Show review: Cap'n Jazz, Mission of Burma at Wicker Park Fest, 7/31 (with photo slideshow)

Tim Kinsella of Cap'n Jazz (photo: Susan Schomburg)

Posted by Susan Schomburg

Nestled between the buildings and storefronts of Milwaukee avenue between Damen and Wood, the first night of the 2010 Wicker Park Festival offered a treat for rock fans: legendary post-punk act Mission of Burma and beloved local legends Cap'n Jazz back-to-back on the same stage.

Mission of Burma's set was as good the second time around as it was at Subterranean Friday night (read a review of that show here). They put on a fantastic live show, full of menacing energy and excitement. Since I recently reviewed them, I won't go into too much detail--suffice to say, their set at the festival Saturday night definitely confirmed that when a band rocks that hard, it never goes away.

I'll admit, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from recently-reunited 90s Chicago punk act Cap'n Jazz's live show. I knew that tickets to their club shows in town have all sold out in a ridiculously short amount of time, and if their their set Saturday night was anything close to typical, I certainly know why. They were phenomenal.

Frontman Tim Kinsella's vocals are raw and very rough around the edges--bordering on harsh, but with an intensity mirrored by his hypnotic physical performance onstage. Clutching the microphone and screaming into the mic, he often leaned over the edge of the stage into the audience, even falling face-first into it in order to have the audience push him like a domino back onto the stage. It was impressive to watch a set that intense from start to finish--it was as if he put every single ounce of energy he had into every second of his performance during the songs.

The drums (courtesy of Tim's brother Mike Kinsella) were wild, the bass (Samuel Zurick) was booming, and guitar work (Victor Villareal and Davey von Bohlen) was very tight. The set was full of raw energy, and the audience and band fed off each other in one of those rare, sparkling moments that sometimes happen during live shows that makes people want to go to them in the first place.

The band themselves seem to be a bunch of endearing, mild-mannered guys--clearly amused and excited by the size of the crowd, they took pictures of the audience on their phones during soundcheck. In response to fans' shouts between songs of "I've missed you, man! Where have you been?" Tim laughed and said "I've been around--It's not like I've been hiding," detailing his usual whereabouts around the city, and the band laughed about his getting "old" and tucking in his shirt. All were clearly having a great time playing for a big crowd of fans both new and old.

The mosh pit in front of the stage kept getting bigger during the band's set, until it had spread over most of the area in front of the stage, with fans slamming into each other, throwing things, crowd-surfing, stage-diving, pumping their fists in the air, and generally having a good time. A particularly rowdy crowd favorite was the band's cover of the 1985 A-Ha hit "Take On Me"--complete with Kinsella's voice dropping out and letting the fans take over on the high falsetto note that everybody always sings on that song. I'd tell you not to miss their next live show (if there is another one), but I'm hoping to actually get a ticket, myself.

Check out the photo slideshow here!

Concert review: Mission of Burma at Subterranean 7/30/10

Posted by Susan Schomburg

Mission of Burma (photo by Susan Schomburg)

This evening's show at Subterranean was very enjoyable. The venue itself is intimate without being too close for comfort, and it's usually possible to find a good spot in the room (or upstairs balcony) to enjoy the show.

Opening act The Poison Arrows kicked things off with a set of weighty shoegaze that tugs your ear in a number of directions without having anyone in particular to compare them to. Their frontman doesn't quite sing, but rather has a recitative chant that floats over heavy bass and drums, informed by guitar and synth effects.

The only problem I had with the band, as their set wore on, was the increasing feeling of repetition I felt between their songs. They were all played at more or less the same tempo, which wouldn't be so bad if they'd employed a different form. Instead, most of the songs employed a rather narrow repertoire of musical devices and structure. They all had a kind of slow build to them, starting from nothing and working their way up to a big, epic middle section, which may or may not stop mid-song after a climactic moment (usually pausing for long enough that they confused the audience into applauding for the end of a song that wasn't half over yet), only to turn around and, after cementing the climactic moment by repeating it, dwindle the songs back down to nothing, with endings that feel more like fade-outs on albums than three guys playing things live on a stage (and who knows, on an album, it might work a lot better).

The sonic textures they created were interesting and entertaining, but for my money, the overuse of a narrow bag of formal tricks made their songs smack of dilettantism. Nevertheless, their music was enjoyable, and it was nice to sit back, nod your head along to the beat of the drums, and let the sounds wash over you.

Chicago's D. Rider took the middle spot, performing a set of weird, discordant avant-rock with a strangely hypnotic live show. Their charismatic frontman/guitarist threw shapes like nobody's business, owning the stage in a bizarre mix of spastic energy and contorted control. Two keyboard synth players augmented the band's sound, at times also chiming in on bari sax and trumpet, which added an unsettling harmoniousness to the songs. The crisp, pulsing beat of the drums held the band's sound together and gave the audience something to hang their ear on.

Add to all this the frontman occasionally digging into his pocket and throwing out a handful of confetti during songs, and it's clear that the band flirts with the line between avant-garde and downright pretension, but they seem to have the chops to back it up. If their performance this evening was typical, I would highly recommend checking them out the next time they play live in town.

Headliners Mission of Burma first met, and then exceeded expectations with respect to their live performance. I was pleased to find that their live sound, as on their albums, is brash, bold, and larger than life, and their live show is a lot of fun to watch. Guitarist Roger Miller moves around a lot, swaying and shaking to the beat and creating a visual flourish to those biting guitar flourishes that make the band so exciting to listen to. From behind a plexiglass wall set up around his kit, drummer Peter Prescott laid down booming, bombastic beats and chimed in on vocals. On bass, Clint Conley cemented the band's live sound, and his facial expressions while singing were particularly entertaining.

It was clear during the set that the band was having a really good time, and the crowd ate it up. In response to one fan's repeated shouts of "Louder!" between songs, Miller elicited laughter from the audience with his suggestion that he "Go stand right next to the P.A., it does the same thing."

After a fair amount of cheering, the band returned to the stage, doing a four-song encore that closed the evening in a blaze of energy, kicking the show up from pretty great to excellent. People got especially rowdy during "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate", dancing and moshing and singing along to all of the numbers the band did in their well-earned encore.

If you missed out on tonight's show, you can still catch Mission of Burma tomorrow (Saturday, July 31) at the 2010 Wicker Park Festival (they are scheduled to play on the North Stage at 7:30 pm). Admission to the all-ages festival is free with a suggested donation of $5.

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This article also appears on the Chicago Indie Rock Examiner website.