TVD Live: Stolen Silver at Schubas Tavern, 2/13

Last Monday, 2/13, your TVD-CHI editors once again headed into the city to check out this month’s residency at Schubas Tavern. For those of you who haven’t been following along, Schubas’ residency features new openers supporting a consistent headlining act every Monday night for a month.

This month’s band is Chicago’s incredible Stolen Silver, and week two brought them support from the talented Peter Mulvey.

Supporting their self-titled debut record, Dan Myers and Levi Britton have expanded their art folk duo to a full band that packs a musical punch with a wide variety of instrumentation on any given song.

To start off the show was Wisconsin’s Peter Mulvey. All I can really say about Peter’s performance without gushing is that rarely does my mouth drop open listening to one man play an acoustic guitar.

Mulvey is an unbelievable talent in the folk-narrative genre, and can play the hell out of the guitar. Playing tracks from across his pretty impressive discography along some songs yet to be released, Mulvey showed amazing variety and range in his set.

Mulvey might have also had some of the best between song stories I’ve heard in a long time. Stolen Silver had actually learned one of his songs, so even after his set, he was back on the stage to play a track another track with the full band.

In an effort to keep things fresh throughout the residency, Stolen Silver decided to throw an acoustic spin on the show and rework some of their traditional electric songs. The effect was intimate, engaging, and exactly what the crowd needed on a snowy Monday night.

Kicking off the set, Dan and Levi planted themselves on the ground in front of the stage with no microphones and belted out their opening song. With the crowd’s full attention, and the show’s energy rising, Stolen Silver took the stage with the rest of the band.

The range of instruments used showed off the true talent of the musicians on stage, as any given song might have incorporated the harmonica, slide guitar, violin, mandolin, and a number of percussive pieces.

The show flew by mostly due to the fact that the group on stage just seemed to be having a great time with the show, the music, and each other. There aren’t many things that make for a wonderful performance like a band truly enjoying what they do.

Fortunately, there are still two more nights left in Stolen Silver’s residency. With some great talent coming up as openers, you are going to want to head out to at least one of these shows. All of the shows are 8:00PM/$6/21+ at Schubas Tavern. (3159 N. Southport)