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
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