Hideout Block Party 2013

In a town with a history of legendary music, the Hideout Block Party has turned into Chicago’s version of New Year’s Eve. The 17th edition (which ran this past weekend) was no different then the others, save for a few missing old friends (out legend Thomas Dunning was back at home in Ireland, and Andrew Bird, Robbie Fulks and Kevin O’Donnell were nowhere in sight) but with all the mirth, pleasant weather and a killer line-up it was hard to complain.

Still there was something new; the Hideout’s partnership with the A.V. Club has not only allowed the festival to go on, but to do so in a more orderly audience friendly way. This is the festival that you could take your mom to (and many did).

Friday’s line-up was a schizophrenic hodgepodge with New York rockers Nude Beach kicking things off with a rowdy set. Trampled by Turtles, with all its frantic fiddling and heartbroken crooning, made bluegrass/blues downright dull. But everyone was really there for Chicago gospel/soul queen Mavis Staples and rock/pop siren Neko Case.

As a longtime civil-rights activist, resident of The Hideout (her live album Live: Hope at the Hideout [Anti-Records] won a Grammy), resident of Chicago and voice of compassion (“Respect Yourself”), Staples regaled the full house with tales of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington (she was there) and what his “I Have A Dream” speech really means 50 years later. The music from her just-released One True Vine (Anti-Records) went further than addressing racism but ALL human rights. (“I Like the Things About Me” is the kind of song that LGBT’s can certainly take to heart.) Next to the tidal wave of affection accorded Staples, Case’s set could be viewed as disappointing but that’s not fair. (I doubt anybody could follow Staples and look good.) While premiering new songs from her own new album, Case kicked off a world tour with her set and, along with Kelly Hogan on harmony vocals, presented a smooth show full of complicated emotional music.

Saturday’s show was more like an indie hoedown with a bit of oddness thrown in. The indulgently retro Girl Group, sporting black boots and aqua blue minis, were joined by the Revelettes for a jolly romp through a horde of pop classics (no I will not deny that hearing “To Sir with Love” early in the afternoon did not do my soul good) and a positively unnerving rip through Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love/Where Did out Love Go?” Then came the hard and cool stuff: John Langford’s Skull Orchard, Superchunk, The Walkmen and The Hold Steady. Mac McCaughan’s muscular raving as the centerpiece of Superchunk shoved the fest into overdrive and things got more frantic once the Walkman’s vocalist Hamilton Leithauser got his hands on a microphone and proved that he still has one of the finest and most explosive voices on the planet.

If Superchunk seemed to flaunt their punk flavor The Hold Steady wallowed in it; vocalist Craig Finn was so giddy and goofy that you couldn’t help but be enraptured despite the cynical rage of the music. On the quieter side Aimee Mann and Ted Leo’s new group, The Both, was polite, quiet and melodious which was pleasant melodious, and polite. The closer, Young the Giant, looked to be a thrilling selection but the act was undone by an obnoxiously dark light set-up. Vocalist Sameer Gadhia twitched and lunged with all the drama of a tortured torch singer but the fact that you couldn’t actually see him made it hard to get into.

Doesn’t matter, really—The Hideout Block Party 2013 signaled the start of the close of summer. (The real closer is next week’s Riotfest.) And once again thanks to Tim Tuten, the A.V. Club and the Hideout, summer 2013 will be remembered as one of “the good old days.”

Heads up: Empire of the Sun plays the Aragon Ballroom tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 12) and tickets are still available. As I mentioned, Riotfest is this weekend with a line-up that includes Fall Out Boy, X, Blondie, Joan Jett, the Pixies, the Replacements, the Violent Femmes, Bob Mould, Against Me and way too many to list here. It takes place in Humboldt Park Friday, Saturday and Sunday.