Red Shahan - supporting Colter Wall in the the "Colter Wall and Friends" Tour
On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Chicago welcomed Colter Wall and Red Shahan at the marvel-of-a-venue that is the Auditorium Theatre. To be completely honest, I hadn't heard about Red until I heard that Colter was coming to town. Even then, I never bothered to do my homework on his work until about a week or so before the performance. It was at that very moment, upon my first listen of "Men & Coyotes," that I realized that I had been missing out on this raw, passionate voice that is Red Shahan. I had to listen to the song a few more times, not by choice, but because I was completely wrapped around the song. It's one of those songs that can make any journey fly by like a breeze; I can already feel myself cruising along any of the major interstates to this song. Anyway, after finally realizing that the song wasn't actually 30 minutes long, I knew I had to explore the rest of Red's catalog.
Going back to the night of the performance, I immediately knew that Red was going to put on a show - not in theatrics or any sort of gimmick - but strictly with his hearty vocals and his bands' rhythm-filled playing. He's just one of those artists that starts playing and you can't help but start tapping your feet and bobbing your head. Without bringing in too many comparisons, if you enjoy artists like Whiskey Myers, you'll definitely find yourself enjoying Red's music. He immediately joined the ranks of one of my playlists with songs like "Javelina," "Waterbill," and one of my other personal favorites "White Knuckle Heart."
I truly think that Colter picked the right friend to join him on this tour, and I think that more people need to know about Red Shahan. That first song I talked about, "Men & Coyotes," is the title track of his first album - which was released ten years ago last month. While I wouldn't call him a small artist, I definitely believe he should be bigger - and headlining his own shows - and hopefully we get to see that in the near future. Red, thank you for the amazing performance.
If you find yourself with the opportunity to catch him live, do yourself a favor and get up and go.
