The Metro was full of the usual suspects last Wednesday—20-something college kids sporting proud orange wristbands which drew the eye to hands holding casual vodka tonics or half-full cups of beer; older loners picking out other 40-somethings for company; and hip youngsters trying to hustle for a drink between covert puffs on the one-hitter.
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Atmosphere
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 Entertainment
Art
Metro
Chicago, Ill.
April 23, 2008
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On the second night in Chicago for Atmosphere, the day after their new album “If Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold” was released in stores, DJ Slug was giggly and comfortable—decompressed.
After DJ Rare Groove’s set of new-wave hip-hop (Jurassic 5, some Roots, a remix of Marley’s “One Love”), Sean Daley aka DJ Slug came out on stage to conduct a fan karaoke set. With wavering voices and faux pomp, each fan seemed to impress him. “I gotta tell you,” he said jokingly. “I thought this karaoke thing would give me something to make fun of.” Instead, he nodded his head to bursts of applause after each act, handed out copies of discs and sipped what looked like a vodka-cranberry from a red straw.
“Man, you’re tight, you got a name?” Slug asked a guy that spit out the charged, quick-paced “Say Hey There” without missing a beat.
“No, man, not yet,” he replied, and a stray voice from the audience shouted, “He was offering you a job!”
Abstract Rude warmed up the crowd with clever, quick lyrics (“Daddy was a democrat, I ain’t no republican…”) and after a 15 minute wait, Ant and Slug strolled in with the live band.
At 6’5”, Slug has a commanding presence, and his stage persona kicked in instantly after the first beats of “Less One.” Alternately commandeering and cajoling his crowd, Slug seemed sensitive about achieving a balancing act between the “new stuff” and the old, switching over to medleys of the crowd-pleasing tunes from his 2006 album - You can’t believe how much fun we’re having. The new Atmosphere, a more relaxed, a-cappella, instrumental feel worked well. As a skeptic of the new album, I was impressed with the transformation of the songs on stage.
The band was focused and Slug was semi-miming his new songs with such energy that after my two cocktails kicked in and after I got away from the bitchy girl in front of me, I stopped observing and started just enjoying the feel of the show.
The highlights of the set were “Guns and Cigarettes,” “Shoulda Known,” and a heartfelt encore: “Guarantees” off the new album.
The bombastic climax of the release party was over and the music and performance was genuine. Good show, good people, and a good vibe. Not even the fact that I fell asleep on the red line, waking up at the Harrison stop at 2am and having to take a cab home, could ruined my night.
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