The friendly invasion of UK retro soul rock divas (collectively known as Amys over there) continued last night when the vivacious Welsh singer Duffy played an XRT Show at the Vic theatre. Unlike her dangerous colleague Winehouse, Duffy comes across as good clean fun and channels Lulu and Petula Clark as much as Aretha. She made an impressive beginning, coming out in a fringed, flapper style roaring twenties black mini accompanied just by hollow bodied electric guitar showing off her considerable vocal prowess. Her band was competent, if maybe a little stiff at times and mostly just laid back and let the star command the spotlight with dramatic gestures, a little go-go dancing and even some restrained microphone twirling. (Roger Daltrey has nothing to worry about.) One of the best parts of the staging was the inclusion of a six inch high micro platform off to the side which was ringed by a string of cheesy Christmas lights. Duffy would retreat there often during the show, pushing her voice to the Betty Boop level. She stuck mainly to material from her debut, with the title cut and the infectious smash Mercy providing the highlights. A new track Rain on Your Parade was also promising. It will be interesting to see what comes next for her, she has a lot of potential, but many of her songs seem to depend on conjuring up memories of Motown and Merseybeat…nothing wrong with that, but nostalgia will only take you so far. Opening act  Eli “Paperboy” Reed and the True Loves gave a valiant effort, but showed the effects of listening to too many James Brown records.

July, already? Summer tends to fly by real quick here in Chicago, especially when our baseball teams are winning, and when there are plenty of music acts coming thru town. The first week of July hits town with a bang, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers team up with Steve Winwood to tackle the United Center. If you’ve never seen Petty, you need to do it now whether you are a fan or just on the fence with him. Constantly bringing a great energy and show to every performance, we recall 2003 when Tom and the Heartbreakers tore through 5 nights at The Vic Theatre in Chicago as something we will never forget. Best Petty song? We have our favorites, but let us know what yours are right here.

Fast forward two days to our annual shin-dig in Grant Park at Taste of Chicago. The show is free to all who come and this year’s lineup is solid with Gomez, Old 97’s, and Alejandro Escovedo for yearly tradition. Plus, the city is launching fireworks off later that night at 9:30pm on the lakefront so make sure to stick around! Past years shows have included John Mayer, Matthew Sweet, Wilco, Counting Crows, Buddy Guy, The Replacements, and many more. Let us know what your favorites were and who we should be putting on the bill in 2009!

The first week of June kicks off with a bang for music fans and XRT fans in particular. Some lucky few may say there’s no reason to see Death Cab for Cutie since they got to see them at XRT’s Live from Studio X event at Martyrs a few weeks back, but for the other 10,000 who did not get in, they will pack the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park this Tuesday night to see a full set from the band underneath the stars with the city skyline as the backdrop. Quite possible one of the best music settings in the country (We dare you to tell us some others that are better), cross your fingers and hope the rain stays away long enough to enjoy the night.

Later this week, two major XRT superstars (Dave Matthews Band and REM) come to town on the same night. While the younger crowd will most likely choose the DMB show at Toyota Park as their spot of choice, the triple bill at the United Center is not too shabby when put all together – R.E.M., Modest Mouse, and The National. We highly suggest getting to both shows early to see the openers – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings with DMB, and The National and Modest Mouse before REM.

Others shows in town include The Kooks at The Vic, and don’t forget to do what every Chicagoan should do at some point in their lives and spend some time in Grant Park for the Chicago Blues Festival. Being the Home of the Blues – not going to see and experience what this city is known for in the music world would be a shame.