After hosting for over a decade at Vasa Park in Elgin, Mr. Blotto shocked fans by moving their 2012 festival to the Illinois-Iowas border.  The Iron Horse Campground in Sabula, IA was the scene for the band’s most recent full album cover encore, The Allman Brothers Band’s Eat A Peach, as well as other cover [...]

There have been hiatuses, New Year’s Runs, Wood Tours, and gigs En La Playa, but there hasn’t been a full on electric TOUR from Widespread Panic, since they stepped off the stage in Chicago on Halloween 2011.  That changes this week in St. Louis, but the first weekend stop finds them bunking down in our [...]

Another winter, another storming of a hotel by Blotto fans.  More information continues to trickle in about the 2013 edition of Hotel Blotto including support acts and lodging information. Dr. Kevorkian & the Volunteers will open Friday’s Show, setting the stage for. Mr. Blotto.  Indiana’s Chester Brown plays a set “late night” in the bar. Saturday, Dr. [...]

Have you checked out The Greenville Tavern yet? This new pub played host to Mr. Blotto’s New Year’s Eve gig. The band ripped through classics by Dylan, The Dead, Allman Brothers and J.J. Cale and rang in 2013 with one of Paul’s trademark raps out of Kool and The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie”. Here’s the audio [...]

Every summer, interesting festivals overtake the music landscape in and around Chicago. While the festival calendar dries up after Labor Day, leave it to the area's best venues to make our holidays seem like mini-festivals of their own. And with Thanksgiving more of a homecoming style occasion, the program leans delightfully local. We've already seen [...]

I'm trying something different for this contest to make it easier than ever to win these tickets. I've created a short entry form on this page. All you need to do is fill out your email address and which of two shows you are interested in attending: Mr Blotto and Chicago Zappa Collective at Reggie's [...]

Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, and apparently that means six full days of Halloween musical goodness in Chicago. While the bulk of the “costume” shows will take place on the prior weekend and, of course Halloween night itself, there’s even a few heavy-hitting shows in the “days between” that serious music fans have [...]

Bob Borchardt makes documentary films and has featured the music of Chicago band Mr. Blotto in a few of them.  His other passion is farming; he owns a certified organic vegetable farm in Southwest Wisconsin, Harvest Moon Farms, with a mission to provide the best fresh produce to retail and restaurants. Unfortunately, his crop has [...]

A new venue and a new vibe with for the long running Midwest festival, but the same Blotto and the 12th encore album, this time one that was “due”: the Allman Brothers Band Eat A Peach. Here are the setlists (via mr.blotto.net) Friday, July 27, 2012 Set One: Gettin’ It On, Any Kinda Lover, One [...]

Update 7/26: Schedule Info Added! Expect a mix of the familiar with some out-of-leftfield choices for supporting artists at the 2012 installment of Blottopia. Bluegrass is keyword for daytime portion of the festival.  As previously reported, Grateful String Band will provide Saturday entertainment, and they will be joined by the exciting Chicago jamgrass band Leadfoot [...]