Faye Webster rose to stardom after her third album, “Atlanta Millionaires Club”, gained popularity amidst its release in 2019. Since then, her career has skyrocketed, boasting seven million monthly listeners on Spotify, and her hit album “I Know I’m Funny Haha” ranked number 11 on the top best albums of 2021 by Pitchfork.
Her tour began October 17th, kicking off in Washington D.C. Tickets for the Chicago show sold quickly as fans flocked to see her in concert. The show took place on the chilly night of October 29th in The Riviera Theater, an older venue complete with a light-up sign in the front announcing Faye Webster and her opening band Upchuck, a punk group, would be performing live. Upon entering the theater, the eye was met with staircases sprawling towards the upper part of the venue. However, many fans took to the floor, which is complete with three levels. Fans eagerly pushed to the front, hoping to catch a glimpse of Webster.
Upchuck played for around an hour, their music was loud and intense, filling its listeners’ ears with loud guitar, drums, and singing, and their eyes with bright flashing lights. To say the least, it was very different from the soft voice and acoustics of Webster.
The moment Webster walked on stage the crowd screamed. A single white spotlight illuminated her as she began to sing her new single, “But Not Kiss”. Over the hour, attendees were met with her top hits like “Jonny” and “Right Side of My Neck” as well as newer music, some even unreleased. Webster’s new music is different from anything she’s done, sporting few lyrics, and instead taking its listeners into a new dimension with its mellow beats. The band played in front of mesmering graphics that showed an illustration of Webster sitting upon a rock, her hair glowing like fire.
The hour moved quickly, and soon she left the stage after singing fan favorite “Cheers”. The audience screamed the moment she was gone, eager for just one more song. After just a few moments, she pranced back onto the stage and announced she would be singing an older and “dumb” song before ending the night with her hit song, “Kingston”.
Despite its short run time, the concert did not disappoint, leaving fans astonished by the calming yet emotion-evoking artist that Webster is. Concert-goers of all sorts connected with each other, conversing through the shared experience of seeing Webster play live.
