Russian Circles have been added to Do Division Street Fest May 31 in Chicago, IL & ArcTanGent August 16 in Bristol, UK. Tickets: russiancirclesband.com

It was Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, though, who I planned my Friday night around seeing. It was 10 years to the day that the band last played Do Division, and they had just celebrated a previous milestone the night before, playing the 15-year-old Hearts of Oak in full at Empty Bottle. They played the beloved classics: “Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?”, “Hearts of Oak”, “Bottled in Cork”, and “Biomusicology” stood out for sure. But a lot of the newer material, surprisingly, sounded the best. Leo’s vocals were strong on the ELO-like “Can’t Go Back”, while his ability to sell “Let’s Stay on the Moon”, which he described as “the slowest, most depressing song ever written,” was impressive. And of course, he introduced “William Weld in the 21st Century” in the most Leo way possible: “This is a downtempo song about how cis straight white men need to step the fuck away and modern day libertarianism is just cosplay for conservatism.” I don’t know how many people heard him say that, but I was sure happy to hear those words at a summer festival.

I’ll be honest: I really am only writing about this to share the semi-decent (for a phone) picture of Cloakroom that’s above. But I’ll give a shout-out to The Mountain Goats, who, with a full band in tow, played a varied set of songs new and old and sounded pretty good even if you couldn’t hear John Darnielle entirely over the bros (the saxophone on Beat the Champ’s “Foreign Object” was a standout). And how about those Indiana shoegazers. We’ve covered Cloakroom here a couple times, and each show is a little different even if they play a similar set. This time, their effects, the echo on lead singer Doyle Martin’s vocals, and drummer Brian Busch’s playing on “Deep Sea Station” stood out. (Note: Their sad music is very fitting for unbearably hot weather.) And Martin’s banter was top-notch. (“This one goes out to a couple handsome boys.”) (“You can buy iced coffee” points to Bru “or get a book on the occult” points to Myopic Books.) Let’s hope for no rain next year--and that the best bands don’t have to settle for playing free club shows at 10 PM on a work night.

The Dodos at DoDivision in Chicago