Click here for photos of from this show in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for photos of Bear In Heaven at SXSW 2012 in Austin, TX in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Click here for QRO’s review of Bear In Heaven at the Echo in Los Angeles, CA on July 27th, 2010
Bear In Heaven graced a particularly foggy Lincoln Hall in Chicago with their signature dark disco just a couple of days before Halloween. Already the costumes were in full effect. Standouts included: Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz), the Tenenbaum girl (a bit hackneyed, but she recoups the points for being almost as hot and disaffected as the original Gwent character), Beeker (from the Muppets), and, most disturbingly, a girl had dressed up as Bear In Heaven’s chief guitarist (complete with mustache), Adam Wills! A creepy scene, to be sure, but what else is Halloween weekend for?
The night was a gift for anyone who loved Beast Rest Forth Mouth (QRO review); the set list drew almost exclusively from the album. "You Do You", "Lovesick Teenagers", and "Wholehearted Mess" sounded as enervating and brash as the recorded versions. One thing about a band that relies on samples: you’re apt to get exactly what you paid for, which 
can be good and bad. Bear In Heaven is the sort of band that wears the disco precision well. Finely cut hooks unfurled with swank percussive diction. If the crowd wasn’t so concerned about scuffing their freshly fashioned costumes, the dancing would have broken out harder and faster. How many rock and roll bands (albeit with a strong electric edge) can really inspire the dance floor? This isn’t the 1980s anymore. There’s no Dirty Dancing or Footloose hicktowns squirreled away somewhere among the Catskills, or cornfields, full of horny teens waiting to bust-a-move to guitar licks. Dancing is pretty much about the ‘techno’ these days. Except when it comes to Bear In Heaven, so be thankful.
Pleasant surprise of the night: some of the slower tracks from the album were the strongest performances of the night. Case in point: "Dust Cloud". The tranced-out track comes off as a late night comedown song in the recorded version, chill enough to please the senses without jarring the soul. Who could have guessed that the band could ratchet the intensity up so high in the live version? Jon Philpot grabbed the mic, walked front stage and center (so far forward that you could practically reach up and touch his porn ‘stache) and delivered a mantric choral chant like he was a wet dream for a Saturday Night Fever-era John Travolta. "You assholes almost broke my pussy finger!"
