Summer heat came early to Cleveland with a tour stop by Californian prog-rock, post-hardcore Hail the Sun, supported by Cincinnati’s own Foxy Shazam and a pair of rock bands out of the Sunshine State – Makari and Resilia.

Six-piece Resilia, led by vocalist Daisy Chamberlin (formerly of the band I Met a Yeti), is touring its debut album, “By a Thread,” though the band has been performing since 2022 and has confidently found its progressive niche with emotionally charged vocals and intricate guitar-led power anthems.

Fronted by energetic vocalist Andy Cizek, who led a revival of the Orlando-based project when he joined in 2018, Makari threw down with powerful medleys off their two albums, including the latest, 2024’s “Wave Machine,” in a set that sparked a firestorm in the crowd at Cleveland’s Globe Iron.

Foxy Shazam then turned that heat up to a vigorous boil with a performance that would not be contained. The band, who was featured in the HBO/DC series “Peacemaker,” is led by vocalist Eric Nally, who brings real Freddie Mercury (Queen) energy and style to the stage. Sky White on keys, Alex Nauth on trumpet, Misster Universe on bass, Devin Williams on guitar and drummer Teddy Aitkins round out this circus tent of spectacular, high-wire rockers. The vibe is equal parts classic glam rock and progressive, new-wave alternative. And it never slows down.

Teed up perfectly, Hail the Sun set off a solar flare of its own, with frontman and vocalist Don Melero seemingly at war with the celestial, thrusting his mic stand skyward and belting out supercharged lyrics. Melero walked a kind of catwalk at the front of the stage, backed by Shane Gann and Aric Garcia on guitars, bassist John Stirrat and Allen Casillas on the drum kit. The fans provided backing vocals, singing along on many of the tracks.

Wrapping up a U.S. tour in Alaska this spring, Hail the Sun next heads to the Land Down Under, Australia, for a handful of shows this summer.

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify.

Space

April 28, 2026

by Maja Rios

Rachel Drew,Chicago area vocalist,performed the complete album of songs from Amy Winehouse album,” Back to Black”plus a few from Amy’s” Frank” album, and a few ska favorites that Amy only did live.

Racheal was backed up by an eight-piece band, consisting of piano, guitar, bass, drums, and a horn section of trumpet, baritone sax, and tenor sax. The horns added a nice jazzy feel to the pop-rock sounding band. Rachel sang Amys’tunes in her own style, which I liked; not trying to move or sound like Amy, that unfortunately so many tribute artists online, sadly do. Rachel has a strong alto voice which fit the material nicely.

    Some of the songs covered included, Rehab, You Know I’m No Good, Unholy War, Just Friends, Back to Black, Stronger Than Me, and Cupid and You’ re Wondering Why, two ska favorites, that Amy only sang live.

I enjoyed the band, however, but the house PA had the drums set a little too loud, and vocal mike, at times, was a little muffled, but I still enjoyed hearing a good local artist,  Ms. Rachel Drew, covering her songs well.

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Seeing Electric Callboy live for the first time on May 3rd at Wintrust Arena was an experience I walked into with very little expectation beyond the enthusiastic recommendation of a music obsessed friend. What unfolded over the next couple of hours completely won me over. The band delivered a performance that was equal parts heavy concert, comedy show, rave, and full blown arena party, all without losing an ounce of musical precision.

Vocalists Kevin Ratajczak and Nico Sallach were magnetic from the start, feeding off each other’s energy while keeping the crowd constantly engaged. Crushing breakdowns collided with electronic hooks, synchronized dancing, outrageous visuals, and moments that had the entire arena laughing before immediately jumping back into the chaos. Despite the intensity of their music, Electric Callboy somehow make everything feel welcoming and genuinely fun, which is a rare balance in heavy music.

By the end of the night, it was obvious why the band has developed such a loyal following. The show felt less like a standard concert and more like an escape, a room full of people forgetting about real life for a while and fully embracing the madness together. For a first experience with Electric Callboy, I could not have asked for a better introduction. Highly recommend!

Electric Callboy – OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Wintrust Arena – OFFICIAL WEBSITE

There is something undeniably electric about catching a band right as momentum turns into movement, and that is exactly where Bloodywood stands today. On May 2nd, their performance at House of Blues Chicago felt like more than just a tour stop, it felt like a clear signal that this Indian-metal group is stepping into a much bigger spotlight.

