Saturday Slumgullion

Tickets are now on sale for The Who - The Song Is Over - The North American Farewell Tour concerts on September 7 and 9 at the United Center In Chicago. Other stops include Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Toronto, Hollywood, Vancouver, Seattle, and Las Vegas.

The Wheaton Park District’s Concerts At Memorial Park series will present a double bill of the Sons Of The Silent Age David Bowie tribute band and the Big Suit Talking Heads tribute band on July 18. The music starts at 8:00 pm; Memorial Park is located at 225 Karlskoga St. in Wheaton, IL.

The 60 Years Of Ronnie Wood Fearless Anthology will include his solo work as well as the time he’s spent performing with Rolling Stones, The Faces, Jeff Beck Group, The Birds, The Creation, Rod Stewart, and Ronnie Lane. Available as two LPs or two CDs, it’s scheduled to drop on September 26.

Local power pop masters Dolph Chaney and The Phins will have company on the final night of their 2025 Thursday residency at Montrose Saloon on Chicago’s north side. Fresno, CA psych/pop quintet Blake Jones and the Trike Shop, along with Chicago-based satiric rockers The Embryos, will also perform that night. The music starts at 7:00 pm.

Pre-sale tickets go on sale this Tuesday for Paul McCartney’s Got Back North American Tour 2025, which kicks off in Palm Desert, CA on September 29. Other stops include Las Vegas; Minneapolis; Tulsa; New Orleans; Atlanta; Nashville; and Montreal. The long and winding road ends with concerts at the United Center on November 24 and 25, which means Chicago area fans will have something fun to talk about with their families at Thanksgiving dinner.

The Color Purple - The Musical recently opened at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and has drawn positive reviews in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. The production is directed by Lili-Anne Brown, with book by Marsha Norman, and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Alee Willis, and Stephen Bray.

After taking a short break, Graham Nash is back on the road for the summer dates of his U.S. More Evenings And Stories 2025 Tour. He has two shows next week in Homer, NY; followed by ones in Plymouth, MA and Cranston, RI. See his official Facebook page or website for the full schedule.

Push Puppets recently posted an imaginative video (production by Scott Thiele and Sebastian Gonzales) for “Launching A Satellite” on its official Facebook page.  The song is from the Chicago area band’s fourth album Tethered Together album, which once again offers melodic, well-crafted indie rock.

 I recently discovered the Irish Rock ’N’ Roll Experience in Dublin has an online store that carries t-shirts, postcards, hats, magnets, posters, and other memorabilia related to acts such as U2, Thin Lizzy, The Cranberries, Rory Gallagher, Horslips, The Pogues, and the museum itself. I ordered €35.00 EUR worth of merch, so I’ll have to see how that translates into American dollars.

Chicago singer-songwriter AJ Rosales will likely tap into material from his very recently released Phasedrift album at Gallery Cabaret on July 18. The evening will also feature Rosales honoring his late mother by playing some of her favorite songs. The show starts at 9:00 pm.

The 99 Years Of Rock ’N Roll X And Los Lobos Tour kicks off on July 19 in Denver, and will includes a show on October 16 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Other stops include Salt Lake City, Toronto, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Seattle. Each of these Los Angeles groundbreaking bands will feature all original members.

Best wishes to Vinto Van Go for success on its upcoming road trip. The Chicago-based band will bring its mix of psychedelia and garage rock to Buttonwoods Brewery in Providence, RI on July 25; sharing the bill with The Bickersins and Sourpunch. A day later, Vinto Van Go arrives at the Parkside Lounge in New York to join a multi-act show with Density Black Cat, Psych-O-Positive, GoJuMo,  and Steve Krebs & The Maynard G’s.

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne will kick off his massive Who Is The Sky? Tour with a show in Providence, RI on September 14. The North American dates include October 28, 29, and 31 at The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, as well as stops in Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; New York; Toronto; Denver; Dallas; and Miami Beach. After a few months off, Byrne will launch a series of European concerts on February 12, 2026. His new album Who Is The Sky? will be available in various formats on September 6.

Chicago’s long-time, critically acclaimed alt-rock band Eleventh Dream Day has a rare public performance coming up at 7:00 pm on July 25 at Horner Park. The show will take place at 2741 W. Montrose Avenue on the city’s north side.

Paul Weller’s Find El Dorado collection of reinterpretations of other artists’ material will be released on July 25. Robert Plant and Noel Gallagher are among the musicians who helped on the album.

Tickets are now on sale for Roger McGuinn’s September 10 concert at The North Shore Center in Skokie, IL.

Milwaukee-based power pop band Trolley will release its first new album in five years on October 3. In the meantime, the catchy single “A Carnival Of Black And White” is available via Bandcamp.

As mentioned here in previous posts, McLuhan has been selling vinyl copies of its ground-breaking and recently re-released album Anomaly at gigs. As of July 25, the adventurous seven-piece Chicago band inspired by philosopher Marshall McLuhan will have CD copies of that album for sale via Think Like A Key Music. McLuhan will share an afternoon double bill with Esmeralda’s Boys on August 3 at Montrose Saloon. The music starts at 2:00 pm.

The indie label Kool Kat Musik will release Pop Aid 3: A Pop Compilation To Benefit Those Affected By The California Wildfires on July 18. The double-CD will feature 30 previously unreleased songs; participating acts include Go Time!, Scott McCarl, Herb Eimerman, Coke Belda, and Richard Turgeon. 100% of net profits from Pop Aid 3 will go directly to the American Red Cross. Kool Kat Musik previously released Pop Aid 2: A Compilation To Benefit Those Affected By Hurricanes Helene & Milton and Pop Aid: A Power Pop Compilation to Benefit the Citizens of Ukraine.

Enter Xeno, the latest release from the adventurous prog rock band Custard Flux, is now available in vinyl, with a bonus seven-inch single, 16-page booklet, and sticker. Custard Flux is led by The Luck Of Eden Hall founding member Gregory Curvey.

Material Issue, the Chicago power pop trio that scored MTV hits such as “Valerie Loves Me” and “Diane” back in the early 1990s, and later returned with new vocalist-guitarist Phil Angotti, have a show coming up at the north-side venue Schubas on September 17.

Alaskan singer-songwriter Mark Ward has released an album of cover versions titled Translator that pays homage to the acts he listened to on a transistor radio as a boy. The revved-up takes on Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” and R. Dean Taylor’s “Indiana Wants Me” are particularly entertaining. Translator is available for download and CD on Ward’s Bandcamp page.

YippieFest will return for its ninth year on the weekend of August 15 – 17 at Chopin Theatre on Chicago’s north side. The freewheeling entertainment event—once again hosted by the sketch/musical comedy group Famous In The Future—is inspired by the annual Abby Fest that was staged by Mary-Arrchie Theatre for several years. For the third year, YippieFest will donate all proceeds to local charities. This year’s recipients will be Howard Brown Health, Deborah’s Place, and Northwestern Settlement Food Pantry.