Friko at Empty Bottle September 2025

Chicago based band Friko just had a show at The Empty Bottle to support the Santa For a Day charity. Let's talk about the event!

The first opener was Chicago artist CRASHprez. He did a great job getting the crowd moving! He also did a rap to the Alex G instrumental song "Clouds," being inspired by the recent Alex G show at Salt Shed. We talked about our experiences at the show and our favorite Alex G albums after the show, his being House of Sugar, and mine being DSU. He was really nice to talk to! Here are a few of my favorite photos from his performance.

Next up was Oyeme. Oyeme is a solo artist that makes ethereal ambient-esque folk guitar music. They brought a sizable backing band for this show, including a slide guitar, a soundboard, synths, bass, and more guitar. It was also really nice to see Shravan playing drums for them this show! Shravan did sound for my band Babyteeth (for milla) at our show earlier this year at Record Breakers. It was really nice to talk with him after the show as well! Overall, the band gave a really full and huge sound for the live performance that I really adored. This continued my streak of finding all of my new favorite bands as openers at shows this year, and I couldn’t be more happy! I’m eagerly awaiting their upcoming EP and album. Here's a few more of my favorite photos of Oyeme and Co.

Now for the headliner, Friko. Along with playing a few new songs, and closing out with the punchy and catchy IN_OUT from their Whenever Forever EP, they did something they said they have never done before and will likely never do again: play their album Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here in its entirety, front to back. This featured beautiful instrumental interludes, and Shravan coming back up onstage once more to play tambourine for "Get Numb To It!" Every time I see Friko live, it solidifies more and more why they are one of my favorite bands ever, even at such an early point in their careers. Their songs are so powerful and fun to dance to live, and the quiet moments are so beautiful. They really know how to play with my emotions, and since the album is paced so thoughtfully, the show was paced just as well. To be surrounded by a group of people who have the same passion for these songs as me all in one bar was really exciting. Friko has gotten big enough to play bigger venues at this point, so to be at this show was a privilege, let alone doing press for it.

All photos taken by Gavin Bohan.