I did it! I went to a concert every single month this year. January thru December. I went to more concerts in 2017, but 2018 was the year of a concert per month. 22 concerts containing 46 bands, at 15 venues, and 2 fests. Here they are!
January
I started off the year by going to “TNK Fest” (Tomorrow Never Knows) at Lincoln Hall where I saw Yoko and the Ohnoes last show, Ron Gallo (who I went to the show for) and Dianne Coffee. I attended this show solo and traveled by foot as Lincoln Hall was in walking distance to our place.
Artists: Ron Gallo, Dianne Coffee, Yoko and the Ohnoes
Venue: Lincoln Hall
Date: January 19, 2018
February
I continued my monthly concert streak by going to see Twin Peaks and Portugal. The Man at the Aragon Ballroom in February. Rachel came with and we drove to the show. I parked in a metered spot and worried about being ticketed for the last 30 minutes of the show as our time was up and I didn’t have the parking app on my phone yet. After the show we got back to the car and no ticket. Success! First time to the Aragon, pretty cool venue that holds 5000, but get comfy because it’s impossible to get back to your spot if you go to the bathroom. And get there on time because the sound on the outskirts is pretty poor.
Artists: Portugal. The Man, Twin Peaks
Venue: Aragon Ballroom
Date: February 16, 2018
March
March brought me to two shows, both at Lincoln Hall. Josh Morningstar opened up for Colter Wall, who is a modern day Johnny Cash. And then new artist Haley Heynderickx opened up for the indie band The Low Anthem. I went to these shows solo, I was supposed to go with Grant to see Colter Wall, but he double booked himself with another show. The other I won tickets to go see and couldn’t find anyone to attend with, classic.
Artists: Colter Wall, Josh Morningstar
Venue: Lincoln Hall
Date: March 25, 2018
Artists: The Low Anthem, Haley Heynderickx
Venue: Lincoln Hall
Date: March 30, 2018
April
In the heart of lacrosse season, I was able to make it out to see one of my favorite bands, Lucky Boys Confusion. If you don’t know LBC, they are a local Naperville/Downers Grove band that was blowing up in the early 2000s, but never caught on nationally. Rachel and I took the bus down Clark to The Metro and enjoyed another amazing set by the boys. This was my 6th time seeing them.
Artists: Lucky Boys Confusion, The Linden Method
Venue: The Metro
Date: April 27, 2018
May
Another busy month of lacrosse, but that wouldn’t keep me from seeing four shows in May. Rachel and I gummied up and took an uber to see Dr. Dog at The Riviera theatre. First time to this venue, and we went upstairs to the balcony, jamming show. A couple weeks later on May 14 I drove up to Space in Evanston and met up with John and Melissa to catch Jonny Fritz and Robert Ellis perform in a supergroup called Traveller. Five days later on May 19th, John, Melissa, the gummies, and I travelled to Hungry Brain off of Belmont to see Ryley Walker perform a record release show for his new album Deafman Glance. We met Ryley after, super chill guy. I told him how we had seen his last record release show for Golden Signs That Have Been Sung, and he said, “I’ll see ya at my next record release show then.” I finished up the month on May 22nd by going to see Shakey Graves with Beth at the Vic Theatre. We walked there and saw a fight break out that stopped the show for a quick minute. Shakey plays the kick briefcase drum oh so well.
