RECAP: Local Natives Soar at FLOODfest Chicago

As if four days of Lollapalooza wasn’t enough, we took over the ninth floor at Venue Six10 on South Michigan Avenue—right across the street from Grant Park—for a raucous, wild, and intimate edition of FLOODfest Chicago. Local Natives, who by this point in the weekend had played on an airplane and atop the Willis Tower and so probably felt weird being only nine stories high, played to a deeply dedicated crowd that was lined up halfway around the next block waiting to see the LA wailers. Their devotion was rewarded with a pounding, high-energy set on the venue’s ninth floor.

Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio kicked off the night with a swaggering set of dance-pop tunes from his solo debut The Names, and LA duo Classixx kept the house thumping late into the night with a DJ set. A GIF-generating photo booth was on hand for all your reaction needs, and it was all fueled by vodka from Deep Eddy and beer from Goose Island—and, for those who needed the jolt to party so hearty, nitro cold brew from Stumptown.

Check out photos from the night itself courtesy of our own James Richards IV, and a big thanks to all of our sponsors for helping us to bring this wild night together. Much love to you, Virgin America, Spotify, Deep Eddy Vodka, Goose Island, Virtue Cider, Topo Chico, Stumptown Coffee, Vita Coco, and media partners DO312 and the AV Club!