Horseshoes and Hand Grenades took over Schubas in Chicago on May 2nd for a high energy Summer Camp Pre-Party with plenty of feet stomping and hand clapping to go along with their music. Considering their name, it was almost ironic that this show took place on Derby Day, and many ladies in the crowd wore their big floppy Derby hats to the show.
This was also a Album Release Party for H&HG’s latest studio creation Middle Western, which has been over a year an a half in the making.
The concert opened with The Lowest Pair, a banjo duo that focused heavily on harmony and quirkiness. Their backwoods lyrics gave a uniqueness to their message and often evoked the natural elements of the earth. The room was fairly packed, but The Lowest Pair quickly captured their audience and held their attention the whole entire set.
By the time Horseshoes and Hand Grenades took to the stage, everyone was ready to see what this Wisconsin band had to offer. No matter how many notes they played, there was a a simplicity to this band’s approach. An actual grenade decorated the only microphone on stage, which was shared by all members, giving them a connection to each other that was clearly part of the act.
This is the type of band that works together to achieve a specific effect and each member shines in multiple ways throughout their performance. When they weren’t sharing harmonies, they would step forward to the microphone for a stand out solo that would project their songs into new territories time and time again.
H&HG is an all-strings band with the exception of David Lynch, who handles vocals, plays harmonica, and sports an accordion from time to time. At one point this Pigpen-esque musician even cracked open a beer into the microphone for the perfect “pssst” in the middle of the show to kick off the next song.
The room was near packed with a rambunctious crowd of devoted fans ready to get down to whatever H&HG threw their way. Someone from the audience even sent the band shots of what they thought was whiskey, but turned out to be Malort. They played off this Chicago tradition with grace, earning themselves even more respect with the Chicago crowd.
It’s not often you see a band put so much energy into their music. Horseshoes and Hand Grenades is the type of act that truly loves what they do and their passion was almost infectious at Schubas that night. They were fun in every sense of the word and I can’t wait to see them at Summer Camp Music Festival!
“Middle Western” release party in Chicago Posted by Captured by Carmel on Monday, May 4, 2015
