On Saturday September 7th, 2019, Chicago was blessed with three Music Queens at Lincoln Hall – Stef Chura, Speedy Ortiz, and Ezra Furman.
A delightful bright spot of green graced the Lincoln Hall stage, front and center, and that spot of green was Stef Chura, wearing an adorable colorful jumpsuit. The Detroit native group was the first of three openers, yet drew a huge crowd, almost completely filling the pit and balcony of the venue. Chura dropped their most recent album “Midnight,” this past June and it’s straight fire. The slow build up in “Sweet Sweet Midnight,” is suspenseful and fun which came through during their live performance as the entire crowd danced to this wildly good song.
A glittery pastel queen who can RIP on the guitar – that’s Speedy Ortiz! This band fronted by Sadie Dupuis is originally from Massachusetts but now resides in Philadelphia. Many might define Speedy Ortiz as indie rock but I would respectfully argue they have a resonate mix of punk in their music that transferred into their live performance at Lincoln Hall this past Saturday – Sadie’s delightful style of fun pinks and glitter is brilliantly juxtaposed to her excitedly bouncy movements around the stage, completely shredding on her guitar, often rubbing shoulders with the group’s bassist. Sadie made two heartfelt and touching mini speeches about Chicago Recovery Alliance, a local Chicago organization focused on reducing drug related harm through multiple avenues. Speedy Ortiz partnered with them for this show and the group tabled at the venue.
And with the grace of a ballerina, Ezra Furman came onto stage. With an absolute killer outfit of a stretchy black skirt, fun printed loafers, floral shirt, and topped off with a string of pearls, Furman’s electric presence filled Lincoln Hall to the brim. A quarter of the way through the set, I was delighted to hear the beginning notes of my favorite song by him, “Body Was Made,” (2015) a tune with beautiful and unique body positive lyrics, “Your body is yours, At the end of the day, And don’t let the hateful, Try and take it away, We want to be free, Yeah, we go our own way.” Furman can scream angrily into the mic but then later will croon a deliciously gentle tune – he’s a human of many talents and the Chicago crowd was having a blast the entire set. Stream Furman’s new record, “Twelve Nudes,” if you are looking for a healing and cathartic experience – or if you just like great music. Either works.