CrowdMateChicago’s next weekend, Thursday, September 24 through Sunday, September 27, contains plenty of parallel club routes. The concentrated option arrives across Saturday and Sunday: Windy Pop Weekender takes over Subterranean Upstairs with two 5 p.m. programs built around independent pop’s patient pleasures—melody, guitar texture, harmonies and a wide sense of scene. The point is less a grab bag of revivalist names than a compact festival bill whose older anchors and newer groups share recognizable musical coordinates. Saturday, September 26 belongs to The Softies, Dressy Bessy, The Specific Heats, Calico Loco, The Tammy Shine and time thief; Sunday, September 27 brings Rocketship, Good Flying Birds, Cinema Hearts, The Laughing Chimes, sunshy and Blue Clovers.[1][2]
That two-day format gives listeners a useful chance to follow connections across generations without rushing between rooms. The Softies’ spare duo format, Rocketship’s ornate arrangements, Dressy Bessy’s long-running Denver catalog, and local or regional acts placed alongside them make the sequencing itself part of the draw. For a weekend guide, this is a case for committing to the room: arrive early, give the opening names their full attention, then let the headliners supply context for the details that precede them.[1][2][3][4]
Saturday’s economy of The Softies
The Softies lead Saturday’s program at Subterranean. Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia have described the project through a minimal approach to pop, and that economy gives the night a distinct center of gravity. Their catalog on Bandcamp ranges from early releases to The Bed I Made, while the festival’s program identifies the duo as a Portland and Vancouver pairing. A small-band sound can make a multi-act day feel clearer: close harmonies and concise songs offer an audible scale against which the fuller guitar groups around them can register.[2][3]
The supporting cast creates several entrances into that scale. Dressy Bessy comes from Denver and is led by songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and producer Tammy Ealom; Ealom also appears separately as The Tammy Shine. The Specific Heats bring a garage-jangle and surf-twang description from the festival organizers, while Providence duo time thief trade vocal and instrumental duties in their live configuration. Chicago’s Calico Loco rounds out the day. These are specific enough pairings to reward an early start, especially for listeners who want the bill’s local and DIY strands alongside its better-established names.[2]
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Sunday’s Rocketship line traces a longer arc
Rocketship closes the Sunday program, arriving amid a current 30th-anniversary cycle for A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness. The group’s own site offers a vinyl and CD reissue of that record and tickets for its anniversary tour, while also flagging a new album, Hurt Feelings. The festival overview characterizes the 1996 album as a meeting point for jangling guitars, co-ed vocals, ambient passages and an unusually prominent organ. Those details make a useful listening frame for Sunday’s selection: finely arranged pop with room for blur, softness and lift.[2][4]
Good Flying Birds, from Indianapolis, have a noisy guitar-pop identity and a 2025 debut album, talulah’s tape. The Laughing Chimes come from Athens, Ohio, and their catalog pulls from jangly post-punk, Flying Nun, Creation and Midwest lo-fi reference points. Chicago and New York project sunshy is described by the festival as noise-pop, while Champaign’s Blue Clovers emphasize vocal harmonies and jangly guitar and bass. Cinema Hearts completes the set with Caroline Weinroth’s Washington, D.C.-based project. Taken together, the Sunday bill makes Rocketship feel like a living reference point inside an active regional network.[2]
Plan the two-day stop at Subterranean
Windy Pop Weekender is scheduled for Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27 at Subterranean, 2011 West North Avenue. Doors are listed for 4 p.m. and the music for 5 p.m. each day; the event is listed as 17-plus. Choose Saturday for The Softies and its concentrated mix of minimal pop, Denver indie rock and newer DIY groups, or Sunday for Rocketship and a more explicitly jangling chain of regional acts. A two-day pass and individual-day options are listed through the venue’s event pages. Recheck Subterranean and Windy Pop Weekender’s official pages before heading out, since door times, access details and lineup information can change.[1][2]
These concerts happened on 26–27 September 2026
The next dates at these venues: Subterranean
Sources
- Upcoming Events — Subterranean Live
- Windy Pop Weekender 2026 Music — Windy Pop Weekender
- Music — The Softies
- Rocketship — Rocketship