Seriously, I do hate the thought of you missing out on this show considering it was three solid hours of rock!

I had never been to Beat Kitchen before, but I had heard great things.  When I arrived on Saturday night, however, I quickly realized that my friends had undersold it.  Holy shit, this place is so awesome!  Nice beer selection, great ambience, food which I didn’t try but was probably delicious, and the perfect little venue in the back room.  So I grabbed a beer and went to wait for Burndoubt.

I had wandered around Burndoubt’s bandcamp prior to the concert, so I had an idea of what was going to come out of the speakers.  This band is so delightfully loud, it was fantastic.  Considering there were only two people on stage, they created a wildly explosive sound.  After playing some fast paced songs, the lead singer decided to “slow things down, for those of you who are scared as shit.”  They must have noticed the youth next to me who had her fingers shoved in her ears for the first couple songs.  Garage punk is not for those with feeble ears!  Well done, boys.  They also sang a song “for all the girls…which is about 95% of you.”  The band played a few more pounding tunes before very quickly fleeing the stage.  Burndoubt has three songs you can download for free here at their bandcamp.

Now, I freely admit it…I’m usually not partial to bands with female singers, but damn, this band is excellent!  I always get super psyched when I discover a band that has a kick ass lead female, and Bully definitely found theirs in Alicia Bognanno.  Their bandcamp has two songs on it that you can listen to, but it did not prepare me for how full their live set would sound.  As the music pulsed through the audience’s bodies, I thought desperately, “I must have this music!”  Seriously, you need to check them out.  Bully is from Nashville, but the lead singer has family in Chicago which makes me think they’ll be coming through more frequently than they would other cities.  Or at least one would hope!

With the room now fully packed with fangirls and fans alike, it was time for Drowners.  Now I was supposed to have seen this band in 2013 when they played Lollapalooza but it seems I must have had a little too much fun the night before.  Needless to say, I was stoked to see that they were coming through Chicago after the release of their self-titled LP.  The band did NOT disappoint.  After having spent over an hour meeting and talking to fans at the Dr. Martens store on Milwaukee, the band showed up and gave them even more love in the form of a high energy, blissful concert.  All band members seemed to be enjoying the energy the audience was giving back to them, which even elicited a “FUCK YEAH, CHICAGO!”  I always enjoy watching bands who love performing together, and this was definitely one of those instances.  Drowners played all of their hits (which is pretty much every one of them, if we’re being honest) and even threw a new one in there!  I was a little bit worried for the cardiovascular wellbeing of the female teens to my left who were glamoured by lead singer Matt Hitt, but they still managed to sing every song perfectly word for word.  When Drowners come back to Chicago, do not miss the opportunity to see them.  They’ll leave you feeling happy about every aspect of life and feeling like you can take on any challenge the world throws you.  Cheers guys and thanks for a great show!

For more photos, click here.

Review & photos by Abby Walter