With a crowd comprise mostly of people fresh off the beach from Local Natives‘ Mamby on the Beach set, the vibes were already very intimate and laid back.
While everyone was certainly excited to see Local Natives perform in a more intimate setting, the Norwegian band Klangstof stole the show.
Drawing comparison to Radiohead, they’re synth driven rock with emotional lyrics perfectly fit the atmosphere at the Concord Music Hall. Many of their songs began with a slow burning build up that erupted into powerful empathic and chaotic release. Standouts included album single “Hostage” as well as “Sleaze” from their current album aptly titled “Close Eyes To Exit“. The band closed their set after lead singer Koen Van de Wardt thanked everyone graciously for joining in their journey as they had traveled all the way from Norway to perform here in Chicago. It was an excellent set and definitely left us looking forward to hearing more from these guys!
Local Natives then took the stage having just performed a set at Mamby. This performance seemed to be somewhat of a victory lap for them on the heels of not only that earlier set, but also a spectacular 2016 album that was critically well received and considered by fans to be a return to form.
Having already played for a majority of the crowd that night it continued the very intimate feelings in the crowd. After their opener they broke into “World News” a standout from “Gorilla Manor“, their 2009 debut. They said it had been over 4 years since the last time they had performed that song, and brought it just for this crowd.
Singer and guitarist, Taylor Rice hopped into the crowd and walked through the entire venue before letting us all know that he was celebrating his birthday by performing not once but twice in Chicago that night.
We were also treated to a cover from two of Chicago’s native chosen sons when they performed “Ultralight Beams” by none other than Kanye West and Chance the Rapper.
It was a night of rising stars and returns to glory and we’re glad we got to experience it all.
