After the tidal wave of queer musical closet doors flying open in 2014, this year offered few surprises.
Queer icons Madonna, Ricky Martin, Bette Midler and Janet Jackson toured while Barry Manilow came out. Lady Gaga made a comeback ( with the help of Tony Bennett and American Horror Story: Hotel ) while Culture Club and Annie Lennox tried to. As expected, Sam Smith swept the Grammys and Adele's 25 ( Atlantic Records ) broke sales records in one week of release. Original riot grrrls Sleater-Kinney regrouped, recorded and hit the road while Joan Armatrading retired from live performance by taking a yearlong tour of intimate venues.
With the exception of those last two, 2015 was clearly business as usual, with the high-profile tours and releases aimed at making huge piles of cash and little else. There was no '"Same Love" moment' that opened eyes and no easily embraceable new queer face like Sam Smith's, whose voice dominated the year. In 2015, queerness seemed to be last year's news.
Truth be told, the really juicy queer musical highlights of 2015 were all local. The Christmas collection Homo for the Holidays ( Berserk Records ) dropped exactly a year ago; since then, we got Glitter Creeps and Resonate, two queer musical showcases with vastly differing flavors. There were yearlong residencies by Mike Maimone and JC Brooks while queer-friendly punkers Meat Wave broke out with Delusion Moon ( SideOneDummy Records ) and lesbian rock act 8 Inch Betsy released its swan song, The Mean Days ( 307 Knox Records ). Evanston native and loveable oddball Ezra Furman came out as gender-fluid while the city celebrated the centennial of out legendary jazz composer Billy Strayhorn. As if all that weren't enough, Chicago hosted two DIY festivals aimed at diverse communities within the larger LGBTQ community: the second Fed Up Fest and the fourth Black and Brown Festival.
Below are the 'best' from a non-vintage year;
Concerts
1. U2 @ The United Center
2. ( a tie ) Kaki King @ Lincoln Hall/ Sleater Kinney @ The Riviera
3. The Neighborhood @ The Riviera
4. Cathy Richardson and Katie Todd @ City Winery
5. Young the Giant and Neon Trees @ The Old St. Pat's Block Party
6. Soddy Daisy/Those Manic Seas/The Gold Web @ Emporium Arcade
7. Joe Jackson @ Thalia Hall
8. Walk Off the Earth @ Bottom Lounge
9. Bring Me the Horizon @ Aragon Ballroom
10. Buddy Guy and Shemikia Copeland @ Chicago Blues Festival
11. Ryn Weaver/Coin @ Schuba's
12. Mary Lambert ( opening for The Script ) @ The Riviera
Books
Best: I Will Never Write My Memoirs, by Grace Jones ( Gallery publishing )
Worst: Dancing With Myself, by Billy Idol ( Touchstone publishing )
Events of the year
1. Riot Fest @ Douglas Park. St. Anthony's Hospital and 26th Ward Ald. Roberto Maldonado threw a hissy fit over noise and location but with a diverse line-up that embraced reggae ( Jimmy Cliff, Ziggy Marley ), rap/hip-hop ( Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill ), left-field choices ( Bootsy Collins and Merle Haggard ), old-school punk ( The Damned, Billy Idol ) and queer favorites ( Against Me!, No Doubt, Meat Wave ), Riot Fest has continued to grow and become more inclusive each year.
2. ( Four-way tie ) The second edition of Fed Up Fest hit Bridgeport in July and this queercore gathering continued to offer warmth, discussion and ( slam ) dancing for a solid three days. The fourth Black and Brown Festival took place in Pilsen and Bridgeport and focused on racism, activism, community and music with performances from Cabrona, Ono, R-Tronika, and Earth Goddess Mother.
Donnie Moore and The Empty Bottle partnered to present Glitter Creeps, a monthly showcase for queer/queer-friendly hard-rock bands and, at the end of the year we got Resonate, a podcast project designed for queer music of a more acoustic nature. The surprise festival of the year was the first-time event Ruido Fest, which took place in Pilsen and stood as the first large-scale Latin rock festival in the United States.
What I listened to:
—"Hello," by Adele
—"Drown," by Bring Me the Horizon
—"Garbage In Garbage Out," by The Bribes
—Delusion Moon, by Meat Wave
—No Cities Left to Burn, by Sleater-Kinney
—Songs of Innocence, by U2
—"Headache/Heartache," by Those Manic Seas
—"Boys Like You," by Who Is Fancy? featuring Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor
—"Restless Year," by Ezra Furman
—"take," by Richard Album
—"Blame It On Me," by George Ezra
—Coming Home, by Leon Bridges
