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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017: Day 1 Photos
Photos from July 14, 2017, the first day of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, Chicago. (Click on these links to jump ahead to the photos of an artist: Madame Gandhi, Priests, Dawn...
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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017: Day 2 Photos
Photos from July 15, 2017, the second day of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, Chicago. (Click on these links to jump ahead to the photos of an artist: Jeff Rosenstock, Weyes Blood,...
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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017: Day 3 Photos
Photos from July 16, 2017, the third day of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, Chicago. (Click on these links to jump ahead to the photos of an artist: Kilo Kish, Colin Stetson, NE-HI,...
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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017
I’ve been moaning for years about how seldom two of my favorite musical artists — the Feelies and PJ Harvey — play in Chicago. One of the great things about being a music fan in Chicago is that you...
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Drive-By Truckers at the Pritzker Pavilion
The Drive-By Truckers played a rousing free concert on Thursday, July 20, at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion — performing about half of the songs from their terrific 2016 album American Band,...
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Jason Molina tribute at the Hideout
Jason Molina performing during a Magnolia Electric Co. concert on July 12, 2009, at the Hideout. Chicago journalist Erin Osmon has a new book about the life of a great singer-songwriter who died in...
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Amadou and Mariam plus Frank Waln at the Pritzker Pavilion
Amadou and Mariam played a truly delightful concert of lively music from Mali on Monday, July 24, at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion. I’m looking forward to the duo’s new album, La Confusion,...
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Youssou N’Dour at Millennium Park
My photos from the splendid concert by the legendary Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour on Thursday, Aug. 10, at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion:
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Steve Dawson’s Hideout residency
Steve Dawson — a talented Chicago singer-songwriter, bandleader, teacher, producer, author and all-around good guy — is in the middle of a September residency at the Hideout, playing three shows at the...
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Freakons at the Hideout and the Shitty Barn
When the Mekons teamed up with Freakwater, of course they called themselves the Freakons. As they’ve joked, the other option was Meekwater, a far less formidable-sounding portmanteau. Actually, this...
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Cropped Out 2017
Cropped Out, an underground music festival in Louisville, Kentucky, lined up a blockbuster band for the top of its lineup this summer: The Fall. I was already eager to attend Cropped Out again after...
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Hideout Block Party 2017
I missed the first day and a half of the Hideout Block Party this weekend — I was in Louisville for the Cropped Out music festival — but I got back into Chicago on Sunday afternoon and caught the final...
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Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls at the Hideout
Oct. 11 was Jon Langford’s 60th birthday, and it was also the date of a release party at the Hideout for his latest record. Of course, this prolific Chicago musician who never seems to stop creating...
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Chad VanGaalen at the Empty Bottle
Chad VanGaalen, a singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta, makes his recordings practically alone, writing every note and playing nearly every instrument. VanGaalen’s most recent album on Sub Pop,...
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Favorite Albums of 2017
1. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: Soul of a Woman (Daptone) In the year before she died of pancreatic cancer in 2016, this astounding soul singer recorded one last album, and it’s flat-out terrific...
View ArticleA note to our readers
The Underground Bee is on hiatus. We hope to return soon. In the meantime, please enjoy our blog posts and photos from past years.
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Favorite Albums of 2020
1. S.G. Goodman, Old Time Feeling (Verve Forecast) I heard this album only because someone put one of S.G. Goodman’s songs on a Spotify playlist that I happened to check out. I liked it and listened...
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Favorite Records of 2021
1.Aeon StationObservatory The story behind this album was dispiriting for those of us who love the Wrens’ 2003 masterpiece The Meadowlands. We’ve been waiting 18 years for the Wrens to release a...
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Favorite Records of 2022
1.S.G. GoodmanTeeth Marks This Kentucky singer-songwriter’s debut, Old Time Feeling, was my favorite album of 2020, and she captured my heart once again with her second record. This one is more of a...
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Favorite Records of 2023
1. Lankum, False Lankum This Dublin band channels old Irish folk music through drones and other alien elements, giving it an unusual power and intensity. I was so enchanted by this album that I...
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