{"id":31262,"date":"2018-10-21T12:03:39","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T17:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=31262"},"modified":"2018-10-21T12:04:22","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T17:04:22","slug":"chicagos-own-liz-phair-returns-for-two-night-stay-at-metro-sold-out-opening-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=31262","title":{"rendered":"Chicago’s Own Liz Phair Returns For Two Night Stay At Metro: Sold Out Opening Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David<\/p>\n

Liz Phair returned to Guyville on Saturday night for the first of two hometown Chicago shows at the Metro, capping a year that saw the maverick icon re-establish herself as one of the most moving, entertaining, and talented stars of the \u201890s.<\/p>\n

While rumors of her 1993 classic Exile in Guyville<\/em> being played in its entirety didn\u2019t take shape (something that does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity given what a stunner the Girlysound to Guyville<\/em> boxed set turned out to be), a solid handful of tunes from that set made an appearance; a rarely played \u201cHelp Me Mary\u201d surprised some of the die-hards, while \u201cFuck and Run\u201d and \u201cStratford-on-Guy\u201d had the sold-out crowd singing along like it was an arena.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Phair\u2019s return to the stage couldn\u2019t have come at a better time, frankly, and her joy at being back in the game was visible for every second of the show. She was all smiles as her band made the most of tunes like \u201cNever Said\u201d and raised the bar a little with more guitar solos and a slow-build of an arrangement, and the more radio-friendly material like \u201cExtraordinary\u201d was appropriately at home in front of a sold-out room that was ready to sing along. The soaring chorus of \u201cWhy Can\u2019t I\u201d also featured guest vocals from Speedy Ortiz\u2019s Sadie Dupuis and bassist Darl Ferm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI caught these two doing this song karaoke last night,\u201d Phair quipped as a visibly excited Dupuis blushed and grinned. \u201cSo I thought it made sense for them to come out and help me on this one.\u201d It was a moment that spoke to why Phair\u2019s recent resurgence makes so much sense: in addition to all-things-90s being vogue again (and please, for the love of all that is holy, let it stay that way), the twenty-five years since Guyville<\/em>\u2019s release have seen a new generation of feminist musicians and artists build upon what Phair started, an attitude that called out the shitty cliches of male behavior with style and a smirk. (The mere fact that Guyville<\/em> was taken to be a response to Exile on Main Street<\/em>, the Stones\u2019 hedonist male-manifesto was evidence of Phair\u2019s sense of humor from the very beginning.) While Phair moved past that stylized approach to indie rock with the records that followed 1994\u2019s sophomore effort Whip-Smart<\/em>, it\u2019s still there to be had, and new track \u201cThe Game\u201d gave a taste of what\u2019s to come from Phair\u2019s next record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cMesmerizing,\u201d one of Guyville<\/em>\u2019s strongest tracks, simmered with a bluesy energy and accent, and a slowed-down \u201cGo West\u201d was a welcome deep cut amongst the hits. By the time Phair left the stage after a seventy-five minute set that rarely slowed down, the crowd was just getting warmed up, but Phair was always a master of leaving us wanting more. We got it this year, in spades – let\u2019s hope she keeps her newfound momentum going into 2019 and beyond. Long live the girlysound.<\/p>\n

Setlist: Liz Phair live in Chicago at The Metro October 13th 2018<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Supernova<\/li>\n
  2. Johnny Feelgood<\/li>\n
  3. Cinco de Mayo<\/li>\n
  4. Uncle Alvarez<\/li>\n
  5. Everything to Me<\/li>\n
  6. 6’1″<\/li>\n
  7. Help Me Mary<\/li>\n
  8. The Game<\/li>\n
  9. Mesmerizing<\/li>\n
  10. Polyester Bride<\/li>\n
  11. Statford-on-Guy<\/li>\n
  12. Extraordinary<\/li>\n
  13. Why Can’t I?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Encore:<\/p>\n

    14. Fuck and Run<\/p>\n

    15. Divorce Song<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Christopher David Liz Phair returned to Guyville on Saturday night for the first of two hometown Chicago shows at the Metro, capping a year that saw the maverick icon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}