Venues in Chicago area

[rad87gn]

What are some of the good music venues to book at in the Chicago area for a high energy rock cover band that also plays some of their originals off of their CD?

[crow01]

Check the chicago reader newspaper or the website or check yelp.

There are too many out there.

Big ones like Metro, everybody wants to play there. There are bunch more all over the place, maybe up to 50 places I am not sure

[rad87gn]

Originally Posted by crow01

Check the chicago reader newspaper or the website or check yelp.

There are too many out there.

Big ones like Metro, everybody wants to play there. There are bunch more all over the place, maybe up to 50 places I am not sure

Thanks!

[Eilif]

Originally Posted by rad87gn

What are some of the good music venues to book at in the Chicago area for a high energy rock cover band that also plays some of their originals off of their CD?

I'm not sure if all of these qualify as "good" (Some probably suck now that I think of it), and some of them may be "mostly originals" kind of places, but some places are...

Cubby Bear ( both the Wrigglyville and North suburbs locations)
Elbo Room
Wise Fools Pub
Double Door
Subteranean
Red Line Tap
Lilly's Bar
Schuba's
Abbey Pub

A good way to find ways to play is to find bands that are like yours and check their sites and see where their past gigs were.

[jakeox]

Originally Posted by Eilif

A good way to find ways to play is to find bands that are like yours and check their sites and see where their past gigs were.

This is the best advice. Look around on Myspace to find some.

A lot of the "name" venues in Chicago don't hire cover bands, but there are plenty of bars that hire cover bands more or less exclusively. Try places like Duffy's, anywhere near Wrigley Field, and anyplace there are tons of drunk 23-year-olds.

There isn't a ton of crossover between cover band venues and original band venues (as far as I've seen, anyway), so keep that in mind.

[Lonnybass]

The downtown Chicago market is pretty much black and white between original venues and cover venues. VERY little crossover at all, in my experience. Most of the cover acts go into the bigger places - Cubby Bear, Joe's, Navy Pier, etc. while the smaller bars get the originals (paying a WHOLE lot less out to bands) at such places at Wise Fools, Elbo Room, Double Door, etc.

Keep in mind too that the big venues generally book out for one or two bands per night, anywhere from an hour and a half to a three hour set, while most of the smaller places will put four bands on for the night with each group getting a 35 minute set.

Been there and done that on both circuits - I'll tell you, doing a load-in and setup while triple-parking your car on Lincoln Ave. and praying it doesn't get towed while you haul your cabinet inside and then hoping to God your stuff doesn't get stolen while you drive around an increasingly larger perimeter to find non-meter parking for a measly half hour show that starts at midnight gets old REAL fast.

Lonnybass

[EvilTwin]

I don't know, I don't go to see cover bands. Probably one of the Wrigleyville places is good advice.

[synterx]

look up Joey Demarco at United Talent booking. The guy controls a huge number of venues for cover bands. Our band plays many of the nicer venues and festivals all year through him. While we hate giving him 10% of our cut, as long as you act professional all the way around, and don't expect to play the "good" venues at first, you will eventually get what you want. The key is your band has to be very good, very professional in all aspects, and don't get mad when you are opening for someone you think should be opening for you. If you want to go the original music route more than covers, then expect a different experience.

[willgroove2]

Originally Posted by Lonnybass

Been there and done that on both circuits - I'll tell you, doing a load-in and setup while triple-parking your car on Lincoln Ave. and praying it doesn't get towed while you haul your cabinet inside and then hoping to God your stuff doesn't get stolen while you drive around an increasingly larger perimeter to find non-meter parking for a measly half hour show that starts at midnight gets old REAL fast.

Lonnybass

++10000 nothing like trying to unload in the snow and find somewhere to park in wrigleyville or Lincoln ave

[Eilif]

Originally Posted by Lonnybass

The downtown Chicago market is pretty much black and white between original venues and cover venues. VERY little crossover at all, in my experience. Most of the cover acts go into the bigger places - Cubby Bear, Joe's, Navy Pier, etc. while the smaller bars get the originals (paying a WHOLE lot less out to bands) at such places at Wise Fools, Elbo Room, Double Door, etc.

Keep in mind too that the big venues generally book out for one or two bands per night, anywhere from an hour and a half to a three hour set, while most of the smaller places will put four bands on for the night with each group getting a 35 minute set.

Been there and done that on both circuits - I'll tell you, doing a load-in and setup while triple-parking your car on Lincoln Ave. and praying it doesn't get towed while you haul your cabinet inside and then hoping to God your stuff doesn't get stolen while you drive around an increasingly larger perimeter to find non-meter parking for a measly half hour show that starts at midnight gets old REAL fast.

Lonnybass

All very true, especially the load-in logistics. Any bassist planning on gigging smaller clubs (elbo room sized)in Chicago, really owes it too themselves to get a portable rig. You don't need a huge rig for most of these clubs. Every time I see someone load an 8x10 into Lilly's or Elbo Room, I want to laugh.

A Portabass 250 Head, and 210 cab, and a good gigbag were a Godsend when I was going every where by the EL, and now that I have a car, it's no problem to park 4 blocks away from a venue because I can transport all my gear easily by myself.

[gig-getter]

"This is the best advice. Look around on Myspace to find some".

#1 to that one. You can also just Google search for "Chicago cover band" or "Illinois cover band" and check out the "Gigs" sections on websites that come up for venue details. Then hit the phones..

Hope this helps.