Hailing from New Delhi, Bloodywood has carved out a distinct identity by blending traditional Indian elements with modern metal. Vocalist Jayant Bhadula delivers powerful melodic lines that contrast sharply with the aggressive rap of Raoul Kerr, while guitarist Karan Katiyar drives the band’s sound with tight, heavy riffs. Live, that fusion is truly unreal and hits even harder, shifting between crushing intensity and rhythmic, folk inspired passages that feel both rooted and forward looking.

The energy in the sold-out House of Blues built quickly and never let up. The crowd responded to every shift in tempo and tone, from explosive mosh moments to more unified, chant like sections. With Katiyar anchoring the instrumentation and Bhadula and Kerr feeding off each other’s energy, the performance felt dynamic and intentional. Bloodywood’s stage presence carries both confidence and hunger, a combination that keeps their set engaging from start to finish.

As metal continues to evolve, Bloodywood stands out as part of its next wave. Their rise is not just about novelty, it is about delivering a sound that resonates across cultures while staying true to their roots. By the end of the night in Chicago, it was clear they are not just an up and coming act, they are a band with real staying power.

Bloodywood – OFFICIAL WEBSITE
House of Blues (Chicago) – OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Night one of They Might Be Giants’ three-night stand at The Vic Theatre felt less like the start of a run and more like a fully realized event. It was tight, playful, and deeply in sync with a crowd that knew exactly what it came for.

Presented by Jam Productions and 93XRT, the show leaned into the band’s signature blend of sharp musicianship and offbeat charm. Over the course of a nearly three-hour set , the group moved effortlessly between eras, delivering a mix of fan favorites and newer material with the kind of precision that comes from decades of touring, yet never feeling routine.

Frontmen John Linnell and John Flansburgh balanced dry humor with genuine warmth, peppering the night with witty banter that felt spontaneous rather than scripted, a hallmark of the band’s live identity. Their ability to pivot from absurdist commentary to airtight arrangements remains one of their greatest strengths, reinforcing why their catalog, often described as both whimsical and musically inventive, continues to resonate across generations.

The audience, packed wall-to-wall, responded in kind, singing along, laughing at every sideways joke, and fully buying into the band’s delightfully strange universe. It’s a dynamic that has long defined a They Might Be Giants show: unpredictable setlists, engaging stage presence, and a sense that anything could happen next .

If night one is any indication, Chicago audiences are in for something special as the run continues. With two more shows ahead, both part of this rare multi-night residency, the band has already set a high bar, and seem more than capable of clearing it again tonight and tomorrow.

They Might Be Giants – OFFICIAL WEBSITE
The Vic Theatre – OFFICIAL WEBSITE

By Rob McCune

An 8-piece funk rock band of Egyptian mummies is on a tour of concert halls in middle America, and if you’re unfamiliar with them, I promise you do not know what you’re in for at one of their shows.

Bringing, to borrow the voice of Vincent Price, “the funk of 40,000 years and grizzly ghouls from every tomb,” the Mummies have a groove that’s hard to beat. And pity “whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down.”

Some bands need a gimmick. The Mummies have a hell of one, but as skilled musicians don’t need it. The octet plays guitar, bass, drums, keys, bari and tenor sax, tambourine, trumpet, and more. At some point on the stage there might be six saxophones – including one in each hand of two of the Mummies, being played simultaneously.

And damn, do they jam.

Seemingly every Mummy also has a singing voice that variously makes one wonder if they aren’t in fact the reanimated corpses of great American funk and soul singers like Sam Cooke and James Brown.

That’s one great thing about the Mummy gimmick: anonymity. We don’t really know who’s under all that wrapping. The band members have names like Mummy Cass, Eddie Mummy, K.W. TuT, Spaz, Fingerbang, Dr. Yo, Highlander, H-POD.

Midnight Mummy is the Flavor Flav of the group, eventually wearing a tall fur cap – like those worn by British soldiers standing guard outside Westminster Palace, but with a comically large eyeball in the center of it – and white-frame sunglasses as he raps and jives across the stage.

The show starts with a drum line down the center aisle, a procession led by two Anubi – plural for the ancient Egyptian god with the heads of jackals – and a storm of streamers.

And then, just as you feel like maybe that’s plenty to be surprised over, you start to pay attention to the songs and the lyrics, which feature the flavor of dirty puns and innuendo – and blatantly sexual themes – that men in their 40s now might have found on records hidden in the back of their dad’s closet and stayed up late to sneak a snickering listen.

The set list for this show at The Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, featured songs with seemingly innocuous titles like “Pants,” but lyrics like “I’m coming in my pants, my shirt, it’s my best suit baby … I’m so excited, I hope that I don’t come too soon.” Yea, you know what they’re talking about. And as if they needed to drive the point home, the song ends with a cannon blast of white streamers into the audience.

