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The Futureheads @ Lincoln Hall, Chicago.

Nearly four years since their last visit to Chicago, The Futureheads made a triumphant return to the Windy City this past Saturday to close out their North American tour in support of The Chaos. And looking back at the night, the age-old phrase “no rest for the wicked” can’t help but come to mind.

By the time support acts The Static Jacks and The Like had finished their sets at 11:30pm, the room at Lincoln Hall may not have been packed to the brim, but the excitement in the air was palpable. After all, most in attendance had been awaiting The Futureheads’ return for almost four years. Finally, a few minutes after midnight the lights dimmed, the sounds of Cheap Trick’s “Hello There” began to blast, and one by one The Futureheads made their way on stage. Looking quite dapper in a classic black suit with a red rose pinned on his lapel, Barry Hyde strapped on his guitar and looked out at the cheering crowd, “Good evening. We are The Futureheads from Sunderland in the North of England. Prepare to meet your doom.” And so it all began.

“5-4-3-2-1 LET’S GO!” The band furiously launched into the title track of their latest album The Chaos and even after just one song it was clear The Futureheads were in top form and had every intention of making Saturday night one for the books, at one point joking that everyone make their way to the bar, douse themselves in vodka and light themselves on fire: “We want it to get messy in here tonight, Chicago!”

Ross Millard, Jaff Craig, Dave Hyde, and Barry powered through an electrifying set, playing material from all four studio albums, including beloved singles “First Day,” “Decent Days and Nights,” and “The Beginning of the Twist.” During a quick guitar swap, the crowd was even treated to a Futureheads-style rendition of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” (“Little known fact: I wrote that song. Everyone says they wrote it, but it was actually me,” joked Barry). Throughout their set, it wasn’t only their incredibly tight musicianship that shone bright but also their natural, charismatic stage presence; charming the crowd with jokes and witty banter on topics ranging from the brilliance of Chicago carparks (the best in the world according to Barry, “I know, I’ve been on holiday to look at carparks”), American obscenities, the Chicago ‘bastardization’ of Italian pizza (“You’ve managed to turn it into an actual pie, brilliant!”), beer, and, of course, ‘football’.

Charming intros to songs like “Skip To the End” (“Alright, for this next one we would like it if you could all go the bouncy bounce dance, good song for the bouncy bounce dance!”) and  ”Heartbeat Song” (“For this song, you have to pretend you’re in a John Hughes film and you’ve just fallen in love”) only made the boys from Sunderland that much more endearing. Before ripping into “Sun Goes Down,” Barry asked that the room go dark and the lights be red and moody, declaring “This is a vampire sex song….and I will glamour you.” And he did, as everyone swayed to Jaff’s heavy bass line and hung on Barry’s every word.

Being the last night of the tour, The Futureheads invited The Static Jacks and The Like back on stage to play one last round of  the so-called ‘Futureheads Game’ during “Hounds of Love,” which sees the room split in two sections to sing the track’s background harmonies. A raucous party exploded on and off stage as everyone unleashed what seemed to be all the pent up excitement that had built up since the last time The Futureheads were in town.

The night, however, was far from over. Wearing a cheeky grin and using air quotes, Barry informed the sweaty, dazed crowd that they needed complete silence to start their “last” song as they needed to sing acapella. As they began to harmonize the intro to “Jupiter”, it became apparent that the audience was nowhere near ready to end their night with these boys. And in a way, you could tell they weren’t ready to end their night with Chicago.

They left the stage only to return no more than two minutes later, the crowd cheering louder and louder with each passing second. They began the encore with the first song they ever wrote together, “Le Garage,” prompting another loving crowd singalong. Next up, they asked the eager crowd if they wanted to hear the fastest song in their repertoire, “The Connector.” Funny thing about The Futureheads, every song seems like the fastest song in their repertoire, especially as you watch them furiously play one after the other, the next faster than the last. But perhaps the most fascinating part of watching The Futureheads on stage is their immunity to growing tired, or at least their ability to hide it and charge on. Truly extraordinary stamina. As the song ended, the crowd cried out for one more song, two more, maybe even ten more. But after firing through 21 songs in less than 90 minutes and proclaiming that they never usually do a 5-song encore, The Futureheads finally, and perhaps a bit reluctantly, bid Chicago farewell with “Man Ray.”

The Futureheads stormed through and rocked Chicago with an energy that felt as if they’d been resting and gearing up for this one specific night for the last few months. However, ten cities and the last two weeks would beg to differ. And in only days, they will find themselves trekking across Europe rocking the festival circuit.

No rest for the wicked, indeed.

SETLIST: The Chaos / Walking Backwards / Robot / Heartbeat Song / Meantime / Struck Dumb / Decent Days and Nights/ I Can Do That / First Day / Skip to the End / Back to the Sea / Sun Goes Down / The Beggining of the Twist / Carnival Kids / Hounds of Love / Jupiter —- ENCORE: Le Garage / The Connector / Work is Never Done / Stupid & Shallow / Man Ray

Let’s hope it’s not another four years until their next visit to Chicago.

June 15, 2010 at 10:59 am 2 comments