Elevated Rail 4: 2016 Was A Million Years Ago (Pt. 2)

Picking up a few weeks after where Part 1 left off, this second ‘2016 Was A Million Years Ago’ set offers a retrospective glimpse at what used to be a pretty typical late summer zone in Chicago. A time when indoor shows of all sizes, outdoor festivals / street fests, and larger city-sponsored events all coexisted in a glorious blur of sound and humidity. Ah, the beforetimes. 

Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld kick things off with an ethereal track off of their great 2015 record before Chicago’s own Ohmme tear through a Jim O’Rourke classic. Next is the crux of this particular biscuit – an 18min journey through “America the Beautiful” by the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, brilliantly arranged & conducted by Carla Bley. My apologies for the few spots of wind noise, but this is some stunning shit and we had to include it. 

Another favorite Chicago band, Health&Beauty, checks in from The Hideout, with a post-Neil jam which would later show up on 2019’s excellent Shame Engine / Blood Pleasure. Bill Callahan then takes an unsung (undersung?) Robert Hunter song across the bayou, before Sigur Rós brings things to a climactic conclusion as only they can. | j berk

Elevated Rail 4: 2016 Was A Million Years Ago (Pt. 2)

Artists / Provenance
1. Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld – The Sun Roars Into View | 8.9.2016 @ Constellation Chicago, IL 
2. Ohmme – All Downhill from Here [Jim O’Rourke] | 8.25.2016 @ Jay Pritzker Pavilion Chicago, IL
3. Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra – America the Beautiful | 9.2.2016 @ Jay Pritzker Pavilion Chicago, IL
4. Health&Beauty – Recourse | 9.8.2016 @ The Hideout Chicago, IL
5. Bill Callahan – Easy Wind [Grateful Dead] | 9.26.2016 @ Constellation Chicago, IL
6. Sigur Rós – Festival | 9.30.2016 @ The Chicago Theatre Chicago, IL

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