Latest news with #Caamp
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
What to do in Chicago: Blues Fest, the ‘Grand National Tour' and Jeremy Piven doing standup
Kendrick Lamar and SZA: You got a taste during the Super Bowl, but now you can see the full show. Kendrick Lamar and SZA bring their 'Grand National Tour' to a sold-out Soldier Field. Expect the two to trade off sets before performing together during the nearly three-hour show. Rolling Stone called it 'a spellbinding display of star power.' Chicago Blues Festival: Mavis Staples caps off the Chicago Blues Festival on Sunday, but in the meantime, you have dozens of reasons to head downtown. Catch Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Friday in a B.B. King tribute, along with D.K. Harrell and Jonathan Ellison with the B.B. King Centennial Band. Or, see him Saturday night when he headlines on his own. 57th Street Art Fair: If you'd like to browse some art and also work in some blues, head to Hyde Park. Now in its 78th year, the juried fair offers the opportunity to browse the works of more than 150 artists. Buddy Guy's Legends also hosts a stage. Jeremy Piven: Evanston native Jeremy Piven brings his stand-up routine to The Vic. Perhaps best known for his Emmy Award-winning performance as a Hollywood agent in HBO's 'Entourage,' Piven has had a long acting career that started with training at the Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by his parents, Bryce and Joyce Piven. Caamp: The folk-rock band's two-night stand at the Salt Shed coincides with the release of their new album, 'Copper Changes Color.' Following an initial burst of success a few years back, the Ohio-bred Caamp canceled shows in 2023 to work on their mental health. This international tour marks their return — and clearly they've been missed. Ravinia Festival: Get thee to the Metra! Ravinia kicks off its summer season this weekend with Heart on Friday and Grace Jones and Janelle Monáe on Saturday. Ann and Nancy Wilson return to Ravinia with the rest of Heart, marking the 50th anniversary of the release of their debut album, 'Dreamboat Annie.' Then, on Saturday, Jones and Monáe light up Highland Park as only they can. Get there early for LGBTQ+ dance party Queen! Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals: Last month, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter released a new song, 'Before the Rain Dried.' Now he's on a world summer tour that stops at the Auditorium Theatre before rolling on to a couple dozen other venues, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Lincoln Park Greek Fest: Maybe you've been to Greektown, but have you enjoyed the filoxenia — hospitality — of the Lincoln Park Greek Fest? Centered around St. George Greek Orthodox Church, the festival offers a mix of traditional Greek music and folk dancing, Greek food and a lot of the standard fixings of a Chicago summer festival. Ribfest Chicago: Smoke will rise in Northcenter this weekend, as crowds gather to binge on barbecue. It's the 25th annual Ribfest, featuring more than 20 food vendors, whiskey tastings, live music and kids entertainment. Dinopalooza Dino Derby: Faster than a nanotyrannus? Break out your best dinosaur duds and head to the Field Museum for its Dino Derby. The winner gets a $1,000 cash prize. It's part of Summer of Sue, the museum's 25th anniversary celebration of its beloved display. While you're there, see the Jabberworcky Marionettes' dinosaur puppets, see show off your dino smarts during live game shows, participate in arts and crafts and more family fun.
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Caamp frontman Taylor Meier says he's ‘C-list folk singer famous,' but he sold out the Salt Shed
Caamp frontman Taylor Meier isn't fazed by writer's block. 'I'm never like, 'Oh, I wonder if I have the songs,'' he admits over the phone from home in Columbus, Ohio, during that liminal space between intense rehearsals and the kickoff of a 32-date tour that brings the banjo-infused folk rockers to the Salt Shed Fairgrounds for two sold-out shows on Thursday and Friday to promote this week's release of a long-awaited fifth album, 'Copper Changes Color.' 'They're coming to me at such a rate right now and such a sincerity,' he says. And, yes, he understands how infuriating that sounds. 'I'm friends with enough musicians and enough creatives at this point to be super aware of what the inverse looks like, and to see people struggle and go dry and doubt themselves,' he says. 'I'm sure that a slower era is on my horizon at some point.' The deceptively simple secret to this prolific output that keeps Caamp (in addition to Sumbuck, his solo side project) awash in deeply personal, bittersweet vignettes? 'I don't shy away from writing. If it comes, I write the song,' he says bluntly. He fears probing deeper into the mystery of his craft. 'If I knew, I don't think I'd really be able to do what I do,' he attests. 