Live Music entertainment in Chicago
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Beat Kitchen
Everything you need to know is in the name – entertaining beats traverse a spectrum of sounds, and the kitchen turns out better-than-average dinners. Dine early in the front of the house, since service is unhurried. Music in the homely back room can be funky or jammy, but a crop of Chicago’s smart, broadly appealing songwriters dominates the calendar.
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Empty Bottle
Chicago’s music insiders fawn over the Empty Bottle, the city’s scruffy, go-to club for edgy indie rock, jazz and other beats. Monday’s show is always free, and is usually by a couple of up-and-coming bands. You won’t even have to spend much on booze – cans of Pabst are $1.50. Plus there’s a cool photo booth in back.
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New Checkerboard Lounge
When the original location of this Bronzeville blues room closed in 2003, enthusiasts mourned – until it reopened in this bigger, better-sounding space in Hyde Park. Although it’s in a strip mall, the new location is more inviting for university kids, who often join locals for electric blues (Friday and Saturday) and jazz (Sunday and Monday). There’s a two-drink minimum in addition to the cover charge (usually $5 to $10).
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Schubas
Something of an alt-country legend, Schubas presents a host of twangy acoustic artists, plus indie rock acts on their way up (like My Morning Jacket and the Shins in their early days). Bands play nightly in the cozy back-room club, which is noted for its great sound, thanks to the all-wood construction. A friendly, boisterous bar pours microbrews in the front room.
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Metro
The Metro is legendary for loud rock. Sonic Youth and the Ramones in the ’80s. Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction in the ’90s. White Stripes and Fall Out Boy in the new millennium. Each night prepare to hear noise by three or four bands who may be well be teetering on the verge of superstardom.
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Double Door
Alternative rock that’s just under the radar finds a home at this former liquor store, which still has the original sign out front and remains a landmark around the Wicker Park bustle. The cachet is such that groups like the Rolling Stones have plugged in too.
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Abbey Pub
The Abbey is two places in one: a club where on-the-verge local and well-known national rock bands play; and a Guinness-pouring Irish pub where guitar and fiddle jam sessions have been known to erupt. The venue is a haul far from the city center, on the northwest side.
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Underground Wonder Bar
This live-music venue run by musician Lonie Walker features little-known jazz- and bluesmen, along with the occasional rock or reggae player. The club is tiny, and Lonie herself takes the stage for her sultry show several nights a week.
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Logan Square Auditorium
Logan Square’s legions of gentrifying scene-makers need some place to catch grimy, DIY, underground rock, and this spacious former ballroom answers the call. The gigs here, like the neighborhood, are a work-in-progress.
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Blue Chicago on Clark
The talent lives up to the club’s name at this branch of a mainstream blues club, Blue Chicago. If you’re staying in the neighborhood and don’t feel like hitting the road, you won’t go wrong here.
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Zebra Lounge
The piano in the tiny, dark and mirrored room can get as scratchy as the voices of the crowd, which consists mainly of older folks who like to sing along. The ivory strokers here are veterans who know their stuff.
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Carol’s Pub
The closest thing Chicago has to a honky-tonk, Carol’s Pub offers (at times ironic) boot-stompin’, Bud-drinkin’ good times to patrons, who come out on weekends to dance like crazy to the house country band.
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Blue Chicago
If you’re staying in the neighborhood and don’t feel like hitting the road, you won’t go wrong at this mainstream blues club. Commanding local acts like Big Time Sarah wither the mics nightly.
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Pressure Billiards & Cafe
Heard the one about the hapless tourist who got heckled off the stage? It’s likely to happen here, where heckling is part of the laughs at Chicago’s lewdest comedy open mic.
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Howl at the Moon
The Guns ’n’ Roses covers, dirt-cheap happy hour specials and flirty singles scene here could make nearly anyone into a piano bar convert. Billy Joel? Sorry, how about AC/DC?
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Charter One Pavilion
Part of Northerly Island public park is the (allegedly temporary) Charter One Pavilion, and outdoor concert venue.
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Pontiac Cafe
Lead the band at the Pontiac. The ‘live band karaoke’ gigs every Friday night are awesome, and the bands know a million chestnuts from the rock and pop canon.
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