Friday 12
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RHYMEFEST If Rhymefest’s Blue Collar and Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor finally get released when they’re supposed to, it’ll be a banner summer for Chicago hip-hop. Rhymefest’s major-label debut was originally scheduled to drop in mid-2005, but every few months the folks at Allido Records issue a press release with a new date–back in December they were saying March, and this month they pushed it back to July 11. The track listing is out there already, though, and the album ought to sound pretty familiar to anyone who picked up last year’s mix tape Brand New. Blue Collar is plump with cameos (Kanye, Carl Thomas, even a from-beyond-the-grave ODB), and when Fest is good, he’s great–he cowrote Kanye’s hit “Jesus Walks.” But when he’s not, he’s surprisingly mediocre. Rhymefest headlines this show, which is part of Molemen Records’ fourth annual Chicago Rocks festival; see page 30 for a complete schedule. 9 PM, Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace, 773-478-4408 or 866-468-3401, $12, 18+. –Jessica Hopper
Saturday 13
CAPTURED! BY ROBOTS I can’t think of anybody this side of Magma who’s stuck with a sci-fi shtick for as long as Jason Vance, who’s been recording and touring with his disturbingly kinky punk-rock performance art project Captured! by Robots for a decade now. You might think it would’ve run its course, but as JBOT, the lowly human who built robots to play music with and wound up being continually dominated and abused by them in morbidly fascinating ways, Vance has always managed to keep new twists coming. Lately he’s gotten into the wedding racket: on the new Married! by Robots tour, volunteers from the audience can get hitched under the jurisdiction of the Universal Life Church ministry. The idea does create some delightful metaphors–marriage as a form of Stockholm syndrome, Moonie-style mass nuptials as a sign of control by vicious robots–and at the very least it gives everyone a chance to tell the grandkids the first dance at their wedding was “I Peed on Your Waterbed.” Herc. opens. 10 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, 773-281-4444 or 866-468-3401, $10. –Monica Kendrick
PEARL JAM There was a time when Pearl Jam made me cringe, but these days I’m pretty impressed with them–though they always stick to hard-rock fundamentals, with each new record they tweak the music’s textures and song structures. Their latest, Pearl Jam (J Records), isn’t as bold as some of its recent predecessors, but it still delivers the goods, opening with a burst of stompers distinguished by the guitar counterpoint between Mike McCready and Stone Gossard. Though the tail end of the album is stuffed with too many midtempo would-be anthems and Eddie Vedder still oversells his words, the band shows off an impressive range on the beautiful Lennon-esque ballad “Parachutes,” and there’s no doubting these guys’ sincerity. On the album’s best songs–like “World Wide Suicide,” a frontal assault on George W. Bush’s leadership–they make a convincing case for the redemptive power of meat-and-potatoes rock. See also Wednesday. My Morning Jacket opens. 7:30 PM, United Center, 1901 W. Madison, 312-455-4500 or 312-559-1212, $49. All ages. –Peter Margasak
