IAMX at The Bottom Lounge in Chicago review

Chicago’s a great city with amazing food, lots of activities, and a never-ending lineup of awesome music performances. When IAMX was going to be in town at The Bottom Lounge for his Alive in New Light Tour, every muscle in my body just had to go. I’ve been a fan of IAMX for years and had the pleasure of seeing him a couple of years ago in Detroit during his Metanoia tour. The fun and excitement experienced that night has been finely engraved into the surface of my mind, so I grew with anticipation as the night came closer. My partner, photographer Megan LaCroix of Arson Capital magazine, arrived at The Bottom Lounge about 20 minutes before showtime and approached the ticket booth to check in.

Everything went smooth, we entered the concert space to see a large crowd gathered around a dark stage and chatting among each other to ambient sounds from IAMX’s “Unfall” album. While checking in, we were told that there were no stage barriers up, so we had to find a good spot in the crowd to get photos of the experience. We scooted through this tightly packed crowd to a fairly decent central location and explained to the folks behind us that we were just snagging a few shots to publish — we’ll be out after two songs. They were chill about the cause, so we stood there waiting for the show to start.

The stage started to glow with beams of white light. Soon after, dark silhouettes of figures began to appear on the stage, taking places behind instruments. The crowd begins emitting a harmonious scream as Chris Corner (the lead of IAMX) takes center stage wearing a black spiked leather jacket and a hat. They smoothly creep into a massive opening with the song “Alive in New Light.” After this song, the stage lit with energy presenting a clearer view of Janine Gezang and Sammi Doll both wearing blonde wigs, pink crop tops, and black shorts.

In no time, the show was in full swing and the sea of people reacted in satisfaction to the love filled winds flowing from the stage. I always love seeing the energy and creativity that IAMX brings to the stage, and I enjoy seeing that his stage design has been very closely related to the set design of his music videos released before and during the tour. I noticed the beaming lights on the stage were bouncing off of mirrors placed at certain points around the set, a similar display was see in IAMX’s “Stardust” music video, featuring Kat Von D. During parts of the performance, Chris wore mirrors on his wrists and redirected the beams of light to specific points on the stage. This was really cool to see and a really fun way to play with light during the performance. Overall the show was great, as expected. We had a lot of fun and I’m glad that The Hype magazine was able to catch up with IAMX. We can’t wait for the next tour!

Written by Craig Blackmoore

Photography by Craig Blackmoore cblackmoore.com and Megan LaCroix meganlacroix.com

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Tags: DCypher Studios

About the Author

David Morales is the Executive Editor of The Hype magazine. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, David has a background as an artist manager, writer, blogger, drummer, and in the human services industry. He is passionate about helping others, learning and has a deep empathy for the creative process. You can follow his social media @dcypherstudios