Incoming

Check out the IPO - Chicago Saturday Preview in my earlier post today.

Just like watching his very first shows. The Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello Tour, featuring Costello and The Imposters, is coming to the Chicago Theatre on October 16. The 22-date tour kicks off on September 18 in Bethelem, PA—with American singer-songwriter Charlie Sexton as a special guest—and wraps up in Omaha, NE on October 22.

John Cowsill, who started his career with The Cowsills (“The Rain, The Park, And Other Things”) and recently released an album with his wife Vicki Peterson of The Bangles, will be the guest lead vocalist when The Smithereens perform at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, IL this Friday. Chicago’s own Sunshine Boys will be the opening act.

The Social Act, one of the first local bands I interviewed when I started writing for the Illinois Entertainer back in the mid-1980s, is back in action and has a 7:30 pm gig this Friday at The Liar’s Club on Chicago’s north side. Fans can expect to hear early goth-tinged gems such as “Sally-O,” “Love Hearts Open,” and maybe “Heaven Is Waiting.”

Singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks will be showcasing songs from his several critically acclaimed albums when he performs at SPACE in Evanston this Friday and Saturday.

Tickets are now on sale for June 7 concert by Robin Hitchcock at The Old Town School Of Folk Music.

The Handcuffs will likely include a few new songs they’ll be recording soon for their 5th album when they open for for fellow Chicagoans The Steepwater Band at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, IL this Friday. The Steepwater Band has recorded a series of albums filled with hard-hitting Americana rock.

The Effigies, one of Chicago’s first and best known punk bands, have an all ages show (with parent or guardian) coming up this Friday at The Vixen venue in McHenry. The music starts at 6:30 pm, with Chicago-based punk band Sex Dream as the opening act. The Effigies have classic albums such as For Ever Grounded and Fly On A Wire to choose from, as well as their 2023 effort Burned. Unfortunately, we lost founding member John Kezdy to a fatal accident right around the time of that last effort.

McLuhan, the adventurous seven-piece Chicago band inspired by philosopher Marshall McLuhan, will perform at the Copper Fiddle Distillery in Lake Zurich this Saturday. Based on its recent series of shows at Montrose Saloon, it seems likely McLuhan will have vinyl copies of its ground-breaking and recently re-released album Anomaly available for sale at this show. Copper Fiddle Distillery is located at 532 W. Il. Route 22, Suite 110.

Big Brother’s Vinyl, a Chicago area band that performs classic rock songs that haven’t been covered endlessly by numerous other local acts, has a gig at Peggy Kinnanes in Arlington Heights on April 25.