It came with no surprise that Djo, the viral musical moniker of actor and musician Joe Keery, took over Chicago’s Lollapalooza Music Festival over the last week! Not only was he granted a well deserved just-under-the-headliner slot at this year’s festival, but he also brought a pop-up event to the Dark Matter Coffee warehouse on Saturday along with a canned cold brew collaboration available for purchase at the fest! Djo was also able to bring his full show to the beloved Salt Shed for a spectacular official Lolla aftershow last Thursday night with his former band Post Animal opening up the evening. It's safe to say that it was a rather eventful Djopalooza weekend not only for Keery and his band but his fans alike!
Being immensely sold-out and commencing at 11PM after the first night of Lollapalooza; the line to get into the Salt Shed was incredibly long and you could tell everyone was beyond ecstatic for Djo’s hometown aftershow. After the news broke out that Djo would be putting on a Lolla aftershow at one of the best venues in the city; it was a can’t miss spectacle.
There could not have been a more perfect opener for this aftershow, as Post Animal has already been touring with Djo throughout this year. Both Post Animal & Djo originated in Chicago so this was truly a special evening for the boys and their rapidly expanding fan base. To the crowd's surprise, Post Animal took the stage ahead of schedule and was met with frantic cheers of excitement! It was my bed time by the time they came on but I still had one last rush of energy left to endure both their set and Djo’s. Though they didn’t play a crazy long setlist, it still gave a taste of what Post Animal does best. Their psychedelic rock sounds echoed throughout the crowd who was much more tame than usual. Given how late it was, I wasn't surprised I didn’t see any other typical moshing in the Post Animal crowd. The boys performed a good assortment of their songs including their legendary song “Gelatin Mode.” Their latest album, Iron, shows off a much more relaxed yet polished Post Animal. Their latest single “Setting Sun” translated beautifully on stage. The band closed out their set with “Dirtpicker,” a Post Animal classic.
When Djo was first emerging as a solo artist, his aura was channeling a mysterious persona which completely flipped after the release of his latest record, The Crux. After his track “End of Beginning” made its viral debut, the world basically found out who the face behind Djo was and was naturally adored by the masses. No longer concealing himself behind sunglasses and under a wig, Djo shined brighter than ever during last week’s set. As the introduction to “Runner” played, it was point-blank that everyone standing in that room was a devoted fan as a wave of cheers emerged from the crowd while Djo and his band reigned the stage. Immediately jumping into “Gloom,” it felt as if the evening went by in the blink of an eye. For being such a late night already, the crowd sure had a colossal amount of energy perfectly matching that of Djo’s on stage. They performed a quenching amount of songs from across Djo’s trilogy of albums including “Figure You Out,” “Roddy,” and The Crux’s lead single, “Basic Being Basic.”
Djo picked the best and most upbeat tracks for this setlist, and midway through performed “Gap Tooth Smile” which definitely gave the crowd its second wind for the rest of the night. The evening (or in this case early morning) concluded with the anthemic homage to our city of Chicago “End of Beginning” with the entire crowd singing the lyrics back to Djo making it a bittersweet conclusion of the show. As if that set couldn’t have been enough, we got an encore of “Flash Mountain” performed with Post Animal for one final epic number!
Thursday night’s Lolla aftershow with Djo and Post Animal felt absolutely monumental for the two Chicago artists. This was a very successful weekend for these two brilliant bands. Djo has become the latest hometown hero in our midwest hearts, especially with that newly christened Chicago anthem “End of Beginning.” It’s an exciting and refreshing time for music currently and Djo has proven over and over again that every new album is another breath of fresh air; The Crux being no exception. Djo is one hell of a performer that goes against the mainstream; and it’s thrilling to see him putting so much passion and energy into his music career despite his success in the realm of Hollywood.
All photos by Andrew Lagunas.
