the city event logo
*SOLD OUT* MJ Lenderman & The Wind: Manning Fireworks Tour with  Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band

*SOLD OUT* MJ Lenderman & The Wind: Manning Fireworks Tour with Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band

chicago, Illinois, US

Available Dates

1807 S Allport St

Please Note: There is a delivery delay on all orders until approximately 28 days prior to the show.No one paid too much attention when Jake Lenderman recorded Boat Songs, his third album released under his initials, MJ Lenderman. Before he cut it, after all, he was a 20-year-old guitarist working at an ice cream shop in his mountain hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, getting away for self-booked tours of his own songs or with the band hed recently joined, Wednesday, whenever possible.But as the pandemic took hold just as he turned 21, Lendermanthen making more money through state unemployment than he had ever serving scoopsenjoyed the sudden luxury of free time. Every day, he would read, paint, and write; every night, he and his roommates, bandmates, and best friends would drink and jam in their catawampus rental home, singing whatever came to mind over their collective racket. Some of those lines stuck around the next morning, slowly becoming 2021s self-made Ghost of Your Guitar Solo and then 2022s Boat Songs, recorded in a proper studio for a grand. With its barbed little jokes, canny sports references, and gloriously ragged guitar solos, Boat Songs became one of that years biggest breakthroughs, a ramshackleset of charms and chuckles. Much the same happened for Wednesday. Suddenly, people were paying a lot of attention to what Jake Lenderman might make next.The answer is Manning Fireworks, recorded at Ashevilles Drop of Sun during multiple four-day stints whenever Lenderman had a break from the road. Coproducing it with pal and frequent collaborator Alex Farrar, Lenderman plays nearly every instrument here. It is not only his fourth full-length and studio debut for ANTI- but also a remarkable development in his story as an incredibly incisive singer-songwriter, whose propensity for humor always points to some uneasy, disorienting darkness. He wrote and made it with full awareness of the gaze Boat Songs had generated, how people now expected something great. Rather than wither, however, Lenderman used that pressure to ask himself what kind of musician he wanted to bethe funny cynic in the corner forever ready with a riposte or barbed bon mot, or one who could sort through his sea ofcultural jetsam and one-liners to say something real about himself and his world, to figure out how he fits into all this mess?He chose, of course, the latter. As a result, Manning Fireworks is an instant classic of an LP, his frank introspection and observation finding the intersection of wit and sadness and taking up residence there for 39 minutes. Yes, the punchlines are still here, as are the rusted-wire guitar solos that have made Lenderman a favorite for indie rock fans looking for an emerging guitar hero. (Speaking of solos, did you hear him leading his totally righteous band, the Wind, on his lauded live cassette last year? Wow.) But theres a new sincerity, too, as Lenderman lets listeners clearly see the world through his warped lens, perhaps for the first time. Please dont laugh, he deadpans during Joker Lips, a magnetic song about feeling pushed out by everyone else. Only half of what I said was a joke. Maybe you hear a tremble in his voice? Thats the frown behindthe mask, finally slipping from Lendermans face.