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Tomorrow Never Knows Sun Jan 19 2014
Day Four: Tomorrow Never Knows - Superchunk, RoomRunner, Split Single @ Cabaret Metro 1/18/14
It's never a dull moment when Superchunk is in town! The four piece has rearranged itself a little without Laura Ballance accompanying the band for live tours but with more practice given the current lineup, they've become even tighter than when they played a stellar set at this year's Hideout Block Party, giving both their old favorites and their new songs from 2013's ironically entitled I Hate Music. The crowd emphatically knew the words to all of the songs they played and were almost as invigorated as the band seemed, echoing a sense of energy with moshers up front and center.
Lead singer and guitarist Mac McCaughan just never seems to run out of energy on stage jumping around, kicking, pogoing for almost the entire 90 minutes straight. It's a strange sort of dance to have so much movement going on constantly and not miss a beat in the songs, which are sometimes possessed with their own great energy but they pulled it off effortlessly. McCaughan is what I picture Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices to be like 20 years ago without having imbibed any alcohol.
McCaughan found himself reminiscing about playing The Metro in the early '90s and how it seemed like such a huge grand place to them then. He expressed feeling relieved the venue is older than they are and received a laugh about that. It was bittersweet thinking about all of the songs he's created over the past nearly 25 years as a songwriter and how he's kept up the strange art and dance that makes both the albums and the live show click. He's also found a way to bring out the best songs in his catalog (see photos below for setlist) in order to leave fans overall very satisfied and excited about having spent the evening, even a freezing winter night, at a Superchunk show.
McCaughan also thanked the crowd for coming out when it was so cold, comparing it to a really sweltering night in North Carolina when the temperature is over 100°, and he's thankful for people doing anything in those conditions. One couldn't help feeling bad for the band suffering in Chicago's frigid temperatures, but they seemed to be taking it all in stride, enjoying themselves tremendously. Perhaps the only thing that may have made it more fun to experience is if drummer, Jon Wurster, had talked more, as his Twitter account often shows him to be rather hilarious. I guess I remembered it pretty great regardless.