Festival Review: Chicago Open Air 2016 Day 3

After two fantastic days of Chicago Open Air 2016, we woke up on Sunday with sore muscles and slight sunburns. However, none of that would stop the excitement surrounding a wild and crazy lineup of bands that was set to play that day. Some aspirin, a big breakfast, and the blackest coffee we could find, and we were off to Toyota Park for Day 3.

The first two days could be considered nothing but a wild success, and no doubt Day 3 would be more of the same. This was the first annual Chicago Open Air festival, and yet typical first-year snafus were noticeably absent at this festival. Logistically, Toyota Park was really well set up. Entrance to the festival was quick and easy thanks to a cloth wrist band that lasted all weekend. Restrooms and food vendors were plentiful and located in great spots. The side stage was extremely well built, and oriented in a way that could support a huge audience. In fact, in talking with countless other fans, the biggest complaint I heard was that fans had to traverse the venue stairs countless times as they went between the main stage and the side stage. Trust me – if that’s the biggest challenge that a first year festival like this has, it’s a raving success.

Musically, the venue was also a home run. So far, we’d been treated to fantastic shows over the first two days, including many shows that would stick with us for years to come. Day 3 also featured an incredible lineup, with We Came as Romans, Letlive, Babymetal, Killswitch Engage, and Five Finger Death Punch all slated to play. In addition to all those shows, festival headliner Slipknot would close out the weekend.

On a day that threatened thunderstorms, I couldn’t wait to get started. Chicago Open Air Day 3 – bring this thing home.

Music Pill Update: Summer 2016 Music

It’s a great time of year to be a music fan. Not only are we in the middle of festival season, but the airwaves are saturated with fantastic new music. In an effort to help you keep up with all the great music that’s being released, we’ve created a list of songs that we want to make sure you don’t miss. We touch on multiple genres below, and hope you’ll find something that you haven’t heard that you might love.

Let me know what you think of these songs, and more importantly, let us know what else you are listening to!

Cheers!

Concert Review – letlive.

letlive. is a band that I can thank Kerrang! for introducing me to when they dropped their third album, titled Fake History, in 2011. This album won the Kerrang! album of the year, and fast-tracked letlive from a small regional act to a fairly well known progressive metal group. Most recently, they landed a spot opening for The Devil Wears Prada on their North American Dead Throne tour.

While I really enjoyed Fake History, and in fact put it on my list of best albums of 2011, letlive was still on the fence for me – they could either be a decent band with one really good album, or they could be a breakthrough band that with great things on the horizon. As it so often happens for me, the make or break judgement call would be made based on their live show. It came down to this: Was the album overproduced and making a mediocre group look better than they actually are, or was this group really talented, and ready to kick my ass? I went into this show with high expectations – letlive, lets party.