Avsha Entrances Chicago for the Last Weekend of Tomorrow Never Knows Fest
Chicago, Illinois - January 29th, 2026
This past Thursday, Avsha opened for shoegaze band, she’s green, at a sold out Schubas Tavern as part of the last weekend of Chicago’s Tomorrow Never Knows Fest. Local noise-pop band, sunshy, initially set the tone for the night, warming the crowd’s ears with dreamy vocals and beautifully distorted melodies. With the tavern intimidatingly packed from wall to wall with eager fans, Avsha confidently takes the stage.
Avsha Weinberg is half of the alternative-rock duo Lowertown, who has performed to a familiarly sold-out crowd on Schubas’ stage twice before. Known simply as Avsha, he describes the essence of his solo project as “the hope that the Netherworld: A Haunted House Experience you are about to go to will stay with you for your entire life,” in a interview with The Internet Is Dead podcast. Though the multi-instrumentalist’s current discography largely exhibits experimental indie-rock, tonight he performs a soul-stirring acoustic set.
As the room dims and gentle pale lighting illuminates center stage, conversations are overtaken with increasingly amplified distorted chords. Gentle strums of his electric acoustic guitar transition into his latest single “Sunset Diner,” with lyrics serving as a vulnerable reflection regarding a deadbeat father. Entranced by his finger picking and powerful melodic voice, all eyes are magnetically drawn to the artist.
After playing a more serine unreleased track, Avsha took a moment to introduce himself and give thanks to audience members for showing up. The other half of his duo, Olivia Osby, shouts, “Beautiful music!” from the front row, showing up in support of her best friend’s first solo live performance outside of New York.
He continues down the setlist with unreleased tracks from his upcoming album, Transmission Towers. Between songs he recounts a memorable anecdote from the last time he was in the city, in which it was the first time he stopped trying to smoke cigarettes. He explains having a “inhalation throw-up response,” and realized he could enjoy Chicago’s cold beauty without the cigarette; a story then met with tender laughs from the attentive audience.
Closing the 30-minute set with his only other released song on the setlist, “Acid Mountain 65,” Avsha’s deep, rich vocals smoothly convert to soft, ethereal notes that are carried out when the chorus strikes. Concluding the performance on a powerful note, the crowd erupts in appreciative applause of the wonderous independent musician.
Avsha’s intimate and personable performance was in perfect contrast with sunshy’s noise-pop to prepare fans for she’s green’s mixed setlist of slowcore and shoegaze. New York fans be sure to catch Lowertown’s free show on February 5th and keep an eye on out for future releases from them. Stay tuned for announcements regarding Avsha’s upcoming album Transmission Towers by following him on Instagram.
