Recap & Photos | LION BABE Live at Double Door

Summer in Chicago can only mean one thing; the hottest acts in music are in town. The neo-soul duo known as LION BABE (Jillian and Lucas) hot off their debut album Begin, brought their first U.S. Tour to one of Chicago’s most famous concert venues, Double Door. To have a sold-out show, a sold-out in Chicago nonetheless is a huge accomplishment.

Kicking off the night was rapper and singer Kamau. Before he fully got into his set, he divided the crowd by giving each side a different melody to harmonize. When combined together, Kamau would then beat box, making an awesome beat in the process. The Chicago crowd seemed hooked from the get-go.

His set consisted of songs about being played, self-love, injustice and a soulful rendition of OutKast’s Hey Ya. Throughout his entire set, Kamau had Chicago dancing. Before going into his last song, Kamau stated it was his time in Chicago, and “he was coming back”. The last track of Kamau’s performance was titled Police. As Kamau announced the name of the track, a person from the audience could be heard saying “oh here we go”, as if he waited all night to hear a tune of this caliber. The track deals with the brutality and injustice people have to face on a daily basis with police, with the chorus going ‘who police the police when they get out of line. Kamau ended his set with fists in unison.

As the Chicago audience stood and began to sweat waiting on the duo, Lucas took the stage and waved to the crowd to a huge ovation. Soon after, the lights went low with a purple hue as Jillian crawled onto the stage as if she was an lion (no-pun intended), which was met with another huge ovation. The set began with the crowd favorite track Wonder Woman. It should be noted, LION BABE was accompanied by a band, which took already fantastic songs to a whole new level.

LION BABE didn’t skip out when choosing their setlist as it contained tracks from both of their recent projects Begin and Summer Joint as well as some early gems. Personally, you could tell that the people in attendance were die-hard fans as they knew every word as soon as the opening note of the track began to play.

Hearing Jillian’s voice on record doesn’t do it justice, as her voice live is even more powerful and raw. Not only is her voice great, her dancing (and voguing) was captivating the entire set, you definitely couldn’t look away. Lucas is a man that wears many hats, during the show Lucas was seen playing guitar, tambourine, and adding drums, synths and more with a pad controller. These two have a stage presence that is top notch. The heat inside Double Door reached new heights as the crowd began to become drenched as the show went on; even the performers were feeling the heat. Jillian commented, “I’m a hot mess” and continued to showcase why LION BABE is a force to be reckon with.

The night came to an end as LION BABE thanked everyone for supporting them and their die-hard fans that have been with them since 2012. Going into the last song, Jillian said “this is our last song, but it’s our first song” and performed Treat Me Like Fire. A great choice of words to use as it connected so well because Treat Me Like Fire was indeed the group’s first commercial single when they began in 2012. The crowd was especially loud during the final song.

As the group finished, left the stage and lights went low, the crowd wanted more and began to chant “LION BABE!” LION BABE returned on the stage for an encore performance of Jump Hi. The Double Door’s floor was rocking as Chicago jumped as high as they could when the chorus came in.

After the show, LION BABE chilled and met with fans. Both Jillian and Lucas are truly genuine and humble people who puts their all into their songs. Though the US portion of tour is over, LION BABE differently left their mark in Chicago.

Checkout more shots of LION BABE’s performance in Chicago below!

– Journalist Without A Beat… Out!

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