Chicago – The ghouls and goblins were ready to rage this Halloween at The Subterranean. Everyone from Sasquatch to Richard Nixon braced themselves for the chaos, until FIDLAR finally descended from the spiral staircase backstage to give the restless kindred spirits what they needed.

Donned in matching blue graduation gowns and face makeup, FIDLAR, an acronym for “Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk” wasted no time inducing the mayhem. Within ten seconds of their set opener “Cheap Beer”, I was pelted in the face with a half full PBR tall boy, and there was no going back. Lead singer and guitarist Zac Carper looked like a man possessed as he screamed his odes of smoking weed and not giving a shit, projecting saliva all over the front row. “This song’s about rehab, and rehab fucking sucks,” he put it bluntly before head banging into the poppy “No Waves”.

While Zac looked loose, the rest of his team stayed sharp. Lead guitarist Elvis Kuehn shredded solos reminiscent of a distorted Dick Dale, and his brother Max crashed his cymbals relentlessly. Bassist Brandon Schwartzel’s tall lanky frame lurked over the crowd as he slapped the bass and yelled backup vocals. Their roadie was arguably the busiest member of the group, constantly running on stage to pick up fallen mic stands as a cycle of kids rushed the stage to dive head first into the jumble of hockey masks and jean jackets. When yelled at for requests, Zac coldly stared at the crowd. “Don’t ever fucking tell me what to do.” By the next song he was hanging upside from the rafters, strangled by his microphone chord over the sweaty sea of stretched hands.

They invited the openers and hometown heroes The Orwells on stage for their rowdy conclusion of “Cocaine”, and by the end of the song the stage was bum rushed by fans leaving staff security in a clustered confusion in attempting to distinguish and separate the punks from the actual punk rockers.

FIDLAR was loud, raw, and energetically incoherent, but it was Chicago’s The Orwells that truly got the party started. The baby faced garage rockers took the stage appearing more suited for a high school battle of the bands rather than opening for disorderly provocateurs FIDLAR, but it quickly became apparent after the opening riff of “Who Needs You” that these recent high school graduates are a band to keep your eye on.

Lead singer Mario Cuomo strolled around the stage with nonchalant confidence, lashing his sweaty Robert Plant hair at the crowd as the rest of his crew effortlessly belted a set that was high on volume and low on diffidence. The stage dives were abundant as the crowd sang along to most the words, and lust was in the air after a girl jumped on stage into Mario’s arms, where they passionately made out for a solid two minutes while immersed within the distorted feedback of lead guitarist Dominic Corso. FIDLAR’s manager ran out and rubbed peanut butter all over Mario’s face as they ended their set with a triumphant rendition of The Stooge’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. It was obvious that these two bands were destined to tour together, punctuated by Zac’s promise to, “Kick anyone’s ass who doesn’t like The Orwells”.