Wild Belle @ the Metro 10/26/13

I've been looking forward to writing this post even before I attended this concert due to my extreme anticipation! Wild Belle is a relatively new band that has gained tons of exposure in the past year due to their unique sound. The band consists of siblings Natalie and Elliot Bergman (their Aunt is actress Anne Heche by the way, no big deal.) They are from Barrington, IL, which is awesome because they're local and successful! Natalie is only 23 years old, which is mind-blowing. She does vocals for the band and also plays the keyboard and guitar. Elliot also sings, but mainly plays the saxophone (it's a bass saxophone so it's MASSIVE!) and various other instruments. Since their debut album Isles came out in March 2013 on Columbia Records, the band has played Coachella, Lollapalooza, featured on Conan and many other places. They have been to Chicago numerous times and every time they were here I was couldn't go which was why I came home from school to see them this past weekend. I had never been to the Metro prior to seeing them so it was a weekend of firsts. The venue is very similar to Lincoln Hall (which Wild Belle has played before) in terms of layout. The main floor easily occupies 100 or more people and the balcony holds about 100 as well. I really enjoyed the venue and would definitely like to see more bands there in the future!

The opening act for Wild Belle was a band out of New Jersey called Saint Rich. I didn't look them up before the show so I had no idea what to expect so when I saw four very young looking guys take the stage I was pretty surprised! They literally looked like they were still in high school. It turns out after further research that they may or may not be in high school because their bio wasn't very detailed. Anyways, the lead singer's mic was turned down the entire time so no one could understand what he was saying! I felt really bad for him and it was a shame that happened because the band itself was good, just sucked not being able to hear the singer! They played for about 30 minutes before Wild Belle took the stage. Since this was their last show on their tour, a lot of their family and friends were there and they actually had most of the balcony sectioned off for that reason. When they took the stage the entire crowd went crazy! I could tell that a lot of people were fans and had seen them before because I hear a few people talking in line about how good they were at Lolla this past August. Natalie wore these really cool skinny jeans that were shimmery, I want a pair! She also wore an interesting belt that had a knife attached to it (I should invest in getting myself one!). Elliot also wore a cool outfit! The entire band is just awesome and they really looked like they get along great. It was really sweet to see Natalie and her brother talk and smile at each other during their set. She looked extremely happy to be there, which makes sense since they're from Chicago and it was their last show of a long tour.
I took pictures on my phone this time because my camera is bulky and I didn't want to carry it around with me since I was really close to the stage. I took lots of pictures and snippets of most of the songs. The reason I didn't record entire songs is because that distracts me from being in the present and I didn't want to watch the show through a screen. I will be seeing them the next time they tour, so maybe I'll take longer videos then but since it was the first time seeing them I wanted to really experience it. They started off with It's Too Late with Natalie on guitar. They then went on to play all of the songs off the album and 2 that were not on the album. One of them is a song Natalie wrote when she wasn't in Wild Belle and it's called Mrs. Franklin. Such a good song. I literally love every song on their album which is something I can't say for anybody that I listen to!  Keep You is their song that most people would know but others have been used in various movies. I am so grateful that I finally got to see them live, it was one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Nothing fancy, just pure, raw talent which is rare these days in music. CHECK THEM OUT and see them if they come to your area on their next tour! If anyone has seen them before, leave me a comment at the bottom of this post! :)