“Dad Rock” doesn’t feel like a compliment until the label’s slapped onto Steely Dan. When your adolescent flame flickers off as you get a real job, pay real rent and all, your brain becomes more rational. And it tells you this, in its new wisdom: you’ve been taking Steely Dan for granted, all along. Pops in his gaudy sweatpants shimmying along to their borderline-muzaky tones gave them a bad look, but only until you were smart enough to know what’s really cool. This band’s lilac melodies and their endless textural nuance between the beats are matched only by their wit and weird world-making. The Dan’s re-imagination of rock ‘n’ roll remains inimitable, appreciating with time, like the grey lines in your beard do, making you look awesome and unfazed by your aging. Go Dad Or Go Home. (John Wilmes)
August 17 at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, 777 Casino Center, Hammond, Indiana, (866)711-7463. 8pm. $85-$455. 21+.
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
Can’t-Miss Music Events (Fall Arts Preview 2023) This fall we get new albums and tours from iconic acts like Wilco and Kurt Elling, plus a Corrine Bailey Rae project inspired by Theaster Gates' Stony Island Arts Bank.
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