Tuesday, Sept. 29, music artist MICO performed a sold-out show at the House of Blues in Chicago. It was his sixth performance of his Running from a Feeling Tour, which covers North America, Asia, and Australia.
The setlist was packed full with all ten songs from his first studio album “When the Lights Turn On,” five from his EP “Internet Hometown Hero,” and of course his breakout single “Cut my Hair.” A couple of other songs from his discography were sprinkled throughout, including his most recent single “Everything’s the Same,” which came out Sept. 18 of this year, and Sombr’s “Back to Friends” as a surprise song. Will Linley was the opener.
MICO, whose real name is Miguel Veloso, is a Filipino-Canadian artist based out of Toronto.His music combines various elements of indie pop punk and alternative rock. He was an independent artist until he signed with the American label Columbia Records in 2025.
I’ve been a fan of MICO’s since 2024, and was first introduced to him through “EPIC: The Musical,” in his role of Telemachus. This show is the third time I’ve seen him live, and I can say this was my favorite show.
Instead of just playing music, the show had an ongoing storyline unfolding on stage. Stillville, specifically Main Street, was where the story took place. It started off with a robotic woman’s voice on the radio discussing how Stillville expects nothing less than perfection. It then glitched, and a man’s voice interrupted, trying to get a warning through to those listening. The radio kept glitching, and that’s when MICO came on.
While MICO sung and played guitar, he also performed with a band — Jason Khater on guitar, Raffaele on bass, and Matt Olliver on drums.
The show utilized a screen off to the side, which showed propaganda-type radio messages, as well as the Stillville city signs. Towards the end of the show, the woman’s voice returned, warning the citizens of Stillville about the disruptive group on Main Street and how the issue was being taken care of.
There were some unique bits within the show. The surprise song got revealed via a telephone call. A mailman came on stage with a letter, to slow, seductive music, very reminiscent of a scene in “Legally Blonde.” There was even a blind date part of the show where they brought up two people to have a short two-minute date while MICO performed a song.
It just so happened to be Paul Hammer’s birthday, the guitarist for Will Linley. Cupcakes and party hats were brought out, and the entire crowd sang happy birthday.
The crowd was a very interactive one; during “Your favorite flowers,” fans held up flower cutouts fans had made and dispersed prior to the show. During the intermission, security was passing out plastic cups of water. Somehow, all the empty ones got passed to a man named Jojo who was wearing a banana costume. He stacked a bunch of them on his head, and it quickly became an entire group chant of “one more cup!”
“This was his best show by far,” said Tony Infante, a fan of MICO’s who also saw him live for his previous tour.
My one disappointment was that nothing really came of the guy warning everyone to escape Stillville while they could. I was eager to see how they would wrap up that ending, but it kinda just faded away.
The Running from a Feeling Tour ends Sunday, Nov. 29, with its last performance being in Melbourne, Australia.
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