If you wondered who purchased tickets to the small Letters to Cleo show Friday night at the Subterranean, I’m here to tell you it was a group of loud, obnoxious folks who only knew the two songs they first heard in “10 Things I Hate About You.” The group of them, at least 10 or 15, talked the entire way through, with their backs turned toward the band, drinks in hand, and a certain level of annoyance for having to hear a bunch of loud, reverb-rich rock music during the middle of their night on the town.
I could only wonder why it was this show in particular that piqued their interest. If their mindless shouting was so important, couldn’t they have talked somewhere else?
Of course, that’s the risk you take when attending a show. And it’s certainly not anything new. But it felt especially unfortunate for a band that rarely tours, that last released a new album many years ago.
With that said, the group, powered by lead singer Kay Hanley, was as sharp and charming as ever. The middling acoustics of Subterranean, which often blow out the vocals of other artists, were only somewhat of a match for the group’s sheer talent. It seems like the group’s year and some change on the road after decades away has proven to be fruitful. This is a band that is as enjoyable, or even more enjoyable, than they were 25 years ago during their peak.
The night kicked off with “Demon Rock,” the loud, frenetic opener from 1995’s “Wholesale Meats and Fish.” It was a perfect start to the night, a visceral centering in the room. Letters to Cleo was here to rock, and rock they did. Their propulsive, reverby guitars wove through the audience like a sharp dagger. And Hanley sounded perhaps better than ever, with warm yet youthful vocals and a spunky yet welcoming attitude that only the most charismatic rock stars could pull off.
She was especially strong on tracks like “Big Star” and “I Could Sleep,” perfect showcases for a voice that seems to have only gotten better with age. As a longtime fan, it was especially nice to hear tracks like “Awake,” which undoubtedly inspired a generation of elder Gen Z and millennial artists, especially ones who’ve made a home here in Chicago. I’m thinking of artists like Beach Bunny, whose emotionally wrought lyrics about growing older and growing apart mixed with winsome melodies tap into the same earnestness and familiarity that has fortified Letters to Cleo’s legacy.
Likewise, “Here and Now” got the crowd moving. The 1994 ditty, a perfect blend of late grunge and the poppier rock that would begin to take hold into the mid- to late ’90s, is perhaps one of their most beloved tracks.
The audience remained in high spirits, even halfway through the show when the band tested a new track from an upcoming album. The album would be their first full-length official release in more than a decade. From this early listen, it sounded like a winner.
But it was their covers, which have now taken on a life of their own, that easily got the crowd moving. “Cruel to Be Kind,” a Brinsley Schwarz cover, got audience members (even those who were chatting throughout the show) singing along and bouncing in the tight quarters. During their encore, they performed a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” in honor of Ozzy Osbourne’s recent passing. And “I Want You to Want Me,” the perfect Cheap Trick track, sounded just as sumptuous in the present as it first did decades ago. A few difficult audience members couldn’t fully disrupt the momentum of the set which, in the end, was a great one.
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.
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