You start to see the nice, older couples (who you might’ve spoken with before the show) in a different, shadier light. They’re wearing the merch. Some are really decked out, wearing Egyptian headdresses. They dance in the aisles and squeal in delight at the performance. And you wonder how many of them attended those swinging “key parties” in the Sixties (and maybe still do), and how many have spent some time in nudist camps.

But if you don’t get carried away by such thoughts, and instead let the funk take over, you might find yourself mummified by the night’s end. “And though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver, for no mere mortal can resist …”

Here Come the Mummies have booked tour stops through Illinois, Nebraska, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and even parts of Canada through late October.

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify

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By Rob McCune

Sludge metal pioneers Acid Bath, who melted faces for most of the 1990s before taking a nearly 30-year break, are touring again and gathering a truly menacing menagerie of metalheads to mark the occasion.

For the band’s much-anticipated return to Cleveland, the devils in the details included Akron-based Radian (set to release their third album this summer), Nunslaughter (formed in 1987 with another new album on the way in June), Cleveland-founded Midnight (who dropped a record last year) and Amigo the Devil, a “murderfolk” singer/songwriter.

Radian started the night out blazing, with lead vocalist Corey Staley storming the stage in a Detroit Redwings jersey and hockey goalie mask. The mask came off quick – flung into the audience as a lucky souvenir – and the jersey soon after in an energetic, riotous performance to get the blood pumping.

Next, Nunslaughter played a set awash in blood red light, framed by two upside-down crosses as if desanctifying the stage. Founding member and lead vocalist Don of the Dead wielded, like a bludgeoning weapon, a mic stand of metal chain sturdy enough to bind the devil himself as he thrashed along with Jim Sadist on guitar, Vince Verrett on bass and Dale Flood on drums.

Strategically center in the lineup, Amigo the Devil provided a bit of a breather, appearing under a spotlight solo with a banjo and a smirk. He entreated the crowd to bear with him a minute, before passing judgement, and then launched into a medley of dark, murderous folk music. Not everyone in the audience was unfamiliar, as on a few of the songs, most notably the single “Hell and You” off his first album, stirred a singalong.

The masked ninjas of Midnight then cranked the volume back up to ear-bleed levels. Founder and lead singer Athenar led the charge on guitar-gutting tracks including “Satanic Royalty,” “Necromania” and, for the hometown fans, “Cleveland Metal,” which ended the set with a smashed guitar – the bones of which were tossed out as manic mementos.

Headliners Acid Bath emerged in a acid-green fog to close out the night with 10 tracks off their two studio albums, starting with “Tranquilized” and ending with “Dr. Seuss Is Dead.”

Metal as ever and with more sludge to spread, Acid Bath is continuing its tour this summer in Europe.

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotif

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By Rob McCune

A significant force in the alt-rock/grunge wave of the early-1990s, Soul Asylum was on a “Runaway Train” (to coin the band’s biggest hit) to stardom. Now, nearly 40 years since the band formed (or changed its name from Loud Fast Rules) in 1983, that train seems nowhere near derailing.

The crew has shifted over the years, but still driving the train is frontman Dave Pirner, who has stoked the coals and refined the Soul Asylum sound over 13 albums, including five records before the band’s breakout 1992 “Grave Dancers Union,” and seven since.

Their latest is 2024’s “Slowly but Shirley;” before that was 2020’s “Hurry Up and Wait” – two titles that echo the dichotomy of fast, ripping guitar anthems and slow, soulful sonnets that represent the ranging appeal of this enduring asylum.

On an “Acoustic Tour” that kicked off this spring in middle America, Soul Asylum left only their drummer, Michael Bland, behind. Pirner is joined on stage by Ryan Smith on lead guitar and Jeremy Tappero on bass.

And despite valid assumptions about what an “acoustic” show is, nothing is unplugged here, and the guys certainly aren’t sitting down or holding back.

Opener Corey Glover, lead singer of the funk rock group Living Colour, delivered what might be expected from acoustic set with Michael Ciro on an unplugged guitar and a couple of chairs and mics center stage. But nothing was typical about their performance. Ciro’s masterful guitar riffs and Glover’s powerfully soulful voice ignited the audience on tracks including covers of Bill Withers’ “Use Me” and fully unique renditions of Beatle George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and Prince’s “The Cross.”

