Floating Music
9.7.25 Around five o’clock, a long-haired man donning a cowboy hat skates the banks of the Chicago River. After dropping his colorful penny board, the man climbs onto a boat, steering himself and four bandmates towards a platform floating in the water. The assembled group places a guitar, keyboard, and tangles of A/V cords onto the makeshift stage. Once they’re ready, they turn to an assembled group of roughly one hundred, and the clear sound of country music gently floats above the water.
The long-haired man is Lawrence Tome, an indie artist known as “The King of the River.” He began organizing the Secret River Show in 2024, dropping numerical GPS coordinates on his website and Instagram story mere days before each concert.
In the age of TikTok, something labeled a secret quickly becomes anything but. What started as an under-the-radar gathering became a local sensation; some of the more gatekeep-y folks I know even stopped attending precisely because of the show’s newfound popularity online.
My experience? Pockets of friends and loners, parents and kids, all brought together by the River King. The music was soft, but melodic. Tome gladly made room for drum and clarinet solos from his bandmates. Bodies swayed; beers were swigged; and the fall wind whistled on by. Patrons paddled up to the platform and cracked cold ones in their kayaks. To top it off, the Chicago skyline served as the show’s backdrop.
In other words: The vibes were immaculate.
Towards the end of the show, Tome’s speakers gave out. When the band couldn’t figure out how to restart their generator, audience members yelled, Do it unplugged!
Tome shrugged. “Nah. See y’all next week, though.” He then gathered his instruments with his bandmates and boated away—penny board in tow.
9.7.25 Around five o’clock, a long-haired man donning a cowboy hat skates the banks of the Chicago River. After dropping his colorful penny board, the man climbs onto a boat, steering himself and four bandmates towards a platform floating in the water. The assembled group places a guitar, keyboard, and tangles of A/V cords onto the makeshift stage. Once they’re ready, they turn to an assembled group of roughly one hundred, and the clear sound of country music gently floats above the water.
The long-haired man is Lawrence Tome, an indie artist known as “The King of the River.” He began organizing the Secret River Show in 2024, dropping numerical GPS coordinates on his website and Instagram story mere days before each concert.
In the age of TikTok, something labeled a secret quickly becomes anything but. What started as an under-the-radar gathering became a local sensation; some of the more gatekeep-y folks I know even stopped attending precisely because of the show’s newfound popularity online.
My experience? Pockets of friends and loners, parents and kids, all brought together by the River King. The music was soft, but melodic. Tome gladly made room for drum and clarinet solos from his bandmates. Bodies swayed; beers were swigged; and the fall wind whistled on by. Patrons paddled up to the platform and cracked cold ones in their kayaks. To top it off, the Chicago skyline served as the show’s backdrop.
In other words: The vibes were immaculate.
Towards the end of the show, Tome’s speakers gave out. When the band couldn’t figure out how to restart their generator, audience members yelled, Do it unplugged!
Tome shrugged. “Nah. See y’all next week, though.” He then gathered his instruments with his bandmates and boated away—penny board in tow.
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