Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Top 5 Chicago Festival Performances
Downtown Boys at Riot Fest
ESG at Westfest
PJ Harvey at Pitchfork
Arcade Fire at Lollapalooza
Condo Fucks (Yo La Tengo) at Hideout Block Party
—Bart Lazar
Top 5 Chicago Non-Festival Performances
Sheer Mag at Thalia Hall
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile (And the Sea Lice) at Rockefeller Chapel
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Auditorium Theatre
Re-TROS at Rebuilding the Rights of Statues at Schubas
Liam Gallagher at Park West
—Bart Lazar
Top 5 Chicago Old Punks Shows
Buzzcocks at Cobra Lounge
The Dead Boys at Empty Bottle
The Damned at House of Blues
Psychedelic Furs at Thalia Hall
X at Riot Fest
—Bart Lazar
Top 5 Chicago Band Shows
The Orwells at JBTV/Riot Fest
Negative Scanner at TCC Gallery, Thalia Hall
Fred Anderson Legacy Project at Museum of Contemporary Art
NE-HI at Pitchfork
The Walters at Lollapalooza
—Bart Lazar
Top 5 Local Records
Panda Riot, “Infinity Maps” (self-released)
Melkbelly, “Nothing Valley” (Wax Nine)
Mavis Staples, “If All I Was Was Black” (Anti-)
Meat Wave, “The Incessant” (SideOneDummy)
The Mons, “The Mons Trust No One” (Triple Eye Industries)
—Craig Bechtel
Top 5 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerts
Prokofiev, “Ivan the Terrible,” Riccardo Muti
Elizabeth Ogonek, “All These Lighted Things” (world premiere), Bruckner 4, Muti
Stravinsky, ”Chant funébre,” Charles Dutoit
Brahms, Complete Symphony Cycle, Muti
Haydn, “The Creation,” James Levine, Ravinia Festival
—Dennis Polkow
Top 5 Early Music Concerts
Monteverdi 450 Trilogy, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists at Harris Theater
Haydn, “Seven Last Words of Christ,” Muti/CSO at Holy Name Cathedral
Scarlatti, “Agar et Ismaele esiliati,” Craig Trompeter at Haymarket Oratorio Series
Bach, “Ascension Oratorio,” Michael D. Costello, Bach Cantata Vespers Series
Schütz, “St. Matthew Passion,” James Kallembach, Rockefeller Chapel Choir
—Dennis Polkow
Robert Rodi is an author, spoken-word performer and musician who has served as Newcity’s Music Editor since 2014. He’s written more than a dozen books, including the travel memoir “Seven Seasons In Siena.” His jazz quintet recently completed a two-year residency at Uncommon Ground, and he regularly hosts a jazz singers’ jam at Lizard’s Liquid Lounge. His literary and music criticism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Huffington Post and many other national and regional publications.
Contact: robert@newcity.com
Related Stories
Music Top 5: September 2017 From Harry Styles to Las Minas Puerto Flamenco.- Music Top 5: October 2017 Among the offerings in music this month, there's a punk a capella group and the sounds of seventies pop.
- Music Top 5: November 2017 In November, listen to a folk legend, a jazz chanteuse or the Chicago Symphony Orchestra players.
- Music Top 5: December 2017 Impressive and powerful music to hear in Chicago.
- Music Top 5 1 KURT ELLING QUINTET (Green Mill) Elling at the Green Door is about as bona fide a slice of Chicago iconography as you can get these days. Expect a sold-out—and adoring—crowd. August 12 2 YOUSSOU N’DOUR (Jay Pritzker Pavilion) The legendary Senegalese singer-songwriter is just the kind of force of nature who can meet the Chicago lakefront on its own…
- Music Top 5 1 WANDA JACKSON (City Winery) Almost sixty years into her career, the original bad girl of rock 'n' roll still wails, growls, whoops and purrs. May 17 2 CHRIS PUREKA (SPACE) The piercingly personal folk-rocker is settling into her second decade as a defining talent. May 22 3 TY SEGALL (Thalia Hall) The garage-rock icon has kept it stripped-down lately—the…
