Hum’s Chicago Homecoming Steals Slide Away at the Aragon Ballroom as Nothing and Chapterhouse Deliver Shoegaze Nostalgia

CHICAGO, IL — Slide Away’s Chicago stop at the Aragon Ballroom was built as a shoegaze showcase, but the night kept tilting toward one band in particular. By the time Hum closed the show, the room had turned into a packed, emotional homecoming for a group many fans thought they might never see again.

The lineup also featured Chapterhouse, celebrating the 35th anniversary of Whirlpool, and Nothing, marking a decade of Tired of Tomorrow. Yet the loudest, most sustained reaction belonged to Hum, whose mix of old favorites and newer material pulled together longtime listeners and younger fans alike.

Slide Away’s Chicago edition stretched the festival’s shoegaze mission

The 2026 edition of Slide Away brought the festival to Chicago as a midpoint between its New York and Los Angeles dates, expanding the event into a three-city roadshow. The Aragon Ballroom bill mixed headliners with local openers and newer acts, keeping the focus squarely on a genre that has found a bigger audience in recent years.

Early sets from Sunshy and loveliescrushing set the tone. Sunshy played to a room that was already filling in, while loveliescrushing leaned into long stretches of distortion and loops that clearly divided the crowd. The booking underscored Slide Away’s love of deep-cut shoegaze rather than easy crowd-pleasers.

Chapterhouse and Nothing bring anniversaries and surprises before Hum takes over

Chapterhouse drew a strong response as they marked the anniversary of Whirlpool, with the set peaking on “Love Forever.” Nothing followed with a performance centered on Tired of Tomorrow, and the Chicago crowd even got a little levity when the Grillo’s pickle mascot appeared during the show.

For Nothing, the anniversary run highlighted how the band’s bleak textures still connect in a live setting. The singalong around “A.C.D. (Abcessive Compulsive Disorder)” showed that the music’s heavier mood can still land with a crowd ready to shout every word back.

Hum’s set turns the ballroom into a cross-generational singalong

When Hum finally hit the stage, the anticipation in the room was obvious. Matt Talbott walked out casually to set up his pedalboard, drawing a roar before the band even began, and the set opened with “Isle of Cheetah” after an intro cue from Escape from New York.

The strongest reactions came when the band moved through songs from Inlet alongside older material, especially You’d Prefer an Astronaut. “Why I Like the Robins” returned for the first time since 2015, but “Stars” was the defining moment, with the entire crowd singing along before the distortion hit and the ballroom seemed to snap back to 1995.

By the end, Slide Away felt less like a festival stop and more like a shared reunion, with Hum at the center of it all. Talbott’s disbelief from the stage matched the crowd’s energy, and the night closed with the sense that Chicago had just witnessed a rare, high-wattage reunion in a scene built on memory.

Chicago's music scene, one story at a time — Chicago Music Guide.