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Tour Dates
11/07: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
Read More11/08: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom 11/09: Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile 11/12: Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theatre
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After a five year absent from the music scene, The Fratellis are back with a brand new album We Need Medicine. The Scottish band is currently in the middle of a tiny, tiny U.S. tour in support of it, and basically selling out every venue they booked! Unfortunately, the mini-tour only extended to a few dates, so they left Minneapolis off their schedule (for now). We stop in to see them at the Metro in Chicago, to a very sold-out show last night.
Since we generally don't cover Chicago shows, I just wanted to talk a little about the Metro. I've only been there one other time to see The Kooks. This seem to be an old fashion theater that's been converted to a concert venue. The front left side serves as a merchandise store, the middle section served as a ticket box office. I didn't see the right side, but that seems like a pool/hang out area. Once inside, there's an upper balcony area, that I believe was half blocked off for VIP seats with a view. The rest of us, with general admission tickets, were packed in on the dance floor. It was so full last night that people were extended well into the bars in the back. I didn't know the capacity, but it was really crowded, especially for a Wednesday night. I guessed it was sold out (in fact, it was sold out). With so many bodies so close to each other, it got incredibly hot. When the venue decided to turn on the two ceiling fans, everyone, literally everyone around me, immediately looked up and said "Thank you!"
The Ceremonies opened up the show. The Los Angeles band is made up of mostly three brothers: Matthew, Mark, and Michael Cook. The Cook brothers all seem extremely excited to be on the same bill with The Fratellis, mentioning several time how great it's been so far. Most of their songs played live were taken from their debut self-titled EP, including their finale "Land of Gathering".
The Fratellis finally came on stage around 10:20 and kicked off their set with "This Old Ghost Town", from their latest album We Need Medicine. Almost any songs from Costello Music ("Flathead", "Baby Fratelli", etc) had the best audience reaction, obviously the album is well loved by fans, but, of course, the majority of their set consists of newer songs from We Need Medicine, including "Whisky Saga", the title track "We Need Medicine", and their latest single "Halloween Blues". Since the album was only recently released (October 8th), the audience was still feeling out the new songs.
Watching singer/guitarist Jon and bassist guitarist Barry bouncing energy off each other was really fun. You can tell the band is excited to come back in the future, it's almost as if they underestimated how many American fans they have.
The Fratellis are currently in the middle of a very successful U.S. tour; their album We Need Medicine is out now via BMG.
Since we generally don't cover Chicago shows, I just wanted to talk a little about the Metro. I've only been there one other time to see The Kooks. This seem to be an old fashion theater that's been converted to a concert venue. The front left side serves as a merchandise store, the middle section served as a ticket box office. I didn't see the right side, but that seems like a pool/hang out area. Once inside, there's an upper balcony area, that I believe was half blocked off for VIP seats with a view. The rest of us, with general admission tickets, were packed in on the dance floor. It was so full last night that people were extended well into the bars in the back. I didn't know the capacity, but it was really crowded, especially for a Wednesday night. I guessed it was sold out (in fact, it was sold out). With so many bodies so close to each other, it got incredibly hot. When the venue decided to turn on the two ceiling fans, everyone, literally everyone around me, immediately looked up and said "Thank you!"
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THE CEREMONIES
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The Fratellis finally came on stage around 10:20 and kicked off their set with "This Old Ghost Town", from their latest album We Need Medicine. Almost any songs from Costello Music ("Flathead", "Baby Fratelli", etc) had the best audience reaction, obviously the album is well loved by fans, but, of course, the majority of their set consists of newer songs from We Need Medicine, including "Whisky Saga", the title track "We Need Medicine", and their latest single "Halloween Blues". Since the album was only recently released (October 8th), the audience was still feeling out the new songs.
Watching singer/guitarist Jon and bassist guitarist Barry bouncing energy off each other was really fun. You can tell the band is excited to come back in the future, it's almost as if they underestimated how many American fans they have.
The Fratellis are currently in the middle of a very successful U.S. tour; their album We Need Medicine is out now via BMG.
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The Fratellis at Metro, Chicago (11/06/13) |
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