Four shows in nine days

 When you get to my age, you simply don't go to as many shows. Late nights just don't work for a 57 year old, especially one who is the parent of a 9 year old. But September has had an overwhelming number of must-see shows, and I managed to find the time to get out quiet a bit over the past week and change.

My run of gigs began on Wednesday September 15, when I saw Grace Ives at Schubas. Her second album, Janky Star, will most certainly be very high up on my year-end best of list. She's a 27 year old New York City resident who using various keyboards, conjures up some of the hookiest pop songs around, with interesting lyrics, often chronicling the struggles of folks in their mid-20s. 

Two songs in, Ives broke out "Loose", one of the excellent singles from her new LP. A large slice of the sold-out crowd began to sing along...and it appeared that Ives was a bit taken aback (pleasantly so). She was already a bundle of energy, and she fed off the crowd's energy to go up another level or two. She played one short ditty after another, sometimes dancing or posing along to the music coming out of her laptop. 

Ives sounds really good on her studio recordings, and, if anything, the live setting really showed was a fine singer she is. She had a nice presence on stage, which just endeared her to the audience even more. The set was pretty tight, but the songs were so good, that was certainly not a problem. What was evident is that the majority-female audience is really tuned in to what Ives is doing, and she certainly deserves for that audience to get much bigger.

 Sunday, September 18, I motored down to the Empty Bottle to see Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul. Their debut album, Topical Dancer, is my favorite of 2022 so far. The duo's electro-pop covers a lot of ground, evoking LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads, Kraftwerk, Erasure, and other groups, with clever, and sometimes humorous, lyrics that often provide cutting commentary on social issues (and in spots, have a bit of a Laurie Anderson aspect). 

They deliver the goods live. Adigery is in pretty much constant motion, both fun and commanding on stage, without losing a beat on her vocals. Pupul is not the typical stoic half of a synth-pop duo, While working his various keyboards, he would sometimes break out the bass guitar, and while his dancing was more stationary, he was clearly having a blast on stage. 

The set was almost entirely songs from the album, with one I recognized from an earlier EP. Highlights were aplenty, including "Making Sense Stop", "Ceci n'est pas un cliché", and inspired encore version of "Thank You", with Adigery asking how her attempt at an American accent was. The whole show was a dance party, and the near-capacity crowd maintained its energy throughout, matching the grooves on stage with their own grooves on the floor. Great stuff.

On to Monday the 19th, to the United Center, where Roxy Music was playing on its 50th Anniversary tour. An added bonus was that St. Vincent was opening. I was a little worried two songs into her set. She started off with my favorite St. Vincent song, "Digital Witness" off her self-titled album...but done in the faux-'70s style of her most recent Daddy's Home album. It sucked all the tension and drive from the song. This was followed by a song from the album, and the band played it competently, but Daddy's Home suffers from sounding like an artist trying on a costume, rather than inhabiting the style she's attempting. It was alright, but not great. 

But after that, the shag carpet sound was dispensed with, and the songs played to her strengths. For "New York", she went into the crowd, flirting with members of the audience, taking pictures with their cell phones, etc. It was very charming and definitely got the crowd on her side. After that, five more crisply played and performed songs (with the bonus of Jason Falkner on guitar), and a cool arrangement of "The Melting of the Sun", which ended with the trio of backing singers bringing it home. Really well done.

Roxy Music played a set that leaned more on their atmospheric side, which was both a concession to the limitations on Bryan Ferry's voice, and gave plenty of time in the spotlight for saxophonist Andy McKay and guitarist Phil Manzanera. While Ferry has lost both range and power, he still has that distinctive vocal quality. This worked better on some of the slower numbers, in particular "Avalon". It was a bit more exposed on other songs, such as "Dance Away" (where he originally sang in the high end of his range) and "Do the Strand", which were played in a lower key than the original versions (as were a few other numbers). I also must point out that Ferry still looks amazingly cool (and, according to my wife, sexy).

The whole band (which also included original drummer Paul Thompson) was great, including some fabulous back up singers. So even the lesser moments were still enjoyable. A good set from a legendary band.

And last night (Thursday, September 22), Heaven 17 played the Park West. It was their first Chicago show after "40 fucking years" (as singer Glenn Gregory noted more than once). The trio of Gregory, Martyn Ware, and Ian Craig Marsh, is now a duo, as Marsh left more than a decade ago. They were augmented by three women, one on keyboards, and the other two on backing vocals. 

The Park West may have a bit of a stretch, capacity-wise, for a band that was more of a college radio presence in America (Lincoln Hall would have probably been a good fit for the size of the crowd), but it's ample dance floor was great for all of us who wanted to move around. That being said, Gregory and Ware were simply awesome. They were polite, profane, charming, and chock full of stories. The stories were about how songs came to be, band history (Gregory and Ware have been friends since their teen years, and were in bands together before Gregory headed off to London and Ware got together Human League), and how Heaven 17 fit into music history. 

The two created an intimacy that made for nice breathers behind the great dance tunes. There was one particularly great moment. To my right, there was fellow who was singing along to everything, as he knew the songs by heart. At one break, Gregory pointed to the man, and asked him his name. Once the fellow realized that Gregory was pointing at him, he said "Brian." Gregory complimented Brian for knowing the words better than he did, and suggesting Brian come to the front of the stage, so Gregory could simply lip read. That certainly made Brian's night, and judging by his reaction, his year.

I could go on about the stage patter, but let's go on to the music. They kicked off with the classic (and possibly their most-covered song) "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing". It felt like the sound was a bit off, or maybe it just needed more bass, and so I had some concern. This concern was quickly alleviated as they launched into "Crushed By the Wheels of Industry", which sounded great. Speaking of sounding great, Glenn Gregory sure sounds like every bit the singer he was 40 years ago. On most Heaven 17 songs, he's not required to show off all he can do, but whenever he was afforded a chance to really belt out, it was impressive. 

That also holds true for the backup singers, Kelly Barnes and Rachel Meadows. There are a number of Heaven 17 songs where the backing vocals are pretty vital, and they nailed those. There were some spots where they added things that might not have been in the recorded versions, and those spots were great. And there are a few songs where there was a female solo vocal part, and my goodness, both women were able to showcase their incredible voices. (And keyboardist Florence Sabeva got a piano solo, which was cool).

The set was primarily their best known songs (but they had enough classics they couldn't get to them all), a couple requests (!), and Gregory and Ware duetted on "You've Lost that Loving Feeling", which Gregory properly called a cover of the Human League covering The Righteous Brothers. The final three songs were worth the price of the ticket alone. First, a splendid rendition of one of the greatest pop songs of the '80s (and Ware's favorite song) "Let Me Go", followed by a smoking rendition of the classic "Penthouse and Pavement". Finally, they added a house beat to "Temptation", with a prolonged intro that gave Barnes and Meadows some time up front while Gregory took a quick break. When he came back out, the house beat dimmed, but was still underneath, and it was a fantastic performance of another great song.

The three-song encore included two great covers: David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Human League's "Being Boiled" (which Gregory said was the first song Ware wrote for the band), the latter offering one final chance for the audience to clap along. While everyone wanted more, no one could have been dissatisfied. I expected a good show, but Heaven 17 delivered a great one. I hope they find a way to come back to Chicago sometime.