Dirty Projectors
When a band can leave all of its pretentiousness aside and play a really humble show, it pulls down a wall between the crowd and the band. When two bands do it in the same night, you know you’ve seen a really good concert. I was lucky to see this happen from both The Dirty Projectors and the opener, but no less acclaimed, No Kids the other night at Chicago’s Subterranean.
Both bands excelled at their unique sounds and kept a relatively full room engaged and excited throughout the night. In my opinion, these two bands are really nice compliments to each other; maybe due to the fact that both front-men have a very interesting style of crooning. Take a listen…
Vancouver’s No Kids are three-fourths of the now defunct band P:ano. They play really interesting R&B tinged pop music. Sometimes verging on slow and an almost light discord there’s always a soulful feel behind the music that keeps the toes tapping. The keyboard work between Nick Krgovich and Julia Chirka is really solid. Nick stole the show for me. His modesty and style was really endearing and the whole band seemed really amazed that there were so many people at Subterranean to see them.
No Kids
The band played a tight fifty-minute set and closed with the super smooth “Beaches All Closed.” Check these guys out if you have not already. They’re not gonna blow you away with ripping guitar solos (they have no guitars), but the song construction is marquee. If you crave harmony in your music you’ll dig these guys. I was so impressed, I bought the new album, Come into My House when I got home.
No Kids
Though I went to see No Kids, the performance put on by the Dirty Projectors was no less impressive. The Brooklyn based quartet was introduced by a poet who, I must say, was living the artist’s life. The band aptly walked out to Fleetwood Mac’s “Say You Love Me;” also, the Projectors have the same girl to guy ratio. Then, guitarist Dave Longstreth asked the crowd if we knew the song “Hot Blooded.” At this point I was gonna freak if they opened with a Foreigner cover (so ballsy), but instead he explained that guitarist Amber Coffman, “had a fever of a hundred and three.”
Amber pressed on like a champion the rest of the night and the Projectors put on a really nice rock show. Their music is pop rock highlighted by the constant variations of Longstreth’s voice. They get rough on occasion jumping back and forth between a little noise rock and their own sound. As were No Kids, the Dirty Projectors were really grateful to the crowd and expressed it many times. Well, I’ll speak for the crowd and say thank you from us. It was a great show.
Dirty Projectors
Dirty Projectors
![Phish Kicks Off Annual New Year’s Eve Run at Madison Square Garden [SETLIST/VIDEOS]](https://livemusicblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/phish-night-one-yemsg-ny-120x86.jpeg)
