For anyone still wondering when summer will finally arrive in Chicago, I have to tell you it got here last week with two action packed events wrapped in small packages.
First up was Canadian folk/rock/pop collective Walk Off the Earth's sold-out gig at The Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake St., in support of its upcoming CD, Sing it All Away ( Columbia Records ).
As a seven-piece bunch of multi-instrumentalists, Walk off the Earth features three lead vocalists, shimmering harmonies, a great deal of wit, goofy choreography, a polished silliness ( they like to toss ukuleles around ), musical dexterity and charm. At a quick glance, with all that going on, the band may appear to be too much of a "good thing," bordering on shtick. The truth is that the shtick ain't there ( not a whiff ) and the new single, "Rule the World," is one big whirling epic pop masterpiece stuffed with thunder, a sing-along chorus and major uplift. I have no idea if we are suddenly in a new trend that breeds positive, massive sounding pop ( last week I raved about Passion Pit's "Lifted Up ( 1985 )" ) but I can say that I am enjoying all that cheeriness just the same.
This brings me to that show, which in itself was crammed with so much that often times it felt like a three-ring circus. Opening the gig in hooded gowns, the band members pounded drums as part of an overripe, pretentious and silly ( intentional, obviously ) overture before charging into "Gang of Rhythm" with a blast of fury. The first real surprise of the night came with the stage set-up, which featured hanging light bulbs, fossilized and damaged ukuleles, confetti cannons, a state-of-the-art LED lighting system, and a balloon drop, all entangled in an intricate high-tech metal frame. Just the idea of getting all that on The Bottom Lounge's smallish stage with all seven members at once ( at key parts of the show, crew members joined the band onstage, swelling that number to 12 ) was a feat of daring in itself.
There were big juicy slices of Sing It All Away ( "Boomerang," "Home We Will Go," an earth-shaking "Rule the World," a near-religious "Sing It All Away" ) but there were just as many nods to the band's greatest musical and video hits. ( Sing It All Away is the band's 10th album. ) Sarah Blackwood, though she was a good six months pregnant, bopped through the cover of Madonna's "Material Girl" like a snarky schoolgirl ( and she was six months pregnant in the video that was released in 2013 ) while Ryan Marshall swung through "Tiny Boxes" with such deadpan charm that he made social commentary catchy as all get out.
Marshall's heartbreaking take on Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" got mashed into Blackwood's delicate reworking of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" while the entire band played this low-key version together on a single acoustic guitar ( a trick that Ellen DeGeneres had them do on her show ). There was an awful lot morebut, at the finish, with a good 15 band members and crew onstage jamming through a prolonged "Summer Vibe" with confetti and balloons wafting through the air, it was a bit hard not to get the message that summer is here whether Chicago is ready or not.
The second indicator of the new season came with a sold-out blowout at City Winery headlined by out rockers Katie Todd and Cathy Richardson. This was a show where the stars were in alignment; the venue, the vibe, an excited audience sated on fine food and drink, and two performers who complemented each other perfectly.
Todd opened her set with the lilting and engaging "Closer" and "Covered in Candy," but once she got into two new songs"Let's Have Another" and "How do You Sleep at Night?"it was clear that she was up to something beyond hummable pop. Both songs "sounded" solid and straight-forward, but all that politeness shrouded deeper, muddier emotions telegraphed in the lyrics.
Todd has a knack for wrapping thorny words and dark psychological suggestions with a pop sheen, and hearing these new songs and the set closer, "Distracted Passenger," was like getting sucker-punched on your wedding day.
If Todd came on with a degree of fine shading, Richardson went for the throat the moment she opened her mouth. "Rock and Roll part 2" electrified the room but the fangs came out for the new "Digging A Hole," which was fueled by piss and adrenaline.
Snarling was hardly what Richardson's set was about and it came loaded with plenty of goofy surprises and hat tricks. "Blindsided by Love," a duet with Nora Tangora, soared while "Fly" morphed into a hard rocking romp through "The Age of Aquarius" which ignited a dance freak-out in the aisles.
The climax of the night came with a full-throated rip through Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You," which came so drenched in blues-tinged fire that the song was nearly unrecognizable. If there was ever any doubt that Richardson is one of the finest vocalists on this planet, this performance crushed them with rage. With lead guitarist Jude Gold peeing all over Jimmy Page's sonic blueprint, this reading was a thrilling event in itself.
Not that that was the end of the night since Richardson came back for an encore mash-up medley of '70s AM rock ( my favorite was the spooky, measured bass line through War's "Low Rider" ) finishing with a rabid attack on Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band." With Gold tearing through those overplayed familiar riffs like a chainsaw cutting through live flesh, and Richardson whacking a cowbell with the fury of Lady Macbeth in heat, The Cathy Richardson Band literally took back rock 'n' roll and made it young and vital again.
Heads up: Melissa Ferrick hits Evanston's SPACE, 1245 N. Chicago Ave., on Friday, June 5; queer rockers Split Feet play a free show at Chicago's Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave., on Monday, June 8; and Baathhaus performs in the same space on Friday, June 12.