Mikal Cronin Croons in Chicago

text & photos by Tricia Scully

Mikal Cronin took the stage at the cached, second floor Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago this past Thursday, December 12. Tucked above a restaurant and a bookstore at an awkward curve on a roundabout, the Logan Square Auditorium remained unfilled for the better part of the first two acts. However, the brave Chicagoans who ventured from their homes in the chilly snow and attended the concert were enthralled from the very beginning.

Local act Basic Cable opened the evening with their intense and wild punk antics, putting on an energetic performance for the quiet but head-bobbing crowd. YAWN (another Chicago band) followed suit with their harmony-laden indie pop, lulling everyone into a reggae-induced indie trance following the spastic songs from Basic Cable. Mikal Cronin closed out the evening to an almost full auditorium, making jokes about how the crowd should “circle up” into a mosh pit, playing on the overwhelming sense of calm in the audience.

While the crowd was unbelievably tame for a bill that included a punk band, the diverse audience members all seemed to listen intently and enjoy all three acts. A woman in her 50s turned to me after the first act and commented in a slow surfer drawl on how she liked the first group a lot, but was there to see “that California guy” (Cronin). Another gentleman then readily offered up his story on how he hadn’t seen Cronin live before, but has heard a lot of great things about him and was thrilled to finally get an opportunity to see him. By the amount of audience members willing to share how and why they had been brought to the show, it seems like Cronin is continuing to gain momentum and is consistently pulling new fans to his shows based on good press, solid songwriting, and great performances.