It seems like every week The Venue in Aurora comes up with a lineup that covers a very wide swath of genres and styles. This weekend is not exception.
IVY FORD
Thursday, August 12, 8pm
Advance General Admission Terrace $15 (Seat provided)
Advance General Admission Lawn seats $10. Bring Your Own Chair or blanket.
+$5 door
*This is a rain or shine outdoor concert.
Ivy Ford, is one of the leading “youngbloods” of Blues and brings a refreshing yet classic face to the music. She has managed to take the Chicago scene by storm opening for the legends and sharing the stage with Chicago Blues hall of famers.
Versatile, talented, an old soul. From singing the blues to being sultry, she is an indigo artist who’s gift connects those who are around her and those who listen. Whether leading a full band or serenading a small audience solo on stage, Ivy Ford commands an energy that is most magical.
She fronts her very own band and has the title of “Chicago’s Blues Kitten.”
SARAH SHOOK & THE DISARMER
Friday, August 13, 8pm
Advance General Admission Terrace $25 (Seat provided)
Advance General Admission Lawn seats $20. Bring Your Own Chair or blanket.
+$5 door
*This is a rain or shine outdoor concert.
North Carolina’s Sarah Hook sings with a conviction and hard honesty sorely lacking in much of today’s Americana landscape.
Always passionate, at times profane, Sarah stalks/walks the line between vulnerable and menacing, her voice strong and uneasy, country classic but with contemporary, earthy tension. You can hear in her voice what’s she’s seen; world weary, lessons learned—or not—but always defiant. She level-steady means what she says. Writing with a blunt urgency—so refreshing these days it’s almost startling—Sarah’s lyrics are in turn smart, funny, mean, and above all, uncompromising.
THE STEEPWATER BAND
Saturday, August 14, 8pm
Advance General Admission Terrace $25 (Seat provided)
Advance General Admission Lawn seats $20. Bring Your Own Chair or blanket.
+$5 door
*This is a rain or shine outdoor concert.
You should already know these songs. If the old saying about talent equaling success were true, then The Steepwater Band would already be a household name, rubbing shoulders with Aerosmith, Bad Company and other like-minded travelers in our collective Rock ‘n Roll Fantasy.
But that’s not how things always work, and this band knows it and still leans into it, smiling, with everything in them, not for brass rings and marquees, but because they must! For them, the music life is a calling and not some stupid costume one puts on to shake loose gold, fame, and groupies. In a land of caricatures, it’s striking to come face-to-face with the real thing.
ALBUM COVER TRIBUTE: The Band – Stage Fright
Sunday, August 15, 7pm
Advance General Admission Terrace $20 (Seat provided)
Advance General Admission Lawn seats $15. Bring Your Own Chair or blanket.
+$5 door
*This is a rain or shine outdoor concert.
Stage Fright, The Band’s third release saw the band in a state of flux. They had two critically acclaimed, highly successful records under their belt. They were touring hard, becoming famous and living the life. A sort of darkness swept into their music.
“It’s truly a beautiful album,” Scott Tipping says. “At the time it sort of baffled the critics and its audience but it has stood the test of time and become an absolute classic.”
Last year for its 50th anniversary, a remix and new track listing was to be released but the pandemic held it back. It came out this year and Album Covers found it fitting to pay tribute to this phenomenal piece of art.
Joining Scott Tipping will be Electric Dirt (Gerald Dowd, John Abbey, Scott Stevenson and Dave Nelson). The ensemble will perform this album in its entirety and stick around for a second set of hits and deep cuts from The Band.
Concerts are at Mundy Park, just adjacent to The Venue, at 21-23 South Broadway in Aurora.
Visit www.themusicvenue.org for more tickets or more information.
