Housse De Racket North American Spring Tour – REVIEW

Housse De Racket recently came through Chicago on their North American spring tour. We had the opportunity to attend the show to write this review. You can check it out after the break.

The Empty Bottle is a small to medium-sized venue located on Western Avenue, south of the medical district and east of Humbolt Park. In all honesty, not the safest place in the world. I was a bit skeptical of having to walk three blocks down side streets at 9:30pm in order to get to my destination.  As I hastily made it to the venue, my arrival wasn’t looking up either.

As I entered the venue, there were only a handful of people who I would later find out would be the opening band and the bartender. After about a half of an hour or so the opening band took the stage in full nonchalant fashion. Once the duo named Glasslux began their first song I knew that the night would be rather interesting and full of
dancing. Glasslux consisted of a female singer, a drummer and electronic backtracks. It was, well to say the least a very intriguing and somewhat avant-garde performance, it was different but still pleasing.

Rights was the next band to grace the Christmas light strewn stage. At this point in time the occupancy went from a handful attendees to a hipster heaven of new concert-goers. Rights definitely had a solid small fan base and their musical ability showed why. Their use of electronic DJ mixing boards, keyboards and the typical guitar, bass and drum set-up is blended together perfectly. The technical talent was homogenous throughout the entire band which comes with the odd time signatures and off beats that would throw off lesser musicians. All in all their set was clean, tight and it won them a few more fans that night.

Now for the big show, the headliners, the pros, Housse De Racket. I wasn’t too entirely sure what to expect from them, their 70’s style and look was eye-catching, I can’t deny that. After a sound check, which was done entirely in French, the two made their way off stage and back to the green room. After a few minutes, the lights dimmed and a huge, thundering bass filled backtracks started up before the set began. Then Pierre and Victor silently made their way to the stage and got ready to start the show. “We are Housse De Racket, how are you, Chicago?” was the phrase Pierre started with. After a vocal response from the crowd, they began their first song. Both recorded and live, this band is completely different, and a good different at that. Never have I seen such energy from two musicians who barely move from one spot on the stage. They brought a fullness that six-piece bands could not match and made this small venue seem like a stadium show. Despite a few equipment malfunctions during the song “Chateau” the set went off smashingly well. When all was said and done, the two thanked the crowd for being amazing and made a quick get away to the green rooms. But that get away was short lived, after an uproar of the crowd demanding an encore, Housse De Racket came back out to perform one final song. For two small French musicians, they made one hell of a large sound and put on one huge performance.

Information about this review…
Tour: Housse De Racket North American Spring Tour
Bands: Housse De Racket, Rights, and Glasslux
Reviewer: Jim Vondruska
Date: March 29, 2012
Venue: Empty Bottle in Chicago, IL