Official Indie

In Real Life Worldwide Tour 2025

Big Time Rush

With Support From:

With Support From:

2025-08-10

Would you look at that, Big Time Rush is currently doing their In Real Life Worldwide Tour, but with 2 twists, the first being they are performing EVERY SINGLE SONG FROM THE SHOW! From "Big Time Rush" to "Giant Turd" to "Windows Down"! Well, every song aside from their Christmas songs as we are not in that season yet. The second twist is the openers on the tour are none other than Stephen Kramer Glickman, who was Gustavo, and then Katelyn Tarver, who played Jo Taylor on the show! I absolutely loved it and loved seeing them bring their old co-stars to join them during this tour!

I don't want to give away to much during this review but they are also picking...
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By Alexandra Geshel

Lollapalooza Aftershow

Gigi Perez

2025-07-31

Gigi Perez took a break from her current tour, opening for Hozier, to play this year's Lollapalooza - Chicago. I was lucky enough to catch her sold-out Hollister supported aftershow at Bottom Lounge. It was memorable! Gigi is so talented and this is the second time that I've been lucky enough to cover her.

I first caught wind of Gigi around 3 years on Tik Tok when her "Sailor Song" went viral. Hearing her singing it was just so unique. I would describe her musical style as "Alt-Folk", it's very mellow/chill and features beautiful lyrics. When I decided to cover her again, I know I'd have zero regrets because Gigi just sounds so good live. Her performance suits her sound, she doesn't move around on stage a lot, which is fine because her fans know her songs and sing them to her with giant smiles on their faces or holding signs saying how much they love her. It shows that you don't need flashy outfits or a huge stage show to get the fans excited. You really can just play on a stage with...
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By Alexandra Geshel

Lollapalooza Aftershow

Barry Can't Swim

With Support From:

2025-07-30

If you are a fan of EDM than you likely already know and love Barry Can't Swim. I don't usually attend a lot of EDM shows, so I truly wasn't sure what to expect. All I knew was there would probably be a lot of lasers, massive amounts of dancing, and what seemed like a truck load of confetti. He had the whole Salt Shed moving, bouncing, and having fun!

Barry had three keyboards to himself, i wasn't expecting him to also have a drummer and another keyboardist. It really impressed me! The lighting was incredible bright on the crowd, but unfortunately the stage wasn't lit very well. Barry was hard to see, but it really brought the focus too the music over the musicians. I feel like it brings you...
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By Alexandra Geshel

Somewhere in the Sky

AJR

With Support From:

With Support From:

2025-07-27

AJR are one of those bands that everyone talks about. These 3 brothers are very creative and strive to give their fans the best stage show possible. I have watched these guys grow from playing Chicago's Aragon Ballroom in 2018, to opening KISS FM's Jingle Ball in 2019 and now practically selling out Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre! So when I saw I could finally catch up with these brothers again, I was excited to see how much they have grown.

The origin of the band's name is simple, it's comes from the initials of the three brothers: Adam, Jack and Ryan. While Adam has more or less...
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By Alexandra Geshel

Unplugged 2025

Breaking Benjamin

2025-07-25

As someone who has always loved Breaking Benjamin and Flyleaf when I was saw the announcement that Ben Burnley was doing a special "Unplugged" tour with Lacey and Josh Sturm I knew I wanted to be there. A full night of stripped down, raw renditions of songs from Breaking Benjamin, Flyleaf and a few other random covers would definitely make this a magical one-of-a kind tour!

It was just Ben, Lacey, Josh with his guitar and a drum machine. There was no opening act. It was just these three performers singing songs, telling stories and reminiscing about how long they have all been friends. I didn't know they have been friends for 20 plus years which is so inspiring!

