she sweats it out and fights to keep her humanity along the way. The staging is spare compared to the Riot Fest set she plays three days later. She digs deep in the club setting whether laid out on the floor or in the crowd or putting down her guitar and placing her voice in the spotlight. Her stage name fits. She approaches each of her presentations with the devotion of a saint.
8. Sara Curruchich, Aug. 2 at Riis Park - Move over, Wonder Woman, Barbie and Taylor. The Guatemalan singer-songwriter is a superhero in her own right. An activist in defense of the rights of women and her indigenous people, Curruchich sings in both Spanish and her native Kaqchikel language. Not even the stifling heat and blistering sun can slow her. Near the close of the set, Curruchich hops off the stage to dance with attendees one by one. She's a one-in-a-million spirit who performs with joy and radiates righteousness and love.
9. Jamila Woods, July 27, Wicker Park Fest - Woods slays with her poetic soul on her home turf. She sings her boss material backed by a fluid band that lays down R&B grooves propelled by hip-hop beats. If her lyrics aren't enough, Woods takes a break to read her poetry. The large crowd is into all of it. A real encore is demanded and granted. Woods gives a commanding performance from start to finish. This is clearly her time.
10. Nikki Lane, July 2 at FitzGerald's, American Music Festival - Lane is a wild woman. She lights up joints and shares 'em with the crowd, asks her drummer if he was going home tomorrow ("I don't know," she says, turning to the audience) and disses her merch ("I didn't bring any. It's bullshit. Go to my site if you want something.") She tells us her dad died last week, saying so defiantly while trying to keep it together. "It happens once to everyone. Might as well be now." All of that might overshadow a lesser performer, but Lane rocks her outlaw country hard with help from a band that stays on the bucking bronco. It contains a pedal steel, fiddle and rumbling rhythm section. There'll be fireworks on the Fourth, but I see them a day early on the festival's outdoor stage.
Honorable mention (in order): Bob Dylan, Sept. 7 at Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre, Outlaw Music Festival; Labretta Suede + The Motel 6, June 22 at Cobra Lounge, Motoblot; Matthew Paige, Jan. 1 at Friendly Community; Mary Timony, March 6 at Empty Bottle; Nadah El Shazly, April 4 at Empty Bottle; DeeOhGee, March 3 at Robert's Westside; Ana Tijoux, March 21 at Metro; Pixel Grip, Sept. 21 at Douglass Park, Riot Fest; Tei Shi, May 6 at Sleeping Village; Louise Post, April 23 at Empty Bottle; Sincere Engineer, June 15 at Taste of Randolph; Boybrain, Dec. 31, Liar's Club; Cathy Richardson Band, March 22 at FitzGerald's; Susan Voelz, Aug. 31, FitzGerald's, PravdaFest; Kacey Musgraves, Sept. 12 at Allstate Arena; Courtney Barnett, July 25, Out of Space Skokie; Father John Misty, Sept. 12, Allstate Arena; Finom, Sept. 14, Oaktoberfest; The Handcuffs, Aug. 31 at FitzGerald's, PravdaFest; Sex Dream, June 14, Cermitas Poblanas, Punk Rock Tacos.