In the history of Chicago concerts, there has likely never been as much riding on a live music event as on Lollapalooza 2021. It’s been less than two months since the city fully “reopened” for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic sent it spinning into lockdown, and like elsewhere in the country, the rise […]
Their name does not stand for Pre-Startup Safety Review, but is more like a sound — pisser (come on class, say piss-er) — which Merriam-Webster calls “someone or something that is difficult and vulgar,” is Euro-speak for the men’s room, and/or a term for a hot, sweaty, beer-soaked good time. Unleashed by Australia’s Golden Robot […]
Early in Barack Obama’s first presidential term, the U.S. showed the wear that would ultimately become a crisis a decade later — when sniping, arguing and a full-blown culture war engulfed the country in a seemingly inescapable spiral. In 2010, however, many Americans were optimistic that better days were on the way. But Prince was […]
I envisioned an overcrowded Chinatown, and those glazed shiny ducks rotating around in the display windows of the restaurants. I remember feeling mournful for the ducks; their skin dripping with grease and crackling, the flames scorching their meat to the bone like a sacrifice for all to see. I would stop mid-stride against the determined […]
Todd Ahsmann isn’t sure if he’s ever seen live music without a beer in his hand. The Goose Island president and former music industry vet says beer and music go hand in hand. “We should be collaborating,” Ahsmann says. “The half-joke used to be that rock radio was funded by beer because beer companies were […]
Alex Lifeson didn’t have some grand master plan for all of this: the glossy-looking website, the big rollout of new music, the subsequent parade of interviews. But the dominos just keep tumbling, and he’s going with the flow. With the launch of his new signature Epiphone electric guitar, the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess Standard, […]
Wade Randolph Hampton and Tef Foo’s “Seventh Heaven” party hadn’t even gotten to midnight when the shit hit the fan. It was New Year’s Eve 1996. They had booked the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, and expected 17,000 people to attend. They’d promoted the show with an elaborate tabloid-style flyer and booked artists like […]
Trial lawyers say whoever tells the best story wins. And love her or hate her, in her memoir Rememberings, Sinéad O’Connor tells a case-winning story of her life. Of the Americans under 30 who even know her name, most probably have it archived with #pretty, #skinhead #onehitwonder, #SNL and #meltdown. Three of these hashtags derive […]
“I’m ready to move on to the next thing,” Bartees Strange tells SPIN. It’s a logical impulse, especially since his debut LP, 2020’s Live Forever, restlessly shuffles through genres — indie-rock, folk, emo, hip-hop, soul — like playing cards. October also wasn’t the most optimal time for a life-changing career move: With COVID-19 grinding live […]
“It’s daunting because you’re starting over every time,” says The Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan. “You check in and ask yourself, ‘Am I ready to do this?’ It’s not a matter of success or not. It’s another record that I have to write and turn myself inside out for — and then, hopefully, make the record, and […]