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| (Photos by Shannon Shapiro) |
We are officially into autumn, but that doesn’t mean the
outdoor music season is over just quite yet. The Hideout celebrated its 15th
Block Party this past weekend with a killer lineup, primarily featuring local
artists and a myriad of genres. The rains splashed early, but promptly exited
right on time as the Guitarkestra
headed by Plastic Crimewave Sound (aka, psychmaestro Steve Krakow) filled the cement
space between the Hideout and a garbage truck parking lot with a cacophonous drone
from 25-30ish guitarists, bassists and at least one violinist (not to mention
Dosh on the floor tom and crash). The set lasted about 20 minutes, the
musicians underneath a few tents that allowed listeners to walk around. On the
surface, the noisy jam may have been a turnoff to some, but conceptually, it
broke the conventional barrier between not only audience and performer, but
between audience members themselves: with amps facing all different directions,
no two people were listening to the same thing, while simultaneously witnessing
the same performance. Wrap/warp your mind around that one.
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| Guitarkestra | |
As soon as the experiment was over, White Mystery took the stage with the 1-2-3 punch of "White
Mystery," "Power Glove," and "Blood & Venom." The crowd was still filling
into the lot, but the siblings White were rocking out the same as if it were a
packed basement. Closing with "Take a Walk" (a love letter to Chicago), Francis
dropped one of his sticks, only to pick up two and effectively doubling his
power, as if he was purposefully trying to destroy his already beaten and
battered drumkit. I swear he’s going to play that thing until it falls apart
(and maybe a show or two after that). Likewise, with the set finished, Alex
ripped off all of her six strings, feedback let loose, before curtsying and
exiting the stage.
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