Schuba Schubas

Another small friendly place to catch a show is Lincoln Hall's sister venue Schubas. Located on the north side of Chicago on Belmont and Southport streets. I happened to make it for a solo show of Dastardly's front man Gabe Liebowitz. The opener of the night was Ami Saraiya who also played  a solo show performing with the use of acoustic guitar and accordion. Her set was ok. Nothing special to me. It was neat to see the accordion in action, but her style of playing and overall sound was more mediterranean/ eastern european than Gaelic. I prefer western Europe. She did have a dynamic performance with strong, powerful vocals that were full of passion.
The main act was the solo set of Gabe Liebowitz. I had hoped his band would have been backing him, but to my misfortune no, it was just him doing a solo set. He opened the night fun enough with a traditional country song Lost Highway that I thought he did particularly well, but then continued down a darker path with a number of songs about being lonely. I stepped outside for a drink. When I came back he was still in the same mood.
I was disappointed the band didn't accompany him because they would have brought a lot more energy and I was looking to dance. When he plays with the band they're called Dastardly and they have an upbeat country sound and consist of a jazzy stand up bass, accordion, banjo, and guitars. Gabe as a vocalist is extremely dynamic and can deliver lots of energy from all over the sonic spectrum. He ended up closing the night off singing over a recording of Frank Sinatra's and hit each note. I was surprised. I did not see it coming at all, but it was pretty cool.

The venue itself was quaint and reserved. When I walked into the venue side I was smacked in the face with what I saw. People seated quietly all in rows listening intently to performers. Not a person moved or grooved. The ticket was $5 at the door. I felt kind of bad though because the beer was more expensive than the ticket to the show.

Watch this video.