Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters pushed through sickness to perform at Chicago’s City Winery, despite canceling a show just a few days earlier.
The Boxmasters was formed in 2007 by Billy Bob Thornton and Grammy Award-winning recording engineer J.D. Andrew. It’s impressive to see that despite Thornton’s illustrious acting career, the band has just released their 17th album, Love & Hate In Desperate Places, in August. The rest of the band is made up of Kirk McKim (guitar), Raymond Hardy (bass), and Nick Davidson (drums).
There wasn’t an opener for the evening’s festivities so not long after the audience members took to their seats, we were straight down to business. When Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters first came out onto the City Winery stage, they plowed straight through one song after another, to the point where you wondered if there would be any chit-chat at all. This all changed part way through the set, when Thornton began giving in-depth introductions and background to the songs before they were performed. These witty and entertaining anecdotes told of the backstory behind some of their songs such as “Jayne Manfield’s Car” and “Anta Nica,” as well as reminiscing about back in the day when they performed at Joe’s on Weed.
The show that was scheduled just before the Chicago date was canceled due to sickness within the band. However, Thornton said they did not want to cancel this date and so they soldiered on through the performance. He explained that sinus issues had struck all three on vocal duties, so to excuse them if they squeaked when trying to hit some of the higher notes. They had taken some “ingredients” backstage to help get them through the evening.
The band wore matching gas station shirts with their names and star signs on opposite sides on the front, and the band’s logo on the back. Thornton looked every bit as cool as you would expect him to as he took center stage. Kirk McKim and J.D. Andrew impressed the crowd as they traded licks. On occasions throughout the night, Raymond Hardy would come front and center to join McKim and Andrew for little jamming sessions. Meanwhile, Nick Davidson may have been raised up higher at the back of the stage but it was almost impossible to see him behind his ample drum kit. He still made sure to make his presence known.
Having a huge Hollywood actor on the stage, you’d typically expect them to be aloof and not interact much with the crowd. That was definitely not the case here, although Thornton did say he usually would throw his towel out into the crowd, but that due to him being sick, decided that was maybe not the best thing to do right now. He interacted with the members of the audience who were up close, much to their joy.
Toward the end of the set, Thornton explained that there were only three songs left and that he wanted everyone on their feet and anyone in the back section could come down onto the floor in front if they liked. The crowd were happy to obey the command and took to their feet, dancing and clapping to show their appreciation.
Here’s hoping they can fight off this sickness soon as have dates scheduled through until early November.
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