Featured Live Music Artist of the Week - High Anxiety

This band out of the Momence/Kankakee area was faced with a monumental task at the 2016 Steger Days of Music

1) They were the first band on stage for the day
2) It was in the late afternoon/early evening - sun still out, typical Chicagoland summer weather
3) The headline band didn't go on for another 3 hours
4)The headline act was an established "New Country" artist, yet High Anxiety plays Classic Rock

One would expect the band to actually be in a state of high anxiety given the task stacked before them.

But nope!  They pulled it off PERFECTLY!!

The 5-piece rock band headed onto the stage in front of the general admission crowd, who got there early to reserve good spots for the headliner - the country headliner.  The crowd numbered somewhere in the hundreds.

And they ROCKED THEM!

I don't remember the exact set-list for the evening, because I was too busy having fun watching High Anxiety play.  But what I do remember, by the end of the 2nd song, they had 1/2 of this "country-based" crowd on their feet and dancing and rocking.  By the end of the 3rd song, they had the entire crowd cheering, singing along, dancing, and having  (to quote Kiss) "a rock and roll party tonight!"

High Anxiety won this crowd over instantly, from the very first song - and kept them entranced until the end of the very last song.  And why was  that?

Simple - because they are just that darn good!  The musicianship is spot on, and the band is tight.  If you closed your eyes, you'd think you were listening to the radio playing the hits back "in the day".  The guitars, keyboards, and drums, were spot on - nobody trying to "change the song to fit their style" - they played the songs as they were performed by the original artists.  The vocalist, who also played guitar, was hitting vocal ranges as high as Steve Perry throughout the show.  I think it's safe to say, any of the original artists would have approved of the show.

Not only did they sound good - they had excellent stage presence.  Everybody was in-sync with each other, they moved about as a unit the entire time.  They moved from song to song flawlessly without that confusion that is seen during some live shows.  This was 5 guys working as 1 band.  Exactly what a band is supposed to be.

And, always my favorite part about any live band (local or famous), they were HAVING FUN up there.  You could tell they enjoy music, for real, not just people doing a job.  And you could tell they were enjoying the feedback from the audience.  And that is another reason they won over the primarily country-based crowd so quickly - because when the band has fun - the audience has fun.  There is something contagious about music, especially music when played from the heart.

The band played 60 minutes, no pauses, no breaks, and covered the spectrum of classic rock from the 60s through the 90s.  Upon ending there set, they received a standing ovation from the crowd, which had almost doubled from the mid-hundreds to the high-hundreds within 60 minutes.  I even recall, while going to get a beer (which was a tough choice, because I didn't want to miss any music, but really wanted a beer) - anyhow, I recall late-arrivals rushing to get in to not miss anything.

Many people like all kinds of music, but it is always tricky to win over a genre specific crowd, when not playing that genre - and High Anxiety succeeded - tenfold!

And why?  Well, because they are just that darn good - and because they are having fun - and fun is contagious!