Osees Drop Particularly & Visceral & Intense Performance at Chicago’s Thalia Hall (SHOW REVIEW)

Photo Credit: Titouan Massé

Booking a two-night residency in Chicago at the same time Riot Fest is going on down the street might be considered a bold move for some punk bands. But when your band happens to be venerable psych-punk legends the Osees, such concerns really need not apply. Granted, it probably didn’t hurt that day 1 of Riot Fest was mostly characterized by the type of insufferable emo wailing that would send most Osees fans running for cover (which was effectively the case for this reviewer). So, although not quite the same scenes really, the jam-packed crowd on hand at Thalia Hall on September 16th to witness Osees’ peculiar brand of mayhem was nonetheless impressive considering the sizeable festival taking place less than 3 miles away.

John Dwyer acknowledged as much, telling the crowd at the beginning of their set “thank you for coming here instead of Riot Fest”, much to everyone’s amusement. Granted it was technically possible to attend most of Riot Fest during the day and jet over to Thalia Hall for the nightcap, but only a crazy person would do that (guilty as charged).

In any event, coming in fresh off the heels of their positively batshit new album A Foul Form, John Dwyer, and company effectively channeled that record’s raw and manic energy into their delightfully unhinged live performance Friday night. Granted an Osees show is almost always a “delightfully unhinged” affair, but this one felt particularly visceral and intense, but no less fun of course. In fact, it is entirely possible that Osees are getting both heavier and louder as they get older, which is notable considering it typically works the other way around for most bands. And oh sweet baby Jesus was Osees loud and heavy as all fuck at Thalia Hall Friday night, to such an extent that it felt borderline overwhelming at times.

Perhaps this reviewer had been spoiled by the relatively flatter open-air sounds of Riot Fest earlier in the day, but whatever the case, Osees performed with enough blistering intensity to almost melt my entire face off. Granted hearing songs like the sludgy “Withered Hand” (which opened the show), the devastating “Animated Violence”, and the electrifying thrill-ride “The Dream” live can tend to do that to a person, but it sure seemed like John Dwyer and company were delivering these jams will a little extra oomph to say the least. Selections from the aforementioned A Foul Form came hard and fast around the middle of the set, but it was old-school gems like “Warm Slime” and “Chem Farmer” (which was particularly awesome live with two drummers) was a special treat for yours truly. 

Overall, witnessing Osees live for the first time in a few years felt like the aural/physical equivalent of taking a beer-soaked lightning-bolt-fueled rollercoaster ride for over an hour straight. If that sounds fun and intense, well, it sure as fuck was. Osees are quite literally a live force of nature, essentially possessing the crowd with their brain-boiling intensity, and melding it into something else entirely, a swirling, delightfully chaotic form. A Foul Form indeed (in the best possible way, of course).

And would be remiss for not giving a shoutout to Bronze, who opened the show in an equally deafening fashion, albeit of an entirely different nature. With the help of some hypnotically loud electronic experimentation/noise that often felt like it was coming from another dimension, the trio from San Francisco delivered a bizarrely intense and awesome rhythmically synth-heavy performance. Coupled with the Osees obliterating performance, there was little doubt in this reviewer’s mind that Thalia Hall was absolutely the place to be in Chicago Friday night (Riot Fest be dammed).

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