Becky’s Bash: Neal Francis

Last March, Neal Francis played a two-night, hometown stand at Chicago’s famed Thalia Hall where he tipped his cap to Peter Frampton by recording his own ambitious live album, Francis Comes Alive. The 34-year-old, mind-blowing songwriter and pianist-organist was accompanied, unsurprisingly, by an 11-piece band and decked out in full psychedelic regalia. Francis—who played Tampa’s Gasparilla Music Festival in 2022—told the Chicago Sun-Times that the gigs were a “childhood dream come true.”—Ray Roa