As one of Chicago’s most historic and staple music venues, Metro has spent the year celebrating their 40th anniversary with some pretty stellar lineups.
This past week as an encore to the weekend’s festivities of Riot Fest, they invited one of the fest’s headliners and Metro alums the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It's been a little over nine years since the band’s last album, Mosquito, and they haven’t really produced any music as a band since, so needless to say the sold out Metro crowd was eager to see/hear the band return to the stage (especially those of us who were unable to brave the feral Riot Fest crowds over the weekend to see their set).
The first live show I had an opportunity to review for a previous music blog were the Yeah Yeah Years at the Aragon, when on tour at the time promoting their album, It’s Blitz!, with a giant eyeball hovering above them onstage.
It was such a memorable experience for numerous reasons, but I rode home in awe of seeing my favorite songs come to life and witnessing the stunning stage presence Karen O had with this exuberant showmanship that left me in awe. Monday night, those some exhilarating feelings returned as I reconnected with old friends who’d carried me through good times and hard, which I've since had the chance to pass along to my 16-year-old daughter, who now claims the band as one of her all time favorites!
The 12-song set (minus the encore) was almost split evenly between some of the catalog favorites and new songs from their upcoming new album, Cool It Down (out Sept 30). With a humble declaration, O mentioned in between songs it was nice to shake off the dust and try out new songs on us. The packed, intimate club setting lent itself well to Karen O’s energy, manifested onstage as she twirled and danced around in her vibrant, glittery and colorful fringed kimono-unitard.
The evening was a perfect sampling to build my anticipation for what I'm imagining to be a larger scale celebration of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' newest chapter in pursuit of world domination...haha...just kidding! But seriously...I can't wait to see what they come up with!
Setlist:
*Spitting Off the Edge of the World
Black Tongue
Under the Earth
*Burning
Miles Away
*Fleez
*Black Top
*Lovebomb
Maps
Gold Lion
Y Control
Heads Will Roll
Encore:
Poor Song
Honey Bear
Tick
