A Night At Metro with Maps & Atlases

^{Article by Mikey Thornton}

If you get off the Red Line at the Addison stop and walk past Wrigleyville, you’ll find Metro, a vintage venue almost half a century old. Over the years, the Metro has hosted musicians such as Nirvana, Elliot Smith, and Chance the Rapper. On the night of January 18th, for Tomorrow Never Knows Fest (TNK Fest 2025), Maps & Atlases graced that same stage, with Retirement Party opening the night.

Before the opening act, Metro fills slowly with people buying drinks, meeting up with friends at their reserved seating, and grabbing a good view, as most of the venue is standing general admission. The empty stage is dressed with many instruments that will later fill the room with sound and lit by a dark blue light, as miscellaneous-sized bird cages with single light bulbs inside line the back of the stage.

Retirement Party started promptly at 8 pm and played 9 songs. After the third song the lead singer and guitar player, Avery Springer, decked out in Detroit Lions gear, introduced the band. To Springer’s left, also on guitar, was Nick dressed in all black with a rainbow guitar strap standing out, to the right on bass was Katie, and on drums in a red & black flannel was Sam.  For their seventh song the band except for Avery clears the stage as she begins to say into the microphone how she and her best friend Brandon for many years talked about writing a song until they did. That song is “ Skatin”, their most recent release, and that’s when Brandon comes out and Springer hands him her guitar and you as an audience member share a very special moment with them.

At 9 pm headliner, Maps & Atlases comes on stage and immediately gets into it with no introduction. Maps & Atlases is considered and Midwest indie band but listening live felt more like a feeling, like going to a small venue with a couple of friends to see a local band or sneaking down to the beach in summer. Later in the “Living Decorations” the third track off their 2010 album Perch Patchwork. A song with lyrics like “There was a shot in the arms and a death in the gutters” and “tired of waiting for the cold to lift” one can only assume refers to the seasonal depression and gloom that surrounded the Midwest during this time of year. In between songs frontman Dave Davison would remark how many of the songs being played were written near Chicago.
The night continued and the crowd only got more excited. As a melody recognized among the crowd begins, a song that had been asked for all night. “The Fear” is the opening track of their 2018 album Lightlessness is Nothing New. People begin to sing along with the band as the melody overtakes the building, swaying with their friends, or just standing in the back alone. By the end of the night, you could see the audience had a true appreciation for this band.