The recent sold-out show by a band named Hockey at Lincoln Hall was met with a lot of anticipation. The band played Schubas last October and was the opening act for Portugal. The Man. Although I couldn’t wait to see them in October, when lead singer Ben Grubin took the stage he informed the crowd he was sick as he somewhat sang with strained vocals. He also mentioned that he usually has some crazy dance moves but since he was under the weather, he wasn’t performing them. I have earnestly enjoyed the Portland, Oregon based band’s album, Mind Chaos, and could tell they had a lot of potential from seeing their live performance. Unfortunately, I got the sense that performance had been a bit phoned-in and regretted that I hadn’t heard them healthy or at least giving the show one hundred percent. So when the announcement came they were playing Lincoln Hall and headlining, I wanted to see them another time.
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Hockey
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Lincoln Hall
Chicago, IL
March 17, 2010
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The show had a different feel this time. It was obvious Hockey had gained a bit of confidence through months of touring and did their best to fill the larger concert space. The difference of this performance, as compared to the one back in October, when they took to the stage and started their set with the song “Work,” they emerged under a plume of fog machine smoke and a bigger stage’s lights. Now that Hockey was filling a larger venue, the crowd seemed to be a broader range of revelers then at Scubas. With them starting to reach a larger audience, and from what I heard around me, many who came did not know the band too well, but had heard good things from a friend.
Lead Singer Ben Grubbin, guitarist Brian White, bassist Jeremy Reynolds, drummer Anthony Stassi and keyboardist Ryan Dolliver, did their best to get the crowd dancing and the crowd obliged. Ben, with his slight frame and single feather earring, appeared a bit bashful and didn’t banter much with the audience. For the most part, he just went from one song to the next and could have engaged the audience a bit more. The gang performed “Learn to Lose” and then performed a new song, “Rebels Marry Young,” which had a lighter feel than the rest of their music. The band is currently working on a new album. Although the crowd was polite during the unknown new song, the crowd was happy to hear the familiar tune, “3AM Spanish” next.
This was definitely a show where the crowd came to dance and the mood was infectious. There were some slower moments with the bands two strong ballads, “4 Holy Photos,” where Ben plays the harmonica and the sentimental “Song Away.” The new wave band saved their most well known song, “Too Fake,” for the encore and everyone in the room seemed to know the song and sing along.
Both instrumentals and vocals were fairly tight throughout the entire performance. And for their big finish, Hockey did a soulful performance of “Put Your Game Down.” It’s nice to see a band with untapped potential, slowly start to mature from one performance to the next and it’s nice to see a young band put their own soulful, dance music take on the new wave scene.
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