Art Brut Reference Rock's Finest at Chicago Show

Art Brut's lead singer, the jocular and loquacious Eddie Argos, is notorious for his cockney spoken vocals and stories during the band's live shows. Adorned in his signature trench coat, tie and corduroy pants at Tuesday night's Chicago show at Lincoln Hall, Argos and his band ended a few of their songs with lines from legendary rock tunes. During their breakthrough song and opener 'Formed a Band,' Argos injected the line, "I kissed a girl and I liked it" from Katy Perry's hit. He ended with, 'It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine,' which became an attention grabbing way to begin the band's one-hour, caffeinated art-punk set.

The lyrical distractions continued on animated second song, 'My Little Brother.' "'Karma Police' -- it was s---," Argos explained. "I couldn't sing along to it." He then broke into the chorus of the Ramones' 'Blitzkrieg Bop' and told the audience to "Stay off the crack." A few songs later during 'Emily Kane,' he referenced the Smiths' 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.'

The show marked the group's eighth in Chicago since June. "I can't make a joke about living here because I did that last time," stated Argos. "The guy in the CVS was like, 'Do I know you?' I told him I worked at Schuba's over the summer." This was an allusion to the band's five-night stint at Lincoln Hall's satellite venue, Schuba's, back in June. The mini-residency clearly paid off, as about 10 fans formed a small pocket in the center of the pit and incessantly jumped up and down and sang along to every word while one person even tried to give Argos a personal note.

All of this was fodder for Argos to infuse self-referential stories into the middle of songs. Pacing back and forth through the audience, Argos told a story about a boy who learned how to play guitar. He prefaced 'The Passenger' by discussing how Iggy Pop's version was about doing heroin in the back of a limo but Art Brut's was actually about taking the bus.

After the set ended on 'DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake,' the rabid crowd chanted, "Art Brut, Top of the Pops," a line taken from the song 'Good Weekend.' The band quickly came back for a three-song encore. "This song is about drinking," said Argos before firing into 'Alcoholics Unanimous.' On the final song, 'Post Soothing,' Argos shouted, "Gimme your hands. You're wonderful." As the audience obeyed and raised their hands into the air, Argos walked offstage while the rest of the band continued to rail on their instruments, ending another successful show in the Windy City.