With its location in the heart of Wicker Park, Subterranean has been a magnet for attracting up-and-coming bands ever since its inception as a live music venue way back in 1994. Celebrating its 30th birthday this year, it’s remarkable to think about all the epic performances it’s played host to the past three decades, especially considering its modest size as a 400-capacity venue. Everyone from the likes of Gogol Bordello to Lizzo to Turnstile has passed through its historic doors before they ultimately moved on to arena-sized venues, so you never really know if who you’re seeing on any given night at Sub-T might go on to be the next big thing.
Such thoughts couldn’t help but come to mind when taking in Lip Critic’s performance on June 21st. Hailing from New York, the band came rolling into Chicago as part of their current tour with a lot of momentum, thanks in large part to the buzz around their shit-hot new album Hex Dealer, which was released earlier this year. Sounding like a warped, funhouse collage of aggressively beat-heavy electro-punk, it’s one of the most infectious albums released thus far in 2024, the type of music that seems tailor-made for a raucous/sweaty Friday night out on the town.
And that’s exactly what their performance at Sub-T was, as the band proved to be even more frenetic live than on record (which is really saying something). Although most of the band’s music is electronica-based, they actually feature two drummers on stage, which helped add an extra raw component to their sound in a live setting. This is all part of what makes Lip Critic such a dynamic/invigorating band, as it was often difficult to tell if you were at a hardcore punk show or a rave during most of their set.
But whether the crowd was bobbing their heads, dancing, or moshing (or all the above), one thing’s for sure: they were always moving. Indeed, the intensity of the band’s music rarely let up, thanks in large part to lead vocalist Bret Kaser’s frequent forays into the crowd, which helped keep the dancefloor/moshpit rightfully amped throughout the show.
One highlight was during his performance of “Sermon”, in which he crawled into the audience to the back of the club, before racing back through the crowd and onto the stage for the explosive/punky second half of the song, which helped accentuate the catharsis of the track. A particularly intense/slowed-down outro for “Milky Max” (in which one of their drummers took the mic) was another highlight and proved to be perhaps the straight-up heaviest moment of the entire evening.
Throughout the night, the band seemed to revel in keeping the crowd on their toes, not just by jumping into the fray but mentally as well, like when they stopped mid-song and collectively froze on stage for what felt like a very long, delightfully awkward/bizarre two minutes or so. This only heightened the anticipation for them to snap out of it and start jamming again, which they finally did, much to the delight (and maybe relief) of the crowd.
All in all, Lip Critic’s show Friday night proved to be everything you might expect from the band in a live setting: it was intense, cathartic, unpredictable, but most importantly, a hell of a lot of fun.
