Ashnikko @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
BY MARY XIANG (SHE/HER)As I entered a half mile radius of Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom, I noticed a change in the air. It might have been the line wrapping around the venue, the outfits that I couldn't help to admire, or even the significant increase in the proportion of people with blue hair (Ashnikko's signature style). Either way, you couldn't help but feel the energy on September 16, as revelers awaited Ashnikko. One thing was remarkably clear as I waited in line: Ashnikko is an artist who inspires people to express themselves and be themselves. As a queer artist, they found their community at 18, upon moving to London. Since then, their music has been written for the LGBTQ+ community, with Ashnikko themselves writing, "To my LGBTQ+ community, I love you. My heart is ten times bigger since meeting you. My art is forever changed knowing you," in a letter penned in honor of Pride Month for Billboard.
This Saturday's Chicago show was the fifth stop on their North American tour for their newly released debut album, WEEDKILLER. Ashnikko was joined by opener Audrey Nuna, whose R&B style shares the same high-energy found in Ashnikko’s pop. Highlights of Nuna’s set included the mellow Baby Blues, pop-rappy damn Right, and her latest single, locket. Nuna’s infectious stage presence was the perfect preface for the show. Just after 9:30 pm, the lights dimmed and the crowds went into a frenzy as the first measures of You Make Me Sick! filled the venue, launching the headliner set list on a high note. The following songs in the set, STUPID and Working Bitch, were the first to gain widespread popularity on Tik Tok and the loud, boisterous, messy lyrics found their place with the audience screaming along.
Worms and Cheerleader were both high-energy numbers from WEEDKILLER. Though I was wary from one setlist.fm user's entry from Ashnikko’s concert on September 12 which noted that fans threw up during each of these songs and the show was paused, the songs went off without a hitch, with fans across the venue singing along to every word (during Cheerleader, I even noticed a few blue pom-poms waving in the air). Following Cheerleader, Ashnikko did take a moment to pause and hand out waters among the general audience, standing room-only crowd. “People were passing out left and right at these last shows… stressful, very stressful [...] Vibe check. We good?” asked Ashnikko, before continuing into Manners. The show as a whole was filled with a variety of songs, that at times had the crowd jumping around and at other times had them hugging the people they came with and swaying to melodic, slower songs.
