{"id":51556,"date":"2023-07-13T11:32:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T16:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=51556"},"modified":"2023-07-13T11:32:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T16:32:50","slug":"chapel-hill-indie-group-superchunk-prove-their-worth-as-era-defining-rockers-as-they-play-to-packed-house-at-thalia-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=51556","title":{"rendered":"Chapel Hill Indie Group Superchunk Prove Their Worth As Era Defining Rockers As They Play To Packed House At Thalia Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David<\/p>\n

With each passing year and each subsequent tour, the heaviest-hitters of the 1990s become more and more apparent as the bands of the alt-rock era hit thirty years in the game.\u00a0 Such is the case with Chapel Hill indie rockers Superchunk, whose landmark album On the Mouth<\/em> hits the big three-O this year.\u00a0 And in their Thalia Hall stop on Sunday to kick off a string of dates celebrating that album, they proved\u2014once again\u2014why the \u2018Chunk might just be the most important and enduring rock band of that era.’<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Though frontman Mac McCaughan and guitarist Jim Wilbur are now the only original members (bassist Laura Ballance no longer performs live and drummer Jon Wurster announced his departure from the band in February), bassist and Chicago native Jason Narducy has been with the band onstage now for quite a few years, and drummer Michael Benjamin Lerner (of alt-popsters Telekinesis) fit in just perfectly as the band tore through a long set of deep cuts.\u00a0 On the Mouth<\/em>\u2014the moment at which Superchunk really began to hone their hooks and shape what became the heart of their sound\u2014was represented in its near-entirety, with a four-song set at the beginning and album\/set-closer \u201cThe Only Piece That You Get\u201d being performed for the first time since 1994.\u00a0 In between, they delivered anthemic singalongs like the timeless \u201cSlack Motherfucker\u201d and \u201cThe Question is How Fast,\u201d along with a few cuts from their most recent album, 2022\u2019s Wild Loneliness<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201c1993 was fun and everything,\u201d Mac grinned, finishing off a slate of Mouth<\/em> tunes.\u00a0 \u201cBut let\u2019s move on.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOn the Floor,\u201d one of Loneliness<\/em>\u2019s hallmark tunes, sounded like it could have belonged to the same group of songs, a line that Superchunk has always been able to effortlessly walk: merging the old with the new.\u00a0 At any Superchunk show, you\u2019re liable to hear literally anything from the band\u2019s seemingly bottomless catalog of tunes, and they will all sound perfect together even though they may have come from albums that differ radically in terms of production.\u00a0 It\u2019s a trait few bands can tackle effectively\u2014hell, it\u2019s something a lot of bands never even attempt\u2014but McCaughan has become a master of his craft and his style of songwriting; in many ways, he\u2019s the Bruce Springsteen of his generation, and I mean that in the best of ways: always evolving, confident and comfortable in his band\u2019s skin, happy to embrace the past, and busting ass on-stage as though it\u2019s his band\u2019s first gig.\u00a0 Deep cuts like \u201cWater Wings\u201d and \u201cKicked In\u201d from 1994\u2019s Foolish<\/em> had the energy and panache of brand-new material, and by the time the band reached the encore and the pummeling \u201cSkip Steps 1 & 3,\u201d you\u2019d have been hard-pressed to believe you were watching a band more than thirty years into an airtight career\u2014a testament to Superchunk\u2019s timeless approach to songwriting and tireless touring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For more on Superchunk, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

For photos from the show, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

=============================================================================================<\/p>\n

Superchunk – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL, July 9, 2023 (setlist)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Untied<\/p>\n

From the Curve<\/p>\n

Package Thief<\/p>\n

For Tension<\/p>\n

On the Floor<\/p>\n

Kicked In<\/p>\n

Iron On<\/p>\n

Water Wings
\nBad Choices<\/p>\n

Crossed Wires<\/p>\n

This Night<\/p>\n

Learned to Surf<\/p>\n

Driveway to Driveway<\/p>\n

The Question is How Fast<\/p>\n

Me & You & Jackie Matoo<\/p>\n

Slack Motherfucker<\/p>\n

Mower<\/p>\n

Skip Steps 1 & 3<\/p>\n

Hyper Enough<\/p>\n

Fishing<\/p>\n

The Only Piece That You Get<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David With each passing year and each subsequent tour, the heaviest-hitters of the 1990s become more and more apparent as the bands of the alt-rock era hit thirty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51552,"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-51556","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\/51556","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}