Category: Music

Q101 Twisted 8 Ball (featuring Blink-182, 311, Bush, Sum 41, Puddle of Mudd, Alien Ant Farm, Pete Yorn and the Crystal Method)

Jae-Ha Kim

Just before Blink-182 stepped on stage to headline the Q101 Twisted 8 Ball Thursday night at the United Center, Barry Williams–best known to pop culture fans as the eldest son on “The Brady Bunch”–weaved through the audience making like Eminem. “Will the real Greg Brady please stand up?” Williams chanted as he hopped around on stage. It was a funny moment, but what followed next was weird in the context of a holiday rock show. Q101 personality Mancow Muller appeared onstage to introduce the Portage, Ind., honor guard. The men stood at attention as Wayne Messmer sang a searing rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.” And then one of Muller’s cohorts led the crowd in a chant of “USA!”

‘N Sync’s Lance Bass ‘On the Line’ in his first film

Jae-Ha Kim

Envy me, girls. I am in Lance Bass’s hotel room and guess what? He happens to be here, too.
Never mind that we’re surrounded by his assistant, makeup artist, a handful of publicists and a photographer. I think I saw love in his eyes. OK, maybe it was just the sunlight reflecting from the windows of the W Hotel on Lake Shore Drive. But the point is, Bass–one-fifth of the phenomenally popular boy band ‘N Sync–is so charming he can even make cranky reporters smile.

The Backstreet Boys at the Tweeter Center

Jae-Ha Kim

For all the hammering that boy bands get, the Backstreet Boys were the perfect group to see Saturday night. Just a couple weeks after the terrorist attacks on the United States and talks of impending war, it was a relief to lose yourself in a two-hour show where all you had to worry about was not getting hit with a flying stuffed animal. The Backstreet Boys show was all about fun.

Russell Crowe’s Garage-band sound goes over big at House of Blues

Jae-Ha Kim

He came out in a thong and little else. Unfortunately for the capacity crowd of (predominantly) women who came Monday night to see actor Russell Crowe in the first of two sold-out House of Blues shows, the thong wasn’t on the studly Oscar winner. It was worn by an aboriginal dancer who seemed to scare some members of the audience with his jolting moves.

The Backstreet Boys at the Allstate Arena

Jae-Ha Kim

There was a little of everything at the Backstreet Boys’ concert Monday night at the Allstate Arena, from pyrotechnics to druids to ballerinas. But for the youngsters who filled the venue to capacity, all that could have disappeared, and they still would have been happy just to see–and, I guess, hear–Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough do what they do.

Third Eye Blind, the Jayhawks, Nina Gordon at the House of Blues

Jae-Ha Kim

In the last few seconds of 2000, Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins was in a friendly frenzy at the House of Blues. He had picked out a young woman from the audience whom he wanted onstage NOW to help him count down to the new year. The timing wasn’t perfect, but his efforts didn’t go unappreciated by the capacity crowd of revelers–or the beaming fan who got to hug and briefly chat with all the members of the band–who joined in the countdown, clinked their champagne glasses together and kissed their dates as colorful balloons fell from the rafters.

The Wallflowers at Metro

Jae-Ha Kim

Jakob Dylan’s best songs capture the frailties of human nature. On “Breach”–the latest album by his band, the Wallflowers–Dylan goes a step further, allowing fans to explore all the things he was reticent to talk about in the past (e.g. his famous dad, Bob). At a sold-out concert Thursday night at Metro, Dylan led the group through a superb set that showcased the new, paid homage to the old with a faithful rendition of their breakthrough hit “6th Avenue Heartache,” and included a dead-on cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.”