Local Legends #7
Venue : The Forge
City : Joliet, IL
Line Up : Ricky Liontones , Yet Again, L.A. Guns
Our first excursion out of the Chicago city limits leads us to The Forge in Joliet, Illinois. The bar and food area is sleek and modern but the main event is most assuredly the stage. The cube like set up is reminiscent of a House of Blues with a 2nd tier balcony section and tall ceilings but there were a couple of unfortunately placed support pillars that could (and did) block the view in a couple spots. Not a deal breaker though as I’m an overall fan of structural integrity but it was something to work around. At least you could hear well from anywhere.
Opening the night was our familiar-yet-excellent Ricky Liontones. The man oozes rock prowess but I actually have to give tonight’s crown to his band, Mike on bass, Chris on drums, and Ken on guitar. They were absolutely on top of the entire set and I’m not sure if the sound was mixed particularly bassy or something, but they sounded huge tonight. If you’ve been to one of their shows, you’ll know the moment (Technotronic anyone?) but if not there’s a song called “It Feels Good Though” where the entire band is slamming in sync and it moved souls tonight. Word on the stage has it that they’re releasing an album soon so you’ll be able to hear this moment for yourself soon enough.
Our second band was the impressively energetic Yet Again. These guys had a real southern rock feel even though they’re from Chicago but maybe that’s just my roots. Their lead singer had a cool stage presence did great switching between something more in your face like “Feel Alive” to a chilled out original like “Paralyzed”. They really got into the swing of things by the time they played their YouTube hit “Starlight” which is a tried and true anthem. Great solos from the guitar players and a drummer who really brought life to the party without missing a music or social beat all night. Major bonus closing out with “Bulls on Parade”, it was a great read of the room and their energy genuinely left me wanting more.
Headlining was the legendary L.A. Guns with Tracii Guns back in action. If you’re unfamiliar like I was with deeper band histories, this band once merged with another in the 80s, then called Hollywood Rose. If context clues aren’t your thing this led to the formation of the infamous Guns N’ Roses but the five piece quickly dissolved into the classic Axel/Slash led line up and L.A. Guns would later reform and continue on through various line ups. Even without knowing any of that I could have told you two things after tonight’s performance; they originated from Los Angeles, and they bring a house down. It was a Thursday night in Not-Chicago Illinois, and everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs, either for something new like “Overdrive” or for a classic like “Never Enough”. I walked away feeling like I had finally gotten as close as I could get to the legendary Sunset Strip of Los Angeles when rock was the only thing on anyone’s mind.
Before I end this time though, I want to take a moment to call myself out. I went tonight feeling like it was an away game and I was there to rep Team Ricky. They were the guys I knew, and I wanted them to win. I wanted to judge the bands that I didn’t really know but, in the end, I was humbled by their respective performances and was reminded that no matter what you think you’re working towards or what your plans and intentions are…it’s all about the chance to play music together.
And maybe party our faces off.
