On Tuesday, October 17 of 2023, The Aces performed live at Chicago’s legendary House of Blues. Located right in between the Red line stops of Grand and State/Lake, this gem hosts hundreds of bands each year. With the unique interior design filled with various jazz based art, giving fans a unique eclectic vibe the moment they walk into the venue. While the main floor holds two walk up bars that also serve great food, it is a standing room only floor allowing fans to dance and be as close as they would like to the stage, depending how early they’re willing to show up. Seats are available on the first floor by reservation only, and they are quite limited.
The House of Blues hosted Carol Ades along with The Aces as the opener for the show. Fans seemed to have found familiarity in their style of music, and the duo pointed out some familiar faces they have continued to see in the crowd. Carol Ades started the crowd with two songs on their album, Sunny Disposition & Crying During Sex, and was able to share unreleased songs with their fans in attendance.
Carol Ades and her bassist / girlfriend, Maddie, shared their struggles being in a long distance relationship for almost a year. They shared their first unreleased song stating that this was a callback to their time apart, when Maddie was in Sweden and Carol was in LA. The song was deeply personal, and had one fan stating “the long distance girlies are feeling it tonight”. Carol Ades was able to get deeply personal through their unreleased songs and has everyone in the crowd feeling their love prevail.
As The Aces and Carol Ades write LGBTQ+ songs, the crowd was a vast array of allies and members of the community feeling free and comfortable to be themselves. The venue even hosted the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, with the campaign “Be the Voice”. Here they had a table at the entrance with LGBTQ pride buttons, stickers, and helpful pamphlets for those struggling with their mental health. They offered different outlets for each member of the crowd, and were able to have deep and educating conversations. The crowd, as well as the venue and the bands were such a welcoming community, making it very easy to talk to people and get to know them.
About fifteen minutes after Carol Ades took the stage, The Aces followed on the checkerboard printed stage. Each band member took the stage wearing their finest suit, besides their bassist who wore a very elegant dress. The band played songs from their album called I Loved You For So Long. They opened with Always Get This Way, giving fans a vibrant, and lively entrance that carried through the show. Numerous fans continued to share their favorites from this LGTBQ band throughout the show. Their personal highlights being My Phone is Trying to Kill Me and Girls Make Me Wanna Die.
The band gave a false ending starting with their hit Volcanic Love, a lively song that hits closer to rock than the pop the band mostly plays on their album. The band began saying goodbye to their lovely fans when they began to cheer for Daydream, the band’s most popular song. The crowd erupted as they were ecstatic to get the band to play one more song. This was probably the loudest the crowd had sung all night. Pushing their luck, they began to chant for another song immediately after they ended. The Aces gave into the crowd and played an “ultimate fan favorite” as stated by the band: Stuck. This show stopping hit had all the fans leaving with a smile on their face, and dancing into the street.
Overall Carol Ades and The Aces put on an amazing concert, leaving all their fans satisfied. Some even continued to play their music as we left the venue, showing just how much love these fans have for them. They are taking their tour worldwide playing Australia and Tokyo in the months to come. If you can catch them, I would highly recommend going! If not, consider seeing a show at the House of Blues, they had great accommodations, as well as nice staff and an incredible amount of history to share.
You can join The Aces growing fanbase now anywhere you stream music!