Big music arenas are pretty awesome, not because of sound or sightlines. It’s the stylistic whiplash that is a knockout. Consider two upcoming nights at the Allstate Arena: from pop-y, cuddly country to immense German metal. Have fun.
Here’s the thing about Sugarland: Debate doesn’t matter.
People are carping about the band and how country it might or might not be. In the here and now, it’s all pop music. Rap is pop, rock is pop, blues is pop, country is pop. Everybody’s trying to cross over.
Besides, what matters most about Sugarland is one spectacular song, “Stay.” The duo, singer Jennifer Nettles and guitarist Kristian Bush, came out with “Stay” as a single in 2007. Whether the song is from the view of the wife who is being cheated on or the other woman, the tune’s video will blow you away. The song won a Grammy and Country Music Association awards, not that any of it matters, because Nettles sings the heck out of this tune.
Find your way to YouTube, and search for it. The backdrop is plain, which is what you want because the starkness of the emotion on display is all that you need. It’s a great song from a band that has a pile of great songs. Sugarland’s 2010 release, “The Incredible Machine,” has been certified platinum, because it’s sold a pig pile of records. Yes, the duo’s songs are kinda manipulative in that Spielbergian way, but hey, you cried a little during “Saving Private Ryan,” right?
7:30 p.m. Friday, Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont; $35-$65; 800-745-3000 or ticketmas
ter.com
Rammstein
We know. “These guys still around?” You bet. And they’re still … Rammstein. Think muscles, metal, leather, studs and big, giant riffs. It’s industrial metal, which is kind of funny when you really think about it, because all metal is pretty industrial. But yes, Rammstein’s martial precision is very factorylike, and elevates power chords to a new level. Solos are rare, which make some quibble about the metal descriptor. We say just listen. Anything this big, loud and nasty is metal — all day and all night.
8 p.m. Tuesday, Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont. $49.50-$89.50; 800-745-3000 or ticket
master.com
kmwilliams@tribune.com
Twitter @kevvwill
