Jason Isbell Warms Up A Brisk Chicago Night
Photo From Salt Shed’s Instagram. Non Jason Isbell Show
Just as the summer air faded away Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit rolled into Chicago for 2 Shows and heated it back up. The infamous Chicago Salt Shed played host to the pair of shows. The indoor portion of the venue won’t be finished till mid-2023, but that didn’t stop them from hosting shows outdoors. The iconic Morton Salt Shed started its transformation into a music venue around 2019 when Live Nation first showed interest in the shed which was built in 1929 & housed the Morton Salt Company. If you have ever been on the Kennedy expressway in Chicago, you have probably seen the building many times. The outdoor space holds a capacity of 4,000.
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Blues vocalist Shemekia Copeland opened the show with a stellar set. Winner of 7 blues music awards, she fit right in with Chicago’s rich blues background. Playing a set heavy of songs from her new album Done Come Too Far, which is her 10th studio album. Shemekia, gave the Chicago crowd a blues lesson with her 45-minute all-original set.
Next up was the headliner Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit. The 400 Unit is playfully named after the psychiatric ward of Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Alabama close to where the band is from. The 400 Unit consists of Sadler Vaden of Drivin' N Cryin' on guitar, Jimbo Hart on bass, Derry deBorja on keyboards and accordion, & Chad Gamble on drums. Jason is no stranger to Chicago with his last time being here in 2020 at Wrigley Field. Jason joked about it being jacket weather and that he can finally survive on a shower a day shortly after kicking off the 90-minute set. Isbell is a 4-time Grammy winner and kicked the show off with one of those songs “24 Frames”, and then saved his 2018 Best American Roots Song “If We Were Vampires” closer to the end of the set.
“It's knowing that this can't go on forever, Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone. Maybe we'll get forty years together, But one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone”
The night ended with the Drive By truckers hit “Decoration Day” dedicated to Wes Freed, the artist who hand drew all the Drive By Truckers albums who passed earlier this month. Isbell was with the Drive By Truckers from 2001 till 2007. This capped off a flawless set by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit.
Night 2 at the Salt Shed is Sold-Out
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Jason Isbell Set-List
Salt Shed |Night 1 | 9/22/2022
24 Frames
Hope the High Road
It Gets Easier
Something More Than Free
Overseas
Dreamsicle
Be Afraid
Alabama Pines
Elephant
Go It Alone
Honeysuckle Blue (Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ cover)
Last of My Kind
Be Afraid
If We Were Vampires
Super 8
Cover Me Up
Encore:
Tour of Duty
Decoration Day (Drive‐By Truckers cover)
