I wasn’t a big fan of the new Bahamas record, Earthtones, when it came out earlier this year. Still, I saw him play at Metro with The Weather Station and found myself enjoying the tunes more when they were played live. That continued last night at Pritzker Pavilion, where he played a free set with Bad Bad Hats. The venue wasn’t as packed as it was the week before when Aimee Mann came to town, but still a great crowd considering it had rained earlier in the day and the humidity was still at 85% when the concert started.

Afie Jurvanen seemed to be in good spirits for the show. He joked about how Bahamas is so chill they should ONLY play shows on Mondays. He was amazed that Chicago was able to have an event in a park where they serve alcohol, which apparently doesn’t happen in his native Toronto. He was mostly smiling while looking out at the audience when he wasn’t looking down as his hands furiously picked out notes on this strat.

I was happy to hear my favorite Bahamas song, “Your Sweet Touch,” toward the end of the show. They finished the main set with “Lost In The Light” before announcing that rather than leave the stage and come back for an encore, they would just stand there and keep playing to save time. By that time I was at the back of the pavilion heading out the gates. Everything I heard while I was walking sounded great, though.