Yesterday was the hottest in three years in Chicago, so I decided to cap it off by joining a sold-out crowd for We Were Promised Jetpacks at the hottest venue in the city (they get great bands AND it’s an oven in there). The Glaswegian rockers felt the heat as well. Frontman Adam Thompson commented at one point “Thanks for staying. It’s hot enough if I was out there I would’ve left.” Fears of exhaustion and heat stroke didn’t hold the band back, and they delivered a blistering 90-minute set featuring songs from all three of their releases.
The crowd was crazy for WWPJ through the whole show. Some guys behind me were constantly screaming “YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!!!!” but that could have been a cooling mechanism for releasing hot air from their bodies. The cheers were loudest for tracks from the band’s debut These Four Walls, but there was never a point where people got bored and just chatted amongst themselves. Other than a couple pictures and videos, I actually didn’t see much of people looking at their phones. If only every band could hold an audience’s attention like that.
I don’t have the whole set list (I don’t know if they even had one on stage honestly), but I know they played the following:
Quiet Little Voices, Roll Up Your Sleeves, This Is My House This Is My Home, Thunder & Lightning, Peace Sign, Boy In The Backseat, Pear Tree, Short Bursts