For the set, they did a song together then switched off between songs from Breaking Benjamin and Flyleaf with a random cover thrown in through out the night. I honestly really enjoyed it, and Ben and Lacey sound...
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By Alexandra Geshel

Summer of Loud 2025

Parkway Drive

2025-07-13

Summer of Loud Festival could also be called the Summer of Pyro because these bands know how to turn up the heat, and I am not just talking musically or their looks. I mean it literally. All 4 headliners used massive amounts of pyrotechnics putting on this killer show!

The "Big Four" bands on the tour are alternating as the headliner at each stop. On this day, we had Killswitch Engage up first, followed by Beartooth, then I Prevail and finally Parkway Drive closed out the night.

I last covered Killswitch Engage in 2022 and, I fully admit, I was not happy with the shots I got of the band at that time, so being able to cover them as one of the headlining acts, I felt confident I would knock it out of the park. It didn't hurt that the lighting was significantly...
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By Alexandra Geshel

Summer School Tour 2025

Charlotte Sands

2025-07-12

The semester is over, but "Summer School" is in session and back for another year with great new artists you may or may not know. Looking at this year's class of young artists, it turns out that I actually know most of this year's current line up. It made me feel hip, cool and still relevant! In short, this year's line up is amazing!

With every stop on the tour, they have a new head of the class which switches between Charlotte Sands, Taylor Acord and Rain City Drive. In Chicago, Charlotte Sands was elected to close out the night. For me, it was a full circle moment as I was able to cover her back in 2022. It was amazing to see how much she has progressed not just as a singer, but as an overall performer! Charlotte was also one of the most popular artists of the night with many of her fans in the audience excited to find out that she was closing out the night. If you have never seen Charlotte, I highly recommend checking out her live show. She is an amazing singer and...
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By Alexandra Geshel

The Out of the Darkness Tour

Betty Who

2025-06-23

Every year there are always two or three songs that define the summer. This year Betty Who wants to make you "Sweat", the title of her latest release. This song is definitely a bop and I've been listening to it whenever I can. With two singles released so far this year, I have high hopes that a full album release is on the horizon.

Having seen Betty Who previously I had little doubt that this would be a high energy show. I've always been impressed with her live performance, but this tour was next level. It was HAWT! The 23 song set was filled with high energy dancing and of course catchy songs that had the audience screaming the entire set. The only break was around mid-set when she slowed it down for an acoustic cover of Hillary Duff's "What Dreams Are Made Of" which she performed with the tour opener Molly Grace. It was the perfect selection of music for every one of her fans

While the tour has been going great overall, I do however feel bad for Betty with the turnout of the Detroit...
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By Ken Kohlmeier

Alive & Kicking Tour 2025

Simple Minds

With Support From:

With Support From:

2025-06-21

Simple Minds have one fundamental request for their fans: "Don't you, forget about me". On behalf of all the true and long time fans, I can assure them that we haven't. After nearly 50 years together founding members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill are still "Alive and Kicking", giving us both new music and a new tour.

I was very excited for this tour. Not only have Simple Minds been among my favourite bands for years, but I've also been a fan of both Modern English and Soft Cell for pretty much as long as I've been listening to music. Having all three on the same bill meant I was definitely coming to see this...
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By Ken Kohlmeier

Year of the Slug Tour

Caroline Rose

2025-06-14

In 2018, Caroline Rose released her debut indie pop/rock album Loner. As far as I'm concerned, it is pretty close to being perfect. Filled with catchy songs, it is an album I still listen to today and enjoy every track. I became a fan of Caroline's and was lucky enough to see her in concert twice that year.

Seven years and three albums later, I was finally able to see her in concert again, this time promoting her latest album, Year of the Slug. This tour is all about Caroline and her music. There was no opening act. It was exactly as advertised on Caroline's website, it was a solo evening with Caroline Rose. I was absolutely fine without having any opener, especially considering the fact that the first time I saw her live the opener just kept playing and playing, for over an hour and half instead of the usual 30 or so minutes, cutting into Caroline's set. As such, the venue cut the power to the stage about 45 minutes into Caroline's set. Can you tell I'm still bitter...
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By Ken Kohlmeier