Artists: Dr. Dog, Son Little
Venue: Riviera Theatre
Date: May 5, 2018
Artists: Traveller, Izaak Opatz
Venue: Space Evanston
Date: May 14, 2018
Artists: Ryley Walker
Venue: Hungry Brain
Date: May 19, 2018
Artists: Shakey Graves, And The Kids
Venue: The Vic Theatre
Date: May 22, 2018
June
Kicked off a summer of concerts by winning tickets to see Alt-J at Northerly Island. Rachel was kind enough to come with me so we jumped in an uber. A bit chilly and windy out, but a great night to see some live music outside on lake Michigan. The next day I went to see a make-up show at The Hideout. Mt. Joy who was originally supposed to play back in April, was playing and J.S. Ondara opened up. After the show I was headed around the building out back when I ran into the entire band Mt. Joy. I told them how they had a great show and to keep doing what they were doing. I ended June with a music fest out in Tinley Park with Jmon. I drove over to his place, we got some ice cream, and then carpooled over to the venue. It was an all day event and we ended up seeing 7 quality bands. We saw Bush, Awolnation, Bishop Briggs, Dashboard Confessional, The Front Bottoms, The Neighbourhood, and the Welshly Arms. Greta Van Fleet was also supposed to play, but they backed out last minute since their drummer hurt his wrist. I think they just didn’t want to come to small fest since they had blown up at this point. Beautiful day for some tunes.
Artists: Alt-J, Tennis
Venue: Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Date: June 7, 2018
Artists: Mt. Joy, J.S. Ondara
Venue: The Hideout
Date: June 8, 2018
Artists: Bush, Awolnation, Bishop Briggs, Dashboard Confessional, The Front Bottoms, The Neighbourhood, Welshly Arms
Venue: Hollywood Casino Amplitheatre
Date: June 30, 2018
July
In the heart of the summer I was fortunate enough to make it out to four shows. First up was on my birthday when Rachel and I went to Kiingston mines for the first time ever, even though we have lived down the street from it for four years. We saw a couple of house blues bands, it was fun as they jammed out and played solos walking through the crowd. Next up was Jimmy Buffett and Boz Scaggs at Wrigley Field. My Aunt Ruth invited me last minute to go see the legendary Jimmy Buffett and of course I had to say yes. First Buffett show, and the parrot heads were out in full flock. We got some dinner before the show at Houndstooth Saloon and enjoyed the chill show. Next up in July, Rachel and I headed to the street fest where we saw AM Taxi play. AM Taxi is a group comprised of a couple of the band members of Lucky Boys Confusion. Headed by Adam Krier, this was my first time seeing the LBC side project and thoroughly enjoyed the show. We even ran into LBC superfan from summer camp Dan Shoeman at the show.
Last, but not least, my buddy Grant was able to get us two tickets to Saturday’s Pitchfork for $50 off Craigslist. All was well as we waited in line to enter the fest. When we tried to get in, the ticket collector said that our tickets had already been used. Had we been duped!?! They told us to go to the main ticket booth and talk to someone there. We went to the booth and waited in line. After talking with one of the employees they told us that the tickets we had could not be used and said it was because they had already been used and were not sure what the problem was. My buddy Grant asked if there was anything we could do? We of course knew that we had bought them off Craiglist and most likely had been scammed. They brought over a manager and we talked with him for about 10 minutes or so. After a lot of back and forth about how people suck and will scam you, the manger said, “You know what, my shift is almost over, follow me.” And he took us past all the security lines and let us into the fest. A miracle! We had already missed a couple of the sets since it took us about 2 hours to get inside. Grant and I ended up running into a former teammate Brandon Cruz when we were at the fest. It drizzled most of the show. The War on Drugs, who I went to the fest to see, by far had the best set. Fests be fests. We saw The War on Drugs, Fleet Foxes, Raphael Saadiq, Blood Orange. PS: Don’t buy tickets on craiglist, unless I’m selling.
Artists: Linsey Alexander Blues Band, Claudette Miller Blues Band
Venue: Kingston Mines
Date: July 1, 2018
Artists: Jimmy Buffett, Boz Scaggs
Venue: Wrigley Field
Date: July 13, 2018
Artists: AM Taxi
Venue: Roscoe Burger Fest
Date: July 13, 2018
Artists: The War on Drugs, Fleet Foxes, Raphael Saadiq, Blood Orange
Venue: Pitchfork at Union Park
Date: July 21, 2018
August
We moved at the beginning of August which was an event in itself. The first concert I attended after our move was De Lux at Schubas. Just a short “L” ride away from our new place. I decided to check out this show because my Mom had won me 5 vinyl records earlier in the year, and De Lux’s Voyage was one of them. Just a couple days later I won tickets again to see a show at Evanston Space, so I drove up and saw Andrew Combs play there. He played some pretty chill tunes. I missed the opener.
