chicago, illinois - october 5, 2024

Michael Kiwanuka co-headlined a performance at the Chicago Theatre on October 5 alongside Brittany Howard, another well-established powerhouse vocalist, putting pressure on him to perform stellar as the last act of the night.

Starting the set with gently structured piano melodies, he walked on stage while a kickdrum beat kept the tempo and sang “Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love)” into his more electric side with “You Ain’t The Problem” and “Rolling”.

Kiwanuka is a prime example of patience and resilience leading to magic. With the release of his self-titled third album Kiwanuka in late 2019, and the cancelations of his shows due to illness and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he hasn’t been able to share his music to the fullest for a few years. But now, in 2024, he’s out in the world celebrating that album by performing at the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury and touring around North America with Howard.

Continuing the delayed glorious celebration of his successes, he finally reached Chicago where fans eagerly gathered at the theater to see him live. Some people left after Howard’s set, but the dedicated ones stayed and it’s safe to say they were extremely happy that they did.

Most of the value of Kiwanuka’s music is through his lyricism, expressing his inner conflicts with self-doubt and touching on external conflicts like racism and negative attitudes towards inclusivity.

“Hero,” is one of the most notable songs he performed as it became a hit on the radio in the United States. Some could say its because of the catchy melodies, but peel a layer back and find that the intentions of the song are to compare the civil rights movements of the 60s to recent police shootings in the US.

The success of his songs is exciting as it all translates well live as the rest of the show continued on and the overall groove of the night flowed so well. His performance is electric despite not jumping and running around the stage, he doesn’t need to do that because his spirit and wisdom are strong enough.

Ending the set with more hits like the theme song to Big Little Lies, “Cold Little Heart” and “Love & Hate,” which has been featured in many different TV series’ like Suits and Dear White People.

Though his musical releases are a few years old, the relevance is as important now as it was during the initial release. Fans will hear more from Kiwanuka next month as his new album is set to release on November 14.