Blue October Entertainment Art The Vic Chicago, Ill. October 11, 2007

Wearing his traditional eye liner and black nail polish, as well as his well-known black suit, Furstenfeld put his heart into this performance, as did his reverse-mohawked guitarist, along with the rest of the fellows in the band. Strobes and colorful lights flashed along with the music, creating a myriad of things to look at, but most intriguing of all was the variety of sound. Song after song I was astounded by how Blue October could sound like a totally different band from one tune to the next. Even Furstenfeld’s voice changed along with the mood necessitated by the lyrics. His voice was cool and sad while singing their hit “Hate Me,” but strong, resonant, and harsh in others like “Drilled A Wire Through My Cheek.” The mix of songs was excellent, going from something hard like “Somebody,” into something lilting and memorably melodic like “Into the Ocean,” and fans that are used to hearing recorded versions of the songs might be pleased to know that Blue October rocks a little harder live.

The band kept fans entertained throughout the show and there was hardly a dull moment to be found anywhere. Although, leaving the stage eighty percent of the way through the show and then returning to play four encores seems a bit contrived and is something I’ve personally seen the band do on other occasions. What ever happened to the single encore? Playing encore after encore has an unsettling effect, at least on me, and I wonder why the band chooses to do it.

Despite that though, the show was well worth attending and has only reaffirmed my belief that Blue October is an extremely talented band that can, and should, only get bigger from here on out.

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