Concert Review: The Sounds, with Hey Champ at the Bottleneck, May 12, 2009

PHOTOS AND REVIEW BY ABBIE STUTZER

I have always thought The Bottleneck is a great place to go for shows. There’s plenty of dance floor for the skinny-pant-wearing dance crowd, enough seating for the slightly anti-social crowd, and enough extra space for everyone else.

The venue was pretty empty early in the night. One club kid in leopard spandex and another in a gold leotard bounded from the bathroom to the bar about – hmm – eight times before they decided on a place to stand for the show.

People began trickling into the Bottleneck as evening became night, however. When Hey Champ took the stage, the bar was only a little less than half full.

Chicago’s Hey Champ has a sound that blends indie-pop and electronic rock. Saam Hagshenas (main vocals, guitar, keys), Jon Marks (drummer, keys, backing vocals), and Pete Dougherty (keys and synths) had a relatively strong stage presence. While they seemed a bit uneasy during their first two songs, they began to interact with the crowd as their performance progressed. The song that grabbed the crowd’s attention (and turned a few anti-socials into dancers) was the calm, summery single that got Hey Champ signed to Lupe Fiasco’s label, 1st & 15th, “Cold Dust Girl.”