Tickets for Screaming Females' April 11 show at Subterranean go on sale this Saturday (2/16) at 10AM CST.

Tickets for Marnie Stern's BV Chicago-presented April 17 show at the Empty Bottle are on sale now.

Tickets for Tera Melos' April 26 show at Subterranean go on sale this Friday at noon.

Tickets for Purity Ring's May 3 show at Metro go on sale this Friday at noon.

Tickets for Generationals' May 4 show at Lincoln Hall go on sale this Friday at noon.

Tickets for Kurt Vile's May 14 show at Lincoln Hall go on sale this Friday at noon CST.

Tickets for Youth Lagoon's May 15 show at Metro go on sale this Friday at noon.

Tickets for Foals' May 18 show at the Vic go on sale this Friday at 10AM.

Tickets for Of Monsters & Men's May 22 show at Aragon Ballroom go on sale this Saturday at 10AM

Tickets for Die Kreuzen's May 25 show at the Double Door go on sale this Friday at noon.

Tickets for Bolt Thrower's June 1 show at Reggie's go on sale this Friday at noon.

Tickets for Man or Astro-Man?'s June 14 & 15 shows at the Empty Bottle go on sale this Friday at 10AM.

Tickets for Cianide's November 24 show at the Empty Bottle are going on sale this Friday (9/28) at 10AM CST.

Tickets for High on Fire's December 7 show at the Double Door are going on sale this Friday at 10AM CST.

Tickets for How To Dress Well's December 14 show at the Co-Prosperity Sphere are going on sale this Friday at 10AM CST.

Of Monsters and Men have sold out their December 16 show at the Riv. A second show, taking place on December 17, has been added to their schedule, and tickets are on sale.

Tickets for Wanda Jackson's New Year's Eve show at the Double Door are going on sale this Saturday (9/29) at noon CST.

Tickets for Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' January 18 show at the Riv are going on sale this Saturday at 10AM CST.

Of Monsters and Men @ Park West in April (more by James Richards IV)

Icelandic indie folk outfit Of Monsters and Men are returning to North America for a large-scale tour this fall. They played Park West in April, Lollapalooza and the House of Blues in August, and now they'll be headlining the Riv on December 16. Tickets for that show go on sale this Friday (9/21) at 10AM CST.

All Of Monsters and Men dates and a video are below...

Continue reading "Of Monsters and Men playing the Riv on fall tour"

Lollapalooza 2012 has revealed the full schedule for their 3-day festival, set to take place from August 3-5 in Grant Park. Check it out HERE.

A bunch of official aftershows have also been announced, happening from August 1-5. Here's a number of them (more TBA, including unofficial shows):

August 1
Alabama Shakes, First Aid Kit, Dry The River, Filligar @ Metro
Delta Spirit, FIDLAR @ Lincoln Hall

August 2
Passion Pit, GIVERS, Kishi Bashi @ House of Blues
Kids These Days, Overdoz @ Schubas
Dr. Dog, Kevin Devine, The Dunwells @ Lincoln Hall
Zedd, Gus K, DJ Gordo, DJ Torio @ The Mid

August 3
Bear in Heaven, YAWN @ the Empty Bottle
NERO (DJ Set), Die Antwoord, Anamanaguchi @ Congress Theater
Frank Ocean @ Metro
tUnE-yArDs, Washed Out @ House of Blues
The Black Angels, Night Beats @ Double Door
The War on Drugs, Milo Greene @ Schubas
Blind Pilot, Kopecky Family Band @ Lincoln Hall
Porter Robinson, Madeon @ The Mid
The Growlers, JEFF the Brotherhood @ Subterranean
Paper Diamond, Minnesota @ Bottom Lounge

August 4
White Rabbits, Dum Dum Girls, Oberhofer @ Cubby Bear
Doomtree, Naledge of Kidz In The Hall @ the Empty Bottle
Zeds Dead, Big Gigantic, Midnight Conspiracy, Big Chocolate @ Congress Theater
The Afghan Whigs @ Metro
Of Monsters & Men, Yellow Ostrich @ House of Blues
Trampled By Turtles, The Devil Makes Three @ Double Door
Childish Gambino @ the Vic
The Temper Trap, Poliça @ Park West
Gary Clark Jr., LP @ Schubas
Twin Shadow @ Lincoln Hall
Calvin Harris, Nathan Scott @ The Mid
The Big Pink @ Subterranean
Bombay Bicycle Club, Hey Rosetta! @ Bottom Lounge

August 5
Chairlift w/ Alt-J @ the Empty Bottle
The Walkmen @ Lincoln Hall

As seen on BrooklynVegan, this year's Lolla lineup includes everthing hinted on the #LOLLA ads, and much more....

