The announcements for the annual year-end smorgasbord that is the Chicago New Year’s Eve concert schedule have started to roll in. So far the slate already seems like an improvement over last year.
It doesn’t hurt that we have a great new venue, Lincoln Hall, who will bring the Fiery Furnaces [click the links for tickets]. Better yet, the show is only $20, a bargain considering the typically inflated fees for these fetes that include gratis noisemakers and a plastic cup of champagne (or PBR, if you’re at Empty Bottle). The Schubas brothers’ eponymous older club will welcome Bobby Bare Jr. [$20] (The Furnaces will also play Schubas on Dec 30 for 5 bucks less.)
Lush Swedish indie-pop isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think all-night party, but regardless Jens Lekman [$30] will get hipper kids to swoon-in the new year at Empty Bottle.
Mash-up king Girl Talk [$35] will turn Congress Theater into a sweat pit. Hopefully the venue puts down the same plastic tarps used for the Insane Clown Posse visits.
After the two dudes have gotten their fix dabbling in side projects (the drummer’s solo project, Drummer, hits Schubas tonight, in fact), the Black Keys [$49] return together at the Riviera.
Long-running locals, er, Local H [$65] hit Double Door.
Other shows announced so far include Big Head Todd and the Monsters at the House of Blues, the Smoking Popes at Durty Nellie’s and the Gin Blossoms at the Intercontinental Hotel over by O’Hare. Whoo.
Metro, who tend to bring in the best acts, has yet to announce its final show of 2009. We’ll keep you posted.










When John Lithgow started on 3rd Rock from the Sun, I was surprised to see the bad dude from Raising Cain, Cliffhanger, Footloose and Buckaroo Bonzai going slapstick. Of course, he was hilarious. So good, in fact, that now that he’s going back to villainy, younger Dexter fans will be taken aback.