Incoming

The Who just wrapped up a series of dates for their The Who Hits Back 2023 Tour in Spain, Italy, Germany, and France; and will return to the UK tomorrow to start another batch of concerts. Meanwhile, Chicago area fans of the iconic rock band can still buy tickets to The Who’s Tommy musical, which is being staged at The Goodman Theatre through August 6.

Double Clutch Brewing Company, a new automobile-themed restaurant/brewery in Evanston, is hosting a Summer Rock Bash 2023 tomorrow (Thursday) night. The event is a triple bill of local power pop bands Otter Petter, Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club, and Golden Richards. The music starts at 7:00 pm.

Pretenders are offering another preview of their upcoming album Relentless with a video for the delicate and orchestral ballad “I Think About You Daily.” It’s completely different from the hard-edged “Let The Sun Come In,” the first preview from Relentless, which proves yet again that Chrissie Hynde can come across as tender or tough as nails. The album comes out September 15, and in the mean time the Pretenders are touring throughout Europe.

The Square Roots Festival takes place this weekend in Lincoln Square, right by The Old Town School Of Folk Music. The music lineup includes Superchunk; Jon Langford and Sally Timms; Eleventh Dream Day; Steve Dawson And Lucid Dreams; Split Single; and Urban Twang. The festival will also showcase local craft breweries and food vendors.

The above-mentioned Jon Langford will be a busy gent this weekend; his alt rock/Americana band Waco Brothers will be on a double bill with The Handcuffs at SPACE in Evanston on Friday, and Waco Brothers will perform at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn on Saturday.

Fans of Chris Stamey's melodic and clever tunes with The dBs will find a lot to like on his latest solo effort The Great Escape, which drops this Friday. It’s an easygoing effort that features Stamey working with fellow dB’s Peter Holsapple and Will Rigby, as well as Don Dixon, Eric Heywood, Caitlan Cary, and other musicians. The title track is particularly fetching, and other highlights include “Realize” and the playful “The One And Only Van Dyke Park.”

Rock and roll fans of a certain age are mourning the recent passing of Dick Biondi, one of the very first disc jockeys to embrace the genre and guarantee its worldwide success. I didn’t even know what a disc jockey was when I first heard Biondi’s WLS show in Chicago blasting from my older brothers’ radios, but I quickly caught on to his fun patter and choice of music. Veteran media critic Robert Feder wrote a great tribute to him in last Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times, and it’s likely you can still find it online. Rock In Paradise, Mr. Biondi.