Local Legends #1
Venue : Sleeping Village
City : Chicago
Line Up : Turbo Controller, The Ricky Liontones Revue, Flake Michigan
First off, $1 PBR night at Sleeping Village is always a great time. The front-house bar is mellow and modern with a displayed vinyl collection that would impress most people that could read, but the “secret” is the stage in the back. Unimposing outside, the venue has it’s own full bar, merch area, and a wonderfully mixed stage that does justice to both local and touring musicians alike.
The opener, Turbo Controller, was eccentric in all the right ways. Sonically, I’d put them in the middle of a funky-rock orgy with Wolfmother, Cake, Talking Heads and at least ONE of the Red Hot Chili Peppers…but that’s just me. Listening to a track like “Let Me QuickPay You, Jesus” will show you that the chaos you might think you're in is actually all part of the plan. +10 points for using bird calls during the set and actually making it cool.
The middle band is admittedly what got me out of the house in the first place. The Ricky Liontones Revue is one of my personal Chicago favorites and always knows how to build a line up. With a voice so close to Chris Cornell (which subsequently Ricky does in a side-cover band) he covers major ground between a sultry song like “Waves at Sunrise” and the cutting falsetto in “Dreamsicle”. Ricky himself is a great performer and you can guarantee he won’t just stand on stage and play, he’ll explore the whole venue and keep the show going without missing a beat.
Lastly, I was completely floored to discover Flake Michigan. The headliner started off impressively with matching coverall uniforms complete with name tags and faded navy blue color scheme. The self-described “Bummer Pop / Sad Rock” five piece brought down the house with heartfelt midwest tunes that emotionally put me right back in the passenger seat of a 1997 Geo Metro; scraping up change for the long-lost McDonald’s Dollar Menu after having sadness and existentialism for breakfast. As I write this, I’m a slightly-hungover 35 year old father who will admit that he was absolutely lost in the soundwaves of songs like “Metro” and “Koopa Troopa Beach” at this show. - - Bonus points to the drummer for the Scott Pilgram adjacent opening “We’re here to make you sad and then dance and stuff!”. It felt like it was just for me.
