We (Chicago) were Kicking [Our] Feet with Ruel

It's always a good time when I get to hang out with the House of Blues Chicago crew. This time around, I was here to see Ruel and his opener Arthur Hill. While I had known about Ruel, Arthur was not someone I was familiar with, but I would soon get to KNOW him and his music.

Arthur Hill is like that breath of fresh air. His music is very upbeat and it makes you want to tap your feet, bob your head, and just dance around. Like I mentioned to someone else there, he has a similar sound/catchiness as Harry Styles, which I say as a fan. With songs like "Appetite" and "She's So Handsome," I found myself in an alt/pop trance. Between their tempo and the amount of percussion in these songs, little did I know I was sucked into a world of sound. I felt like Arthur's performance was just starting when he suddenly announced his last song. It's still hard to get over how fast time went.

Ruel is someone that I had known going into this. That said, I wasn't the most familiar with his music (I was mostly familiar with "Painkiller"). While Arthur was more upbeat and had more of an alt/pop sound, Ruel slowed it down significantly and put us all in our feelings. Even though his music is much slower, his unique performance, plus his really cool stage setup, changed the entire dynamic of his music. Between his mastery of the use of lighting, and his change of tone, it didn't feel like the concert was slow. The stage and the crowd were both still incredibly energetic and light.

We were able to hear a new, unreleased song, which started off with some Spanish singing. He said to pardon his Spanish, but it honestly sounded like he spoke it more fluently than me! At some point, I had to stop running around and just sit in the back of the venue and listen to Ruel sing - reminiscing about the good times, the bad times, and the fun times.

But really, Ruel has some serious talent. He went to and from singing - to singing + keys. He took us for a ride as we picked up the vibes and then proceeded to slow us down on his solo songs (on keyboard). Transitions were seamless and he kept the energy going without skipping a beat.