Chevelle at Terminal 5

Pete Loeffler

Chevelle formed in 1995 among three brothers, when Pete Loeffler started playing guitar and singing while Sam Loeffler began playing drums in their parents' garage in Grayslake, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Their youngest brother, Joe Loeffler, joined on bass. The brothers had a passion for fast cars and named the band after the Chevrolet Chevelle. The band performed at small outdoor concerts and clubs around Chicago, with Joe being only 14 years old. Chevelle recorded a demo in 1997, and released its first album in 1999. Within a few years, Chevelle went on to sell four million albums in the United States. Joe parted with the band in 2005, and eventually was replaced by the Loefflers' brother-in-law, Dean Bernardini. Chevelle's seventh album, La Gárgola, was released on April 1, 2014.

Chevelle headlined Terminal 5 tonight and the hard rocking trio opened with songs from its most recent album, "An Island" and "Take Out the Gunman," with barely a moment to breathe between songs. As flashing overhead and back lights blinded those fans against the front of the stage, Pete Loeffler ripped into gritty, repetitive guitar riffs and sang with angst-filled wallows and growls, backing away from the microphone stand for a couple of short blasts of lead guitar. By the third song, "Sleep Apnea" from the Sci-Fi Crimes album, the band's formula was concretized -- amid flashing lights, start a song with a hard, crunching, mid-tempo riff, soften the attack for the first verse, build intensity with a bridge, and then growl or scream while pounding the opening riff again for the chorus. Bernardini asked the cheering audience if it wanted to hear old songs. The band played "The Clincher" and "The Meddler" with much the same formulaic composition. Throughout the 16-song set, Chevelle performed an appealing but clearly-defined hard rock style. Each song sounded like a mainstream anthem that could be used as a rallying cry at a sporting event.

Visit Chevelle at www.getmorechevelle.com.