Soul Asylum’s set at The Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, featured tracks from seven albums, dominated by “Grave Dancers,” and a couple of covers. The trio came out rocking on “Somebody to Shove,” and slowed things down a bit on bittersweet harmonics like “To My Own Devices.” Crowd-pleasers “Misery” (about halfway through the set) and “Runaway Train” (saved for the encore) got the crowd on its feet, too.

A couple of times, including during Glover’s set, the artists referenced and paid tribute to protesters in Minnesota, where Soul Asylum is from.

Pirner brought the tragic killing of two protesters by ICE agents home with a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Ohio,” a song about Kent State University student protesters being shot in 1970, just down the road from the venue. He also made it personal, talking about the First Avenue nightclub frequented by Soul Asylum that (though now closed) is a block away from where Minnesotan Alex Pretti was killed. “Stand Up and Be Strong,” a song off of the band’s 2006 record “The Silver Lining,” was played in tribute to Pretti and Renee Good, also shot and killed this year in Minneapolis.

Lifting the mood, Pirner practiced his on-stage banter, which he says hasn’t been a strong suit, with jokes like (paraphrasing here): “I met a drug dealer outside the theater earlier. He sold me a pair of shoes. … I’m not sure what he laced them with, but I’ve been tripping all day.”
For “Get On Out,” the last encore, Soul Asylum’s three amigos swung and slung their respective axes and finished with a synchronized strum.

It was a finish that bears a message for fans who still have a chance to experience this tour: “Get On Out.”

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify.

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By Rob McCune

Sixty-eight-year-old Gary Numan, 50 years into a music career that has pushed punk into new and multitudinous directions, is an out-of-this-world villain with the charisma of Kahn and Palpatine-like reflexes for firing lightning from his fingers.

His spacey henchmen: Steve Harris on guitar and Tim Slade on bass are twin-like tentacles slapping the strings, while David Brooks masters the synths and Jimmu Lucido the drums.

With a lightshow rivaling the Borealis, Numan and his band blitzed the Cleveland House of Blues in late March on a tour that just wrapped up its North American leg in San Luis Obispo, California, and will head overseas this summer.

The Cleveland show was warmed up by L.A.’s Tremours, featuring Lauren Andino on guitar and vocals and Glenn Fryatt on drums.

The duo’s hazy, ominous overtures washed over the crowd, slowly building a tremorous rhythm in the soul of the venue.

Numan’s two-hour set features tracks from seven albums, including his breakout hit “Cars” from his 1979 debut solo record “The Pleasure Principle,” and two songs from his first band Tubeway Army. Halfway through, Gary turned lead mic over to his daughter Raven Numan and sang backup on her song “Nothing’s What It Seems.”

A two-song encore featured “The Gift,” off his 2021 album “Intruder,” and “My Name Is Ruin,” from 2017’s “Savage (Songs from a Broken World),” the music video for which casts Numan into the desert of a Dune-like world.

From ruin to ruler, Numan has dominated this world already, and has more still to conquer.

Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify.

February 11, 2026

Riviera Theatre

Chicago, IL

Mahrou Senoba

The February 11, 2026 Chicago stop landed early in the North American leg of Opeth’s The Last Will and Testament tour, and that “early‑tour energy” was unmistakable—focused, hungry, and carrying just enough unpredictability to feel electric. Outside the Riviera Theatre, a bundled‑up line stretched down the block, Chicago fans buzzing despite the cold.

Katatonia opened with a brooding, meticulously controlled set. Touring behind 2025’s Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State and adjusting to the departure of longtime guitarist Anders Nyström, the band leaned deeper into their atmospheric, clean‑vocal identity. The performance felt introspective and textural—less about weight, more about emotional contour—like a group quietly recalibrating its center of gravity in real time.

That restraint evaporated the moment Opeth walked onstage. Opening with “§1,” they signaled a band fully reawakened. Supporting their 2024 album The Last Will and Testament, Opeth reintroduced harsh vocals for the first time in over a decade, reconnecting with their death‑metal roots while preserving the progressive nuance they’ve honed since. The set moved like a living organism—quiet passages blooming into towering riffs before collapsing back into stillness. By the time “Deliverance” closed the night, its final riff spiraling into a hypnotic loop, the entire room felt caught in a shared exhale.

What makes this pairing resonate is history as much as sound. Katatonia and Opeth emerged from the same Swedish ’90s metal underground, bound by friendship, collaboration, and parallel evolution. Onstage, that lineage becomes tangible: Katatonia drawing inward, Opeth pushing outward, the two bands forming a dynamic emotional arc that neither could create alone.

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