Last year we gathered at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia for the long-anticipated reunion of the Marvelous 3, and for the first time in decades we heard Butch Walker, Jayce Fincher, and Douglas “Slug” Mitchell live on stage. It was nothing short of magical. So, it was no surprise that the boys decided to get the band “back together” as they teased us on April 1, 2024…but thankfully, it was no joke!
This time, instead of a DJ to warm up the crowd at the Tabernacle, American Hi-Fi joined the boys in Atlanta at the end of October, and Lit hit the road with them this month for performances in Chicago, New York, and Boston. Having missed the third and final show in Atlanta last year when Lit’s Jeremy Popoff joined the band for “Every Monday” after teasing the audience with the riff from his band’s hit “My Own Worst Enemy,” we knew we had to catch the two together this month. So, last night we found ourselves in Chicago for the only Marvelous 3 show we’ll be seeing in 2024. And, as expected we were kicking ourselves for not finding a way to attend all of the shows!
Lit took the stage at the Chicago House of Blues around 8pm in a sea of fog and lights with their oh so appropriate opener of “Kicked Off the Plane” from the 2021 album Tastes Like Gold. The song gives a shout out to the windy city in it’s opening line, that may or may not have been a teaser for things to come later in the show… But, Lit saved their cover of “Let’s Go” from the same release for later in the set. Sadly, Butch Walker didn’t join the boys live on the Cars classic like he does on the album (who could blame him, when he admittedly was nursing a cold and doing his best to pull through this run for their fans).
The Lit band features brothers Ajay Popoff (lead vocals) and Jeremy Popoff (guitar), Kevin Baldes (bass), and Taylor Carroll (drums). They performed a short but energetic set that left us gasping for air as we tried to capture the jumps, the crowd interaction, and the emotion. As they reminisced about the good old days of plastering the sunset strip with band flyers along with their friends from Southgang, we thought back to that “Tainted Angel” video once again.
Naturally, Lit included favorites like “Zip-Lock,” “Over My Head,” and of course “My Own Worst Enemy,” which closed out their performance. And, while we didn’t get taken back quite as far as Southgang last night, the Marvelous 3 did serve up a classic from their first album as a trio, Math and Other Problems.
The Marvelous 3 took the stage after 9pm as fans cheered from the ornate balconies at the House of Blues, which sits on a riverfront complex that includes the two honeycomb Marina Towers. The band had noted that frontman Butch Walker wasn’t feeling well, but despite being sick, they tore through an epic set that featured material from the band’s three original albums, as well as their most recent fourth album which features more of the same types of fun hooks and quickly familiar melodies we’ve come to expect from the song writer. With Slug behind the kit and Jayce on bass, the current line-up of the Marvelous 3 also features Jayce’s son Holden Fincher on guitar and vocals. Holden first took the stage with the band last year and has clearly found a permanent home with the boys. In fact, his duet with Butch on “Let Me Go” was one of the most anticipated songs last night.
While the band brought back some of the same fun as last year like the t-shirt launch and balloon drop finale, there set was still full of several surprises. Most notably, former Enuff ‘Z Nuff frontman Donnie Vie who had dropped a hint about coming to the show on his socials earlier that night, joined the band for a killer performance of “The New Thing” before the set went completely off the rails and introduced a medley of 90’s favorites, with bandmates swapping instruments and Slug even taking center stage on lead vocals. And now, with a fourth album well under their belts, new favorites “Jackie n Tina” and “Kill the Motherfucker that Breaks Your Heart,” are now anticipated highlights.
Before the night was over we were all singing in unison about “Roses & Sake” and “little blonde hairs,” and when I say singing, I mean nearly everyone in the audience was proudly belting out the lyrics to every song in many instances louder than the band themselves. When the lights went dim following “Radio Tokyo,” we new that the night would soon end, and it did but only after the band delivered a finale of “You’re So Yesterday,” “Freak of the Week,” and the ballad of all ballads, “Cigarette Lighter Love Song.” While the band will play on two more times this weekend, we will have to wait until the next reunion.
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Live Photos by Editor and founder Kara Marie Uhrlen for The Pure Rock Shop. Posted on 11/8/2024.
