Cross Club was light on September 15, 2026. It is already a small venue, and at its fullest there were probably only 40 to 50 people in the room. Still, the size of the crowd never determined the level of performance. St. Vertigo and REDD. brought two completely different sounds and gave the people who came out a real show.

I had never seen either act before, and I walked into the night without knowing REDD.’s music that well. That gave me the chance to experience everything without expectations.

St. Vertigo opened the evening with a sound that blended alternative rock and soul. They were less focused on talking between songs and more focused on the music itself. The musicianship held the performance together, but Lara’s voice was what grabbed me. Her vocals were on point, and songs such as “They Could Never Tell Lies” and “When You Came” gave her space to show the strength and spirit in her voice.

Both songs were still unreleased when I filmed them and are expected to appear on the group’s album It Pains Me So, To See You Go. That makes the footage more than another concert clip. It documents the songs at a stage when the audience inside Cross Club was hearing music that had not yet reached the public.

“They Could Never Tell Lies” moved at a slower pace, but the crowd stayed connected to it. “When You Came” carried an even stronger spirit, with Lara pulling the room deeper into the performance. St. Vertigo did not need a lot of conversation or extra movement. Their music and Lara’s voice handled that work.

REDD. brought the complete opposite feeling.

The look caught my attention first. REDD. has an interesting visual presence, but once the performance started, the personality became just as important. REDD. was playful, talked to the crowd and used stories to bring people into the songs. The sound carried a young mix of pop, punk and rock, with enough energy to make a light room feel active.

“Fugh Shi” was fun and lively, and it had people moving. “Shimmy Shake” slowed things down and gave the crowd a chance to settle into the flow. Then “Bad Days” pushed the energy back up, with REDD. bouncing across the stage and living inside every beat.

“Messy” became the perfect ending. REDD. had already performed it earlier, but more people had entered the room by the end of the night. Since it was a good song and the room had grown, REDD. performed it again as the encore. The second performance allowed the people who arrived later to catch the moment and gave the night one final release of energy.

After the show, I had a chance to speak with REDD. Away from the stage, I met an energy-filled young artist who seemed to be enjoying the entire experience. That same feeling had already come through during the performance: playful, present and happy to be sharing the music.

The contrast between the two acts is what made the evening work. St. Vertigo had me standing there admiring Lara’s voice. REDD. had us dancing and living in the moment. One act pulled the room inward through alternative rock and soul; the other pushed the energy outward through movement, personality and a young pop-punk-rock sound.

The crowd may have been light, but the evening was not empty. Both acts gave me something different to walk away with, and both gave me a reason to keep watching.

This night was filmed and photographed by ChuckDiesal as part of a growing archive documenting music, art and culture from Chicago to Prague and beyond. The YouTube channel now holds more than 1,300 videos featuring live performances, interviews, emerging artists, legendary names and cultural moments captured as they happened.

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