17 Mar 12

Hey, blogspot readers, SouthSide's partyin' with the leprechauns (again) tonight! After spending part of the day at the "new" Logan Theatre (highly recommended for your cinema enjoyment and fun at a reasonable ticket price), it was time for this reviewer to rock out her St. Paddy's night. And once again, she celebrated with friends at Elbo Room. Yet, this St. Paddy's party wasn't your oridinary Irish celebration that was rockin' this popular Lakeview venue ...this party featured performances by well-known artists - 311, No Doubt and Weezer. Well ...not actually the real ones, blogspot readers. Just three local bands representing them as Homebrew, Don't Speak and Our Name Is Jonas to entertain the crowded basement lounge with lively tribute versions of songs made famous by their original namesakes.

Now, normally, blogspot readers, SouthSide doesn't cover tribute bands as part of her On The Town blog repetoire. However, just for tonight's celebration, she made the exception recommending the following two tribute bands for the way both energized and excited the audience.

Though arriving mid way through the set, this reviewer did catch the final ten minutes or so of Homebrew thoroughly enjoying the energy from the lyrical hiphop/reggae/rock fusion. There were many pockets of excitement amongst the crowd whenever the band turned up the heat on the guitar rhythms or zipped through the fast-paced lyrical floetry. The momentum was so highly infectious that even sound guy Brian Bender (also of The Hot Sauce Committee) got a little sauced from the rockin' music especially during the closing number Homebrew (where the tribute band took its namesake). Each member individually as well as collectively tore down the stage, blogspot readers, with such fierceness and intensity ...plenty of energy that everyone was literally feeling what Homebrew was vibin'. And as an added bonus, the guys electrified the stage with a teaser of traditional Irish music. Visit Homebrew at http://www.facebook.com/homebrew311.

The same could be said of the Weezer tribute band - Our Name Is Jonas, blogspot readers. Here's another local tribute band (Chicago's ONLY Weezer tribute band) that rocked the stage under intense energy while performing such fan favorites Beverly Hills, Troublemaker, and their namesake - My Name Is Jonas (which brought the crowd feverishly to life). Jonas did more than just sing the Weezer songs (without trying to vocally sound like the original artists) but the group put their own spin and fun to collectively dress up their headlining performance. This essentially created the energy throughout their stage presentation as Weezer. From matching clothing ensemble (SouthSide loved the sparkly glasses with the green lights) to engaging the crowd every minute, there wasn't a single moment where the energy had suddenly dulled or found lacking, blogspot readers. You could hear the Weezer fans singing along with Jonas (as heard during Ass Wipe [Parody of Hashpipe]) as well as groovin' to the upbeat tempo while performing Keep Fishing. Visit Our Name Is Jonas at http://www.facebook.com/weezertribute.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide