all 📷 : Tina Mead

Saturday night at Lincoln Hall was a flourishing of style and charisma taking us on a fantastic ride. Coming back to live music “after” COVID - which is seriously still a thing - is a journey. There is a shimmering of excitement when it's someone's return to the stage or audience. Every show is someone's first and it will likely be months before we see the end. This journey included four of the brightest musical talents in Chicago.

The night’s journey began with Thair, speaking from the black, queer culture. Thair is a pop star plus, an emerging icon on the scene. I love him and this is the second time seeing Thair in action on stage. He was styled in a white dress, cut short and surrounded by an orange corset, feathered sleeves, a string of white pearls, and a sound loop. When he went into “For Boys Like Me” the dance intensity level jumped a notch. As we peaked, Thair equalized the set with “Be Good” which solidified his talent and stage presence. He then rolled into new music that made him feel “Gay as shit.” His set was clean and tight and ended with “Thotty Dysmporphia” which is arguably his anthem, if not a signature sign-off.

Part of the post-pandemic show-scape journey is performing in front of actual people and being nervous as fuck. Although Carlile said she was nervous, she hid it well. Maybe it was the beautifully layered custom-made dress, or the grove of painted tree limbs, but the performance was lovely.

She’s learning to play the keys and tried out a handful of new songs, too; which was a total treat. The bass was heavy and intense, which was felt even deeper as she went into “Quintessential Love” where every dance step was met with a throttling punch to the chest. Damn, what a delicious way to experience music! When she went into “Back Seat” you saw the glint of power and confidence in her eyes. Though her set was only six songs, it was wonderful to hear Carliile’s voice live and feel the realness from a six-month immersion of solitude in the woods come to life on stage.

“I’m Loona Dae and I come to you peacefully,” the first words Loona Dae spoke had us all charmed and intrigued. She brings Chicago alt-RnB by way of St. Louis and started her set soft yet stunning, giving new meaning to the word ‘intimate’. This part of the evening’s journey was - in a word - beautiful. Her vocals were dynamite bringing in the audience to add ambience.

She turned it up with “I Keep Fallen” which got the whole house dancing through a montage of killer guitar riffs and slick basslines. Her set ended with “Summertime (You Remind Me)” and it felt like it was over as fast as it started. If I could speak selfishly for a second, I’ll say that I wanted more, so much more. Her authentic performance interwoven with dancing and the backing musical talents of a trio of musicians she called, ‘Chris to the Third Power' was memorable and immaculate. This is an artist worth seeing over and over again.

Bringing the night to a close was the incomparable Emily Blue. She opened with “7 Minutes” and immediately brought the house to a fever pitch. Her band is nothing short of crazy-talented and makes every minute of the set something to remember. I’ve seen Emily play four times in various versions of herself and a backing band and Saturday night was something special. When she went into ‘Waterfallz” the intensity climaxed, switching between soaring synths, bombastic basslines, and beat drops.

This is the part of the post-pandemic journey where the audience gets to see hints of the artistic explorations our fav musicians experienced during the lockdown,. Emily brought back Thair to perform their collab cover of “Rain on Me,” showing off the incredible range Thair brings to the game. As the set went on, Emily played her newest single “See U In My Dreams,” and dropped in a full-band percussion breakdown that included shakers and a cowbell that had the whole crowd jamming on their groove. The emotions ran high when Emily asked the crowd to put away their phones and sang a heartfelt tribute to long-time friend, collaborator, and producer Max Perenchio called “Candle”. She closed the night with “Falling In Love” giving the audience time to wipe their tears and dance the rest of the evening away.

This is only part of the journey. The world as we know it is fluctuating and we’re all wondering what’s going to happen next. I want to send out a massive thank you to the four bands we saw on Saturday night. Thank you for being brave and sharing your talent, thank you for being a light in our skies, and thank you for being you. We love you. What we have right now is each other and the music we love. Stay strong, Chicago, and be safe.

-aaron pylinski