Show review: fun. at Wicker Park Fest, 8/1

Posted by Frank

fun.'s Nate Reuss (photo: Windy City Rock)

Thanks to New York indie pop act fun., this year's installment of Chicago's Wicker Park fest - which ran this Saturday and Sunday on Milwaukee Ave. - couldn't have ended on a more upbeat note.

The band took the stage Sunday at 9 p.m., and although they were playing at the same time as hometown hard rock favorites Local H on a different stage, the area was mobbed well before they began playing. It was surprising to see how many people seemed genuinely thrilled to be seeing the band, considering they released their first album, Aim & Ignite, just last year.

When they came out and kicked into "At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used to Be)," people went nuts. At one point I looked at the girl standing next to me and it appeared as though she was having some sort of divine experience. It's not hard to see why people feel so intensely about this band - the songs are extremely well written, amazingly catchy and performed with tons of enthusiasm - but it was still a very out of the ordinary experience to see so many people so taken by such a young band.

fun. went on to play every song off Aim & Ignite except the LP's opener, "Be Calm." The irresistible, singalong pop gems "Walking the Dog" and "All the Pretty Girls" were highlights, as was the extremely emotive, rocking buildup of "Take Your Time (Coming Home)," which was a perfect choice to end their initial set with (they came back out to play one song, "Benson Hedges," as an encore). The band also performed a cover of Queen's "Radio Ga Ga," which was fit right in with their originals and was really well suited to frontman Nate Reuss's strong, jaunty vocals.

It was a fantastic performance on a beautiful night, and a fitting end to Wicker Park's weekend-long party. 

Setlist:
1. At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used to Be)
2. Walking the Dog
3. I Wanna Be the One
4. Light a Roman Candle With Me
5. All the Pretty Girls
6. Barlights
7. The Gambler
8. Radio Ga Ga (Queen cover)
9. Take Your Time (Coming Home)
ENCORE
10. Benson Hedges

More photos after the jump.

Show review: fun. at Schubas, 9/24/09

Photo by J. Krolicki

New York indie pop trio fun. hadn’t even released their debut record, Aim and Ignite, when their Thursday night show at Schubas sold out. It’s not every day that a band quickly sells out a show before putting any music out, and can then go on to keep the audience in the palm of their hand for the entire gig only one month after the album’s release. fun. effortlessly managed to do just that last night, delivering a lively set to a crowd that was happy to sing along to every song from start to finish.

The band – including core members Nate Ruess (formerly of The Format) and Andrew Dost (of Anathallo) as well as additional supporting musicians (for some reason the third main member, Jack Antonoff, was inexplicably missing) - played off the positive vibes and were clearly thrilled to be on stage. They played everything off the record plus two songs from The Format, “The First Single” (which kicked off with around 30 seconds of “Billie Jean” as a tribute to Michael Jackson) and an acoustic version of “She Doesn’t Get It.” Ruess dedicated “The Gambler” – a song about his parents – to his father, who was present working the merch stand. The front man seemed genuinely surprised and appreciative of Chicago’s warm response and commented that the band was blown away by the show selling out so quickly. Before the final song in the set, “Take Your Time (Coming Home),” they even brought out an old school Scottie Pippen jersey to express their love of the Windy City.

Photo by J. Krolicki

Photo by J. Krolicki

fun. wrap up their current tour tonight in Minneapolis and will return to Chicago on October 28 for an opening slot with Taking Back Sunday at the House of Blues. Ruess also mentioned that the band would be back in January on a headlining tour.

Setlist:
1. At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)
2. I Wanna Be The One
3. All The Pretty Girls
4. Light A Roman Candle With Me
5. Walking The Dog
6. The First Single (The Format)
7. Barlights
8. The Gambler
9. Be Calm
10. Benson Hedges
------------
11. She Doesn't Get It - acoustic (The Format)
12. Take Your Time (Coming Home)