Artists: De Lux
Venue: Schubas
Date: August 14, 2018
Artists: Andrew Combs
Venue: Evanston Space
Date: August 16, 2018
September
In September, I only made it out to one concert, but it was a great one. Johnny, his cousin Dino, and their friend came over to our place before the show. We did some pregaming, then caught an uber down to the show. Due to a little bit of traffic, by the time we got there the Offspring had already started. We maybe missed a song or two, but using the bathroom on the walk over was worth it. Unlike last year, they separated the pit from GA which was annoying. We were in GA, so we tried to make our own little pit right at the front of the GA gate. Dancing and slight moshing around with some mom’s while the Offspring jammed out. Man do I love these guys. 311 was pretty good too. I forgot how many classic songs they had. I am always surprised when the Offspring co-headline tours and they play first… they must like being done with it and then partying or something.
Artists: Offspring, 311
Venue: Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Date: September 6, 2018
October
In October I won tickets to another concert. This time it was Parsonsfield and Bubbles Brown at Schubas. I decided to drive over and find parking this time. Another show by myself, and it was pretty chill. Bubbles Brown is from Chicago and opened up. Parsonsfield has a famous song called Weeds and Wildflowers, it was in the Walking Dead.
Artists: Parsonsfield, Bubbles Brown
Venue: Schubas Tavern
Date: October 4, 2018
November
November, the month that almost went without a show. Time was winding down and I didn’t have any shows planned for November. I then saw that a band I had seen in the past, The Tomblands, was playing a free show at Schubas. I couldn’t pass it up. I drove over and caught the show, then drove home, all within 2 hours on a Thursday night. Couldn’t have timed it out any better as a saving grace for the concert per month in 2018.
Artists: The Tomblands, Ex Okays
Venue: Schubas Tavern
Date: November 29, 2018
December
The last month of 2018 and I had this show planned for awhile now. I bought tickets for this show when they first came out. Ended up buying 5 thinking I could make some good money by re-selling. Then Greta Van Fleet announced two more shows in Chicago, there that plan went. I was still able to sell the tickets at face value. Jmon came over and we got ready for the Wednesday night show. We walked down to the Aragon and had to wait in a line around the building for about 15 minutes just to get inside. Once inside, the opener had just finished so we made our way as close as we could get. We probably got 20 rows back or so and the show was ah-maze-ing. Greta Van Fleet rocked our socks off and is a classic rock band in 2018. The Detroit based band draws a lot of similarities to Led Zeppelin, and they jam out. The show was bumping and we didn’t have to use the bathroom (as I said earlier, it’s nearly impossible to get back to a spot at the Aragon) so we had kept our spot. Late in the show, two girls were trying to get closer weaving through the crowd, and this older guy blocked her and then took her phone and was yelling at her. It was kinda messed up as they were clearly just trying to have fun. So Jmon and I talked with the girls and pushed our way forward another 10 rows and finished the show pretty close. This was by far the show of the year. Greta Van Fleet absolutely jams!
Artists: Greta Van Fleet
Venue: Aragon Ballroom
Date: December 12, 2018
And that concludes my music concerts for 2018. Don’t forget to check out my 2017 experience if you haven’t already!
As you could probably tell, I film quite a bit at concerts. Most would say too much. One of my goals in 2019 is to still have fun and attend concerts, but film way less. Maybe only one song at a show, and live the rest of it in the moment. Not that I don’t live in the moment when I am there, but you know what I mean. Phone down.
Who should I go see in 2019? I hope to see you out there!
Josh