Review: Empires @ VerveLife
Today we had the opportunity to see local Chicago band Empires play a four-song acoustic set at the VerveLife offices down in the loop. I was vaguely familiar with Empires; they’re reasonably well known in the local scene, and they had recently placed third in Rolling Stone’s Choose The Cover Contest, which got them some national exposure.
If one were to go to an Empires show, they would know them as a a straight rock and roll band. But today they did an acoustic, yet still powerful, campfire style set. It’s a testament to the talent of a band if they are able to take their songs and play them in a setting for which they weren’t originally written, and Empires pulled off the intimate show quite well. If anything, their songs came off as more melodic and soulful without distortion and loud drums clouding up the mix. They were well crafted songs, and I could see Empires continuing to build a formidable following It made me wonder what sorts of crazyness their actual shows might entail, and made me want to see them the next time they play in Chicago. I’ll definitely be checking them out as soon as I can.
—Claire
