By: Allison Lukas, WSUM Music Director

This past weekend, WSUM’s Music Director and Promotions Director had the pleasure of attending the Warm Love Cool Dreams Music & Arts Festival in Chicago, presented by The Salt Shed and the Empty Bottle. After taking a few days to reflect on the experience, here are some of my highlights.

The Warm Love Cool Dreams Music & Arts Festival is a newer addition to the vast array of festivals offered throughout summertime in Chicago, starting up in 2024 and now marking its second year over this Memorial Day weekend. But don’t let its age deter you, the festival offers a space for smaller artists to be spotlighted, as well as larger acts like this year’s headliners; The Jesus and Mary Chain and Courtney Barnett. Between the diverse lineup and space for local artists and vendors, The Salt Shed and Empty Bottle put together a great weekend that I hope is here for many years to come.

Kicking off Saturday, Dara, the outgoing Promotions Director, and I made our way to The Salt Shed. Prior to this weekend, I had only been to The Salt Shed once and being that it was mid-November, the outdoor area, or the fairgrounds, were closed. We were excited to see what the venue had to offer and we were pleasantly surprised. The lineup had very minimal overlap between the performing acts, aside from one performance on the Three Top Lounge each day. Instead, they alternated between the indoor and outdoor stage to give time to set up between sets and kept the performances moving the whole day. I actually found this really enjoyable, the alternating stages gave you a new view of each artist and room to explore all the different areas to watch and enjoy the festival. Dara and I took advantage of this and found ourselves walking all around the festival and fairgrounds wherever we could. We especially enjoyed the Three Top Lounge and watching the first half of YHWH Nailgun’s set from the seats up there, then venturing back down to the crowd for the rest. 

In terms of the actual music for Saturday, I enjoyed the electronic leaning theme throughout that morning. Kumo 99 started off the afternoon with a strong performance and large crowd for how early in the festival it was. Their set was a perfect way to get the crowd dancing and feeling the music for the rest of the day. YHWH Nailgun put on another great performance. The set almost felt like performance art, but I felt it really added to the audience’s experience while watching and listening. Dara and I said afterwards that the lead singer had a Deftones-esque sound to his voice at certain points, but their set overall was an intense blend of electronic, experiential noise rock that altogether was a really cohesive performance. 

Our favorite of the day was by far Smerz. A Norwegian electronic duo consisting of Cathariana Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt, and who we were most looking forward to seeing. I’ve been a fan for quite some time now, and sadly missed them on their last tour for their album Big City Life, so I was excited to get the chance to see them since they rarely play in the area. Although they recently released an EP mid-May, Easy EP, the majority of their set consisted of songs from Big City Life, which I was definitely not complaining about. More melodic songs like “Easy” and “Imagine this” were some of my favorites and I loved the duo’s back and forth routine of one singing and one back on keyboard or synth. Wittier songs like “Roll the dice” and “Feisty” kept the set fresh and fun for the audience as well. Mid-set they also teased their big hit, “You got time and I got Money”, with the dialogue in the remixed/edited version that features Clairo and VVTZJ, a Danish producer. A great way to break up the set, but did also lead me to believe for a brief second that we’d see a special guest appearance. They closed off the set with the actual song, which I think was a perfect way to wrap up their hour or so on the indoor stage. Motzfeldt brought back out the violin and both singers joined together at the front of the stage, which was a sweet serenade into the rest of the evening. 

Sunday was another great day of music and exploring the ground even more. We got there early and were able to take advantage of the free boat rides the festival was offering each day. After a brief wait, we were able to take a 30-minute ride around Goose Island and see the outdoor stage as the ride came to an end. I thought this was a great touch to the festival experience and definitely offered something unique. (Although growing up going to the city, I had yet to have been on a boat on the river so it was something cool I can now check off my bucket list.)

One thing that really stood out to me was the diversity of sound from day to day, while some acts from Saturday definitely had a lot of electronic influence, Sunday had a larger variety of sounds and styles. Although that is partially to be expected of a festival, it kept the back to back performances entertaining and flowing nicely. 

Sunday’s most anticipated, and overall favorite, was Nourished by Time. I’ve seen him in a festival setting before, but got to be much closer here and enjoyed it a lot more. I was very happy to find that he kept “Shed That Fear” on the setlist, since I’d seen some back and worth with it at some recent shows. He added some impressive note switches to this song which made the live version somehow even better than the studio recording. The backing band throughout this set was also really enticing and matched the energy of the stage quite well. In addition to the backing band, the audience made this set exceptionally memorable. Being up in the front, I was naturally surrounded by other bigger fans. Everyone around us was dancing and singing along the whole time, which not only made it enjoyable, but helped you feel connected to everyone through the music as well.

Overall, we had a great time getting to experience the Warm Love Cool Dreams Music & Arts Festival for the first time. The lineup provided Chicagoans and those surrounding a great space to indulge in artists that may not necessarily be in the area as often, while also highlighting some more local acts. The art market was a unique touch that made the festival experience extremely memorable and something that puts it apart from the others; and keeps those attending with plenty to do throughout the two days. I look forward to what the festival has planned for the future and hopefully have the chance to frequent The Salt Shed Fairgrounds once again.