Windy City Smokeout tickets
Remember just about this time last year when festivals were falling left and right to the pandemic? Fest organizers seem to be breathing a sigh of relief (into their masks) as more music fans are getting vaccinated and the warmer weather is offering access to the great (and safer) outdoors. One such festival the Windy City Smokeout announced the country music, craft beer and barbecue celebration is back on for this year. The four-day fest (yep, an extra day of fun!) will feature rescheduled headliners Dierks Bentley, Darius Rucker and Jon Pardi along with Brett Eldredge for the newly added kickoff party Thursday and a full roster of acts featuring Cody Johnson, Morgan Evans, Hailey Whitters, Cody Canada and the Departed, Randy Rogers Band, Lainey Wilson and many more. Organizers say the festival will take up an expanded footprint so as to spread out crowds, and virus safety protocols will be in place; the detailed COVID-19 safety plan can be found
Marina City s new Baby
For Marina City, it s time to make a few changes. And the first of three singles Friday s release of Trust Fund Baby is only the start.
The song, a pop-heavy number that dives deep into the miscues and miscommunications of modern dating and relationships, is the reveal to a year of the band s efforts to revamp, rebrand and redirect the band s trajectory since releasing The Crush album in early 2020. Just a couple years ago, when we were writing The Crush, we knew we wanted to change the sound. We knew we wanted to experiment with stuff. We knew we wanted to go bigger, said Ryan Argast, Marina City s lead vocalist.
Posted2/13/2021 7:15 AM
As we continue through the annual dead zone of winter show-wise (and, oh yeah . pandemic), we re taking some time to highlight (brag about) more brand new releases you should check out from area artists.
Bellow & the Whale s Wild Dogs Howling
Bianca Goyette and Julia Lee Norris of The Bellow & the Whale plotted an escape from Chicago as the pandemic started to lock down the city. Working remotely from New Mexico for the majority of the last year, they found inspiration in nature to finish work on the band s new EP, Wild Dogs Howling. The stress levels were inching up. I can just be in my room by myself puttering around. So the pandemic really brings out kind of the worst in me, because I m just like I could do this forever, said Norris. But my partner, he was losing his mind. And actually our partners were working together, so it makes sense if we all kind of stick together and form a quarantine, since we work together and our partners work toge