Cold Waves IV Festival
Cabaret Metro is thee place to be if you want to hear pummeling noise, mechanized voices, and harsh slabs of sonic destruction! Yes September 25 and September 26 is the return of the Cold Waves music festival! I can't believe we are on part IV. This is by far the greatest line up yet. On Friday the festival has more of metallic sheen with stabs of noise. Godflesh is the headliner of the evening. Lustmord makes his first Chicago appearance ever. We also have the pleasure of witnessing the live incarnation of WAX TRAX!'s Lead Into Gold, lead by ex-Ministry/Revolting Cock Paul Barker. Rounding out the rest of Friday's line up are Author & Punisher, Prurient, Lab Report and Two From the Eye.
Saturday's headliner is the iconic Front Line Assembly, along with Pop Will Eat Itself, Severed Heads and Chris Connelly and Jason Novak's new band, Cocksure. Personal highlights for me on Friday are definitely Godflesh, Lustmord, and Lead Into Gold. I definitely want to make sure that I get there early enough catch Prurient's set. Saturday night is going to be killer with what will be my fourth Front Line Assembly show. Rumor has it that Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber are going to be playing classic WAX TRAX! favorites to make it an extra special show. I haven't seen the incredible PWEI since they supported Nine Inch Nails back in 1995 during the Self Destruction tour. I am curious how the show will be knowing that their man front man, Clint Mansell, left the band to focus more scoring movie soundtracks. To witness Mansell's genius all you have to is endure Requiem For a Dream. It's one of most beautiful, and brutal films to ever experience. Luckily Graham Crabb is still there to provide vocals, but I am wondering who will take over when it calls for dueling voice parts which is such an integral part of Pop Will Eat Itself's classic Greebo-Industrial-Galactic Hip hop-punk rock style. Nevertheless, you don't want to miss the Poppies when they take the stage on Saturday. This is my first time to see Severed Heads and I think it's going to be awesome. I hear that Kuma's Korner is supplying Cold Waves with burgers for the hungry concert goers. Plus WAX TRAX! has another pop-up store on the premises as well selling Shirts, Posters, vinyl, and CD's. This is a night of rememberance and celebration of the man we know as Jamie Duffy who sadly took his life in 2012. Proceeds of this great festival go to Hope for the Day, which is a charity for suicide prevention. We lost one of our own, however, a fiery muscial phoenix rose in his memory to re-spark the great Industrial, Metal, Noise, Electronic scene that Chicago is known for. Luckily, there are a few tickets still available for Cold Waves IV. If I were you I would recommend that you buy them as soon as you can before they are gone.