'Yes, it's from me in a way, but it's also very much for me. I do this stuff because it truly makes my soul happy. What I do makes me smile. I'm lucky to still be in love with it all.' That rose-colored sheen dipped in 2023 after eight years of grinding it out on the road and in the studio, first as a duo with Caamp co-founder and childhood friend Evan Westfall (banjo) and then with an expanded, permanent lineup including Matt Vinson (bass), Joseph Kavalec (keyboards) and Nicholas Falk (drums). Despite incremental successes (late-night TV appearances, conquering Colorado's iconic Red Rocks, major festival slots, a spot on former president Barack Obama's summer playlist and strong chart showings culminating with 2022's 'Lavender Days' reaching the No. 5 spot on Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums chart), Meier abruptly pulled the plug on all the band's remaining appearances for the year citing 'untimely knocks to my health' in an Instagram post and offered refunds to bewildered ticket holders. Speculation percolated online, some of it wild and a lot of it invasive, like most internet chatter is, which didn't upset Meier as much as it stunned him. 'I'm not even famous!' he exclaims. 'I am C-list folk singer famous. I can't even imagine what the actual tops of my industry go through.' Apart from scattered one-off dates, Caamp flew under the radar until the 'Somewhere' EP broke through the winter doldrums in February with Meier tenderly pointing out in his sandy squall of a voice on the first single 'Let Things Go' that maintaining a death grip on the entanglements and duties battling for our attention is a recipe for disaster. He doesn't mince words in the lyrics: 'You can let it roar / You can let it out / You can let things go / And anything your heart needs to make you feel better.' 'That song is the anecdote. It's not an answer by any means, but it's just kind of me trying to sing a lesson to myself,' he reveals. 'I chose to keep the details of my struggle private and will continue to do so, but that's the sentiment that got me through it and that's what I want to sing to my fans every night.' Gearing up to leave the comforts of home behind takes some grit, especially for a bunch of self-described 'homebodies.' 'We love our houses, routine, community,' Vinson admits in a separate phone call, stressing that he's not complaining about the road, it's just 'you caught us at the exact perfect time when we're leaving in one week and it kind of seems like the world is ending.' Pre-tour jitters aside, Vinson says the band is 'fully, fully rested' and 'morale is good.' Meier emphasizes the interpersonal work everyone put in during the break to come back together stronger. 'Heal the heart and fix the head,' he intones like a mantra. And just like Dorothy and her ruby slippers, the path to this place of ease always lurked inside him. 'You have all the tools the whole time, but it's just what you choose to pay attention to. Maybe I was paying attention to the wrong things — whatever it was. But I feel as if I'm dialed into the right things now,' he explains. In between the expected campfire harmonies and a left turn into Strokes-era nostalgia, the gorgeous 'Copper Changes Color' lays bare Meier's evolving mental state. In the jostling 'Mistakes,' he sings, 'Feels like I'm just trying to keep my plants alive / And trying to drink water,' while in the plaintive, piano-driven 'Living & Dying & In Between,' he reveals 'I wanna live/I don't want to die/They can feel so much alike.' Madi Diaz guests on the gauzy 'One True Way,' which contemplates if we're really meant for one thing. And 'Drive' cinematically rides off into the sunset, unsure of the destination, but certain of how to get there. The album's 11 tracks don't strive to be confessional, just open. 'It's kind of been this crazy process of, as I've gotten older, of getting a little bit more transparent,' Meier explains. 'Before, it could have been maybe construed on life stuff that I was wanting to feel. But there's bits of me in there now and I don't really hide from it or hide behind it.' Recorded in bursts between Oregon, Texas and New York, the sessions for 'Copper Changes Color' adhered to the same process in place since the band's self-titled debut in 2016. Meier brings in almost fully-fleshed out songs, which the band learns on the spot and then it's go-time. 'It's not as do or die as it sounds,' Vinson reassures. Minor things can be added or edited out months later, but importantly, 'there's an element of something live in everything Caamp has truly ever done.' That ability of the five members to lock-in on stage or in the studio without going 'through the grinder' to achieve it keeps the band from straying too far. 'Our chemistry playing is something that will never not amaze me. Just being in a room together and the telepathy of our musicianship, which is fueled by our friendship — that will never get old,' Vinson says. Meier shares the sentiment. 'There's always gonna be other music and other projects and other collaborators in my life,' he admits. But, 'I always come back home.'
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Caamp will headline Surly Festival Field in June
Another show has been added to the Surly Brewing Festival Field lineup. Folk rock group Caamp will headline a night at the brewery's outdoor grounds on June 8. The Ohio-based band arrives just after the release of its new EP, Somewhere, its first new music since 2022's Lavender Days. No opener has been announced for the concert, which will be one of the first of the Festival Field season, following dates with Cake (May 29) and hometown indie group Hippo Campus (May 31). Tickets are on sale to the public on Friday, March 28. Additionally, $1 from each ticket will support The Great Heights Movement, a charity founded by Caamp in 2022 that supports music education, social justice, and sustainability.
