Chicago, Illinois - Events

Events & Festivals

If you're absolutely determined and you plan carefully, you may be able to visit Chicago during a festival-less week. It's a challenge, though. Most neighborhoods, parishes, and service groups host their own annual festivals throughout the spring, summer, and fall. There are a few can't-miss city-wide events, though. In the Chicago/Loop|Loop, Grant Park hosts Taste of Chicago in July, and four major music festivals: Blues Fest and Gospel Fest in June, Lollapalooza (aka "Indie Rock Fest") in August, and Jazz Fest over Labor Day Weekend.

Concerts

Chicago/Wicker Park|Wicker Park and Chicago/Logan-Bucktown|Bucktown are the main place to go for indie rock shows: the Double Door and the Empty Bottle are the best-known venues, but there are plenty of smaller ones as well. In Chicago/Lakeview-North Center|Lakeview, the Metro is a beloved concert hole, with Schubas, The Vic Theatre, and the Abbey Pub nearby (the latter on the Chicago/Far Northwest Side|Far Northwest Side). Other mid-sized rock, hip-hop and R&B shows take place at the Riviera and the awesome Aragon Ballroom in Chicago/Uptown|Uptown. The Chicago/Near South|Near South and Chicago/Rogers Park|Rogers Park have become underrated destinations for great rock shows as well.

The Park West in Chicago/Lincoln Park-Old Town|Lincoln Park has light jazz, light rock, and other shows you'd sit down for; so does Navy Pier (Chicago/Near North|Near North), particularly in the summer. The venerable Chicago Theater in the Chicago/Loop|Loop is better-known for its sign than for anything else, but it has rock, jazz, gospel, and spoken-word performances by authors like David Sedaris. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is the main bulwark in the city for classical and classy jazz, with occasional curve-balls like Björk. You'll find musicians from the CSO doing outreach all over the city, along with their counterparts at the Lyric Opera. Both are in the Chicago/Loop|Loop.

A few big concerts are held at the UIC Pavilion, the Congress Theater, and the United Center on the Chicago/Near West Side|Near West Side every year, and some huge concerts have taken place at Soldier Field (Chicago/Near South|Near South). The Petrillo Bandshell in Grant Park and the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, both in the Chicago/Loop|Loop, tend to host big, eclectic shows and festivals in the summer, which are sometimes free.

Otherwise, most big shows are out in the suburbs, primarily at the Allstate Arena and the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Star Plaza in Indiana, and the Alpine Valley Music Theater over the Wisconsin border. You'll also have to head out to the suburbs for Ravinia, which features upscale classical, jazz, and blues outdoors throughout the summer.