Concert Review - Robbie Fulks at Fitzgerald's, December 29th, 2011

Didn't 2011 suck? I mean, beyond whatever personal setbacks I might have, it just seemed like every time you opened a paper or turned on the radio, something else was going wrong. Whether it was dangerously violent weather, a new Daley, the rotating clown college of offensive Republican candidates or the fact that our government's single achievement was choosing not to destroy our own credit rating, there just wasn't much succor to be found this year. (And don't even get me started on Adam Dunn or the Cutler injury.)


So what does one do at the end of a year as monumentally soul-depleting as 2011? The same thing we do every year, go see Robbie Fulks.


You see, every year, Robbie, his band, his wife and few other friends put on a "Year In Review" show at Fitzgerald's, a friendly suburban restaurant/performance bar in Berwyn. It's a full band country rock concert interspersed with audience trivia games, humorous skits and musical numbers based on the year's events and any other tomfoolery the band might feel like engaging in. It's a glorious institution - fun, informal, raucous and incredibly well-executed.