Opening for the Unicorns were The Candyland Riots, a local Chicago band I was unfamiliar with, but who clearly deserved to be opening for the Unicorns based on their name alone. They were quite a sight to behold; up on the Empty Bottle stage, the lead singer appeared to be about 8 feet tall, while the bassist seemed under 5 feet in comparison. And with that, the Candyland Riots proceeded to absolutely wow me with their quirky, keyboard-centered pop rock and the singer's unique and passionate voice. This is clearly a band to watch in the Chicago area, if for no other reason than to see the ridiculous facial expressions the bassist makes during the entire performance. I absolutely loved them.

The high quality of the opening band left me extremely excited for the Unicorns to come on. Their debut album, "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?" has been a mainstay on my disc changer, and with such odd lyrics and the somewhat effeminate band name, I was extremely curious as to what the band members were like. I got my first glimpse of the three of them as they set up their equipment, and was shocked at how incredibly young they looked (though their ages were later confirmed as between 21 and 24). Of course, the fact that they looked about 15 was somewhat fitting with the childlike cover art of their album and the youthfulness of their name. Nothing prepared me, though, for when the lights dimmed and the band came out in matching pink suits. I think I just about died with laughter, especially considering most of their pants were too tight and too short, which I'm sure they were well aware of.

While the audience was still reeling from the shock of their outfits, the Unicorns energetically launched into one of the highlights of their album, "Tuff Ghosts," setting the tone for what would be an incredibly great set. The two lead singers, Alden and Nick, rotated use of their guitar, bass, and keyboards during almost every song as they ran through the large majority of the album and a titillating cover of Kylie's "Can't Get You Out of My Head," which easily could have been a Unicorn's song if we didn't know better. "Child Star" was another standout song, with the back and forth lyrical fight between Nick and Alden (No I didn't- yes you did!) coming out so gosh darn . . . cute.

Nick's performance was definitely the highlight of the show; he played as if he was surely on crack, flailing about with whatever instrument or microphone he had in hand at the time as he looked out at the audience behind the chin length hair that was continually in his face. I'm really not quite sure what he looks like, actually. The set ended as Nick tried to destroy a microphone stand and a guitar, then stomped off the stage as the drummer ran after him, leaving Alden at the keyboards to finish up the last song with a "well I guess we're done." Whether this was unexpected or the usual Unicorns fare wasn't totally clear, but it was definitely entertaining.

The night was capped off while perusing the Unicorns' merchandise table. They only had one t-shirt style for sale, a girl's shirt that was black and pink with clouds on it. I asked the merch guy if they even bother selling men's shirts given all the pink, and he told me that the boy shirts were exactly the same design and had actually already sold out before they even got to Chicago. I just love the knowledge that there are all these indie boys running around wearing pink shirts that say "the Unicorns" on them. Priceless.