I admittedly haven’t hit any shows the past month and from what my friends told me, I certainly missed out. After a spotty performance this summer at the Pitchfork Music Festival, Grizzly Bear came roaring back through town recently with what my handful of friends, who made it to one of the two sold-out shows at Metro, called nothing short of epic.

A friend who had a prime spot in the balcony said they really had their stuff together and the setlist borrowed many songs from the recent album Veckatimest. My guess is they were trying to impress the Pitchfork editors who likely made the quick trek from their Wicker Park headquarters to the Wrigleyville venue.

Another hot show among friends was the recent set by Fever Ray. I hadn’t heard of her before everyone came back raving about her show, but the dark, pulsing electronic music she puts out has gotten heavy rotation since.

I personally can’t wait for the Monsters of Folk to roll through town — the folk supergroup made up of Jim James’ alter ego Yim Yames, M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis. With Jim James, I never thought it could get better than his soaring voice over a facemelting guitar riff during a My Morning Jacket show. But hearing his softer side on the solo album “Tribute To” under the name of Yim Yames, consisting entirely of George Harrison songs, proved me wrong. I can’t wait to see them all together.