BY LAVINIA JONES WRIGHT

An event many years in the making, the release of Illinois' debut full length, The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe, is cause for quite a celebration. One of the hardest working bands in rock and roll, they boys of Illinois have been through the music industry wringer over the last three years, and their album was stalled in the process. Finally finished and time-released via +1 a few tracks at a time in tandem with chunks of a video puzzle, Kid is more than all of us stalwart Illinois fans could have ever hoped for. It really is an adventure. On May 5, Cinco de Mayo, Illinois' frontman and Kid Catastrophe alter-ego, Chris Archibald, led his rag-tag band of Bucks County, PA all-stars through the songs from the record as well as from their earlier EP The Revenge of Some Kid. Congratulations, Kid and Co., on an incredible record. Archibald will be reaching back into his huge bag of songs for a follow-up this year.

Opening up for Illinois was the beguiling Holly Miranda, the Jealous Girlfriends frontwoman whose solo songs have been the talk of New York for the past few months. Her band includes violin virtuoso and solo artist in his own right Marques Toliver and David Jack Daniels (both also of Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson) as well as Tim Mislock (Abandoned Lighthouse). Holly brought the house down with songs from her brand spankin' new Sleep On Fire EP.