CHICAGO | In July of 2023, I was sitting on a curb waiting for my Lyft home after what I considered to be the best show I had ever been to, furiously texting everyone I knew about a little band called Footballhead and their incredible debut album Overthinking Everything. I had just attended the album release show and was absolutely obsessed. After this show, I transitioned from a casual fan of Footballhead to an absolute superfan, or “stan” as it’s known in some online circles. I saw them whenever the opportunity presented itself; oftentimes going to shows with four or five bands just to see Footballhead play a support set, but I craved a headlining show.
In an interesting turn of events, Footballhead’s debut album was pulled from streaming services in October because they got signed to independent label Tiny Engines, and were going to do a proper rollout of the album under their new label. This began the longest six months of my life, not being able to listen to what I considered to be my album of the year for 2023. Getting to witness the building hype for this album and knowing what people had in store was so special, and on March 1 of this year, Overthinking Everything was released again. I am so absolutely stoked that this album is out again, but that is not the point I wanted to make.
The album was officially (re)released, and you know what comes with an album (re)release? An album (re)release show of course! This means that I had the opportunity to relive the best live show I had ever been to with my two best friends and with the added connection of not only celebrating the album, but also to the band, whom I have become friendly with through attending their shows as often as humanly (and financially) possible. I knew this would be a special show, so I decided to bring you along.
Support on this show came from bands Demo Division and New Age Thief as well as local rapper Woes. I always expect the best from support acts, that’s how I have found many of my favorite bands and artists, but these acts were next level. I had seen Demo Division live prior to this (coincidentally on a lineup with Footballhead), but the energy they had on that Saturday was insane. They had the crowd absolutely moving. New Age Thief kept this energy going, and I was baffled to learn that this was their second-ever live show — making them a band to definitely keep an eye on. The last support act before Footballhead’s set was local rapper, Woes. I will admit, before this show I had never heard of Woes, but I was blown away. Woes had one of the best sets I have seen in a long time, he had great interaction with the crowd, incredible visuals to accompany the set and an incredible stage presence as he was absolutely commanding the room. Although Woes is not the type of artist I generally gravitate towards, I am now a fan and I really want to catch a show when I actually know his material.
On to the main act… Footballhead. I could talk forever about this band and this set, but I think I’ll let the video speak for itself. I will say that the decision to open the show with the closing track from the album, the title track “Overthinking Everything,” was an absolute power move. This set had everything I could have hoped for; every track off of the album, a good selection of songs not on the album — including unreleased tracks and selections from their debut EP, Kitchen Fly — shots of Malort and a cover of Crossfade’s “Cold” (which I think should be included in every live set ever). The only disappointment (besides the disappointment of the set ending) came from the song “Nervous POS” not being included on the setlist, but that’s just me being nit-picky. This is all just a plea for anyone reading to check Footballhead out now, that way when they get huge you will have bragging rights. Join me and my best friends for our real time reactions to the show, and see for yourself why this band keeps me coming back!
All content produced by Kellie Beam