Shakey Graves performs at The Salt Shed in Chicago on Nov. 17, 2023.
People under a certain age may not be familiar with the old-school notion of a “movie of the week,” the anthology series featuring often over-the-top plots about love, life and lies, but fans of Alejandro Rose-Garcia – or as he’s more commonly known, Shakey Graves – have embraced the artist’s latest album, Movie of the Week, for it’s lush storytelling and cinematic compositions regardless of their experience with this TV phenomenon of yesteryear.
When Rose-Garcia and his band performed at The Salt Shed in Chicago on Friday, Nov. 17, they didn’t do so with a mission to commiserate with the crowd about relationships, mortality or the power of friendship, rather, they instead wanted to share “something that binds us all together.”
“You don’t think about it a lot, but somebody next to you might be going through this or you might be going through this yourself and you don’t realize it,” explained Rose-Garcia with a sly smile. “This song is about that moment in all our lives where you end up marrying the wrong person and they steal a really large sum of money from you and then you’re forced to murder that person. And then you usually have to run to Mexico or, up here, you can try to run to Canada, but Mexico is much better.”
As the audience erupted in laughter, the fan favorite “Late July” kicked off the show with Rose-Garcia serving as a one man band strumming his guitar, stomping his suitcase kick drum and detailing the heartbreaking saga he foreshadowed in the intro. The entire band soon came out for a raucous rendition of “The Perfect Parts” before easing into the old-timey “Chinatown,” highlighted by an enchanting organ solo.
Shakey Graves performs at The Salt Shed in Chicago on Nov. 17, 2023.
The hypnotic refrain of “Excuses” was enhanced with dazzling lights dancing across the Salt Shed stage and, later, the whirring verses of “Playing Along” transformed into an all out rock jam. What started as a trippy improvisation overtook the airspace with explosive guitars and delicate vocals dueling in a such a way that both elements reigned victorious.
“Hard Wired” was another highlight of the night as was the moment later in the set when the show’s opener, Rayland Baxter, joined Rose-Garcia and his band for a crowd-pleasing jam sesh.
By the end of the night, Rose-Garcia had admitted to lying to fans about the mission of the show. In fact, the performance was about love, time slipping away, the pull and push of relationships and everything that makes being human sweet and sour – although after seeing Shakey Graves perform, it’s hard to think of anything but the sweet.
Check out photos of Shakey Graves, and Rayland Baxter, performing at The Salt Shed in Chicago below and click here to pick-up tickets to future tour dates. More information can be found at Shakeygraves.com.
(Photos by Laurie Fanelli)