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2012 lineup announced (Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shins, Passion Pit, JC Brooks, much more)"

words by Jenn Ross, photos by James Richards IV

Of Monsters & Men @ Park West

it takes a pretty great band to get me to head into the dank, black pit of chicago's park west. this is my least favorite of all the windy city's hoppin' venues, and it is a shit show at it's finest. i feel like christian bale is going to come tearing around the corner with a butcher knife and a fingernail of coke at any moment ala american psycho. not a very fitting vibe for most bands, really, but they continue to book shows here and call it historic, and if of monsters and men is playing there (on 3/30), then there i must go. (and when in doubt, cover everything in white christmas lights - they fix most evils.)

first, let me give some credit to the wee bit of humble pie that opened for monsters. lay low is another icelandic vocal beauty, though you couldn't pay her to know it. her songs were sweet and simple. she seemed to stumble over her english when she was speaking, but you couldn't help but love her sheer modesty. her emotions were dripping down her tim burton-esque black and red striped guitar strapped sleeve as she coerced the audience to buy her cd...per her managers request. so honest. so pure. quite the gem of an opener. if you like lisa hannigan, you'd dig her.

lay low timidly started the sing-along that would continue throughout the night, with "the backbone," and got everyone's mouths churning for the la-la-la-ing and hey! hey!-ing that was to follow. enter side note: singing along at shows is quite the pet peeve of mine, but even i broke my rule and joined in on the fun for "little talks."

of monsters and men sold out the park west based nearly entirely on a four song lp released in december 2011. this snippet of songs may be the four poppiest of their first full-length album 'my head is an animal,' but the rest of the album pulls together the range of their sound. many thanks to npr for selecting 'animal' to preview prior to it's longed-for release date of april third; not to mention the rest of the online music sharing sites like spotify and pandora, that even brought in an adorable vest-clad couple all the way from alberta, canada to catch a glimpse of these guys. this show exemplified eleven of the albums tracks, plus one surprise flashback in their encore. i will return to this when the time is right. (hey! hey!)

the show opened with "dirty paws," a new song from 'animal,' and started like any other standard concert (tuning, lights, crowd, clapping, song, intro)...and immediately took a turn for the unique when the band paused to acknowledge a front-row super fan with his face donned in a monster mask. not only did they stop to have a chat, but guitarist, Brynjar. actually pulled out his camera and took a pic of this guy. this was only a sign of things to come...

"finner" followed, hyping the crowd to the familiar track and nanna's and raggi's sweet sounds. hyping the crowd, in this case, was pretty amusing on its own. recap: all-ages, sold-out, i'm two rows back on the floor...this was the most docile and polite, yet exuberantly awe-struck head-bobbing audience i've ever seen. there was at least six inches of space between every person on the floor, no dirty looks, no thrown elbows, no tripping on beer bottles. somehow monsters brought their icelandic charm to the park west and through vocal osmosis made everyone behave like civilians...and we all had a great time.

in case you weren't one of the nine hundred folks who made it through these doors, nanna's style epitomizes what urban outfitters yearns to accomplish. between her hot pink dr. marten ankle boots, black tights, denim button-down shirt, and signature patterned wool cardigan and hat, she tops it all off with a loose side braid that seems to actually be a cover for a buzzed left side of her head and moderately gauged ear piercings. she's indie-folk at it's finest. essentially the band appeared like a rummage sale gone right.

aside from their album-quality sound on stage, their perfectly careless attitude really cherried this sundae. singing along to themselves, swaying slightly to their own beats, they floated along like fishing bobbers down a river. genuine appreciation was written all over their consistently baby-soft faces, and if there was any doubt how much they like their fans, arni's mom even knitted little monster keychains for them to hand out along the way. dude-in-monster-mask deservedly received one, followed by (at the band's request) asomeone wearing red socks. somehow a brunette in gray stripes managed this, but nonetheless - who gives out homemade chotchkies at a show? this band! i'm officially in it for the long haul with 'em...

the enormity of the bad is completely lost in their sound. though i only know them to have six members, a seventh joined on stage for the duration and several members played multiple instruments throughout the twelve-song set. no sound ever became overwhelming, with the exception of arnar's drums midway through "beneath my bed," that seemed a bit ferocious for the song...but passionately so. he quickly regained his ohm and beat away the rest of the show smoothly. i've heard them consistently compared to arcade fire - probably due to the similarity in size, but if i had to compare them (which i'm so fond of doing) to anyone i'd say they're more like an indie-folk-pop icelandic female-led mumford and sons.

now that i've chatted my way through the essence of the show, i'll close with their encore - an unexpected cover of the cure's "close to me." raggi's tender voice initiated a completely different tone, and the band as a whole so successfully recreates this classic that i almost forgot how it originally went. they did to 'close to me' what jose gonzales did to the knifes' "heartbeats." sans sony bravia commercial. wrap it all up with "lakehouse," watch nanna scour stage for sweater, cue lights, enter lobby, purchase awesomely discreet band t-shirt for twenty bucks, and head home...

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Of Monsters & Men are now out on tour, and if you happen to be reading this on 4/5, note that their show from Brooklyn tonight will be streaming live.

More pictures and the setlist from the Chicago show, below...

Continue reading "Of Monsters & Men played Park West w/ Lay Low (pics, setlist), streaming NYC show online (tonight)"