Frequently Asked Questions

I’m confused.  What exactly is The Barn?  A venue?  A promoter? A website? A secret society?
Why “The Barn”?  Please say farmyard animals will not be involved in any way.
What’s with all the jamband stuff?
What are the features of your website and blog?
Why are you doing this?  What are you trying to prove?
How can I get involved?

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I’m confused.  What exactly is The Barn?  A venue?  A promoter? A website? A secret society? top

We’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure this out ourselves.

What started in 2009 as a way to see if we could bring great live music to our suburban hometown, has expanded over the last year into a full service music blog exploring the music we love in ways that we felt other sources weren’t covering.

Though we’ve expanded to offer some insight into our favorite national bands, we’ve always tried to bring  great local coverage as well.  We hope to cover the best events all over the Chicago Area. We’re following an incredible roster of local, regional and national bands of all shapes, sizes and types and are excited to create and showcase charts, graphs, infographics, streams, downloads, videos, features and reviews of all that we can!

While you’ll continue to see a lot about our favorite jambands, there will also be a focus on the wonderful musical places that those artists have led us:  from roots music like jazz, blues, soul and bluegrass, to all flavors of rock — classic, indie, psych.  If the artist places it safe, it’s likely not to resonate with us, but everything else is fair game.  If you enjoy the scene covered by some of our favorite publications (Relix, Hidden Track, or Live Music Blog), hopefully you’ll find a Chicago focused version of what they are covering here.

And occasionally, we’ll still produce our own live music events, bringing the quality to places that need it the most… wherever they may be.

We welcome and encourage active participation in the community.  Leave a comment on our blog.  Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.  We’re doing our best to get the conversation started, it’s up to you to keep it going…

What’s with all the jamband stuff? . top

So we like jambands, OK?  Suffice to say, if you simply can’t stand that type of music, there might not be too much here that interests you.

Is it cliche to say that we like all sorts of music?  It probably is, but jambands have led us to so many different places that it almost feels appropriate.  Regardless of genre, if the music is genuine (not formulaic), is played with passion, and inspires the audience, you’re starting to describe Barn-approved music.

Sometimes that inspiration will take the form of opening up one’s mind, sometimes it’ll be ass-shaking grooves.  We appreciate music that has at least some element of improvisation or spontaneity — playing it safe rarely resonates with us.  You can leave the mindless fluff and banal pop at home; The Barn’s music sometimes takes a bit to wrap your head around, but it is well worth the psychic investment.

Within this framework, we intend to program The Barn’s content.  Our vision encompasses showcasing rock, jazz, funk and acoustic acts — but we won’t stop there if the mood strikes and the artist is right.

In the live setting, we work with a mix of original music and cover-oriented acts.  When we produce shows, we attempt to bring together unique combinations of complimentary acts in double and triple bills.  We encourage special guests, sit-ins, collaborations or anything that makes your experience at a Barn show something to remember.

What are the features of your website and blog? top

Across the top of each page of our site you’ll find links to the four main categories of content that we offer (scroll up…it’s even on this page)

The Blog This is where we’ll categorize news and other timely posts.  Every now and then, we’ll produce something really special for the blog: in-depth interviews with our favorite artists, more detailed thoughts about musical trends or topics, or recaps / reviews of local shows.

Infographics Why are we so excited about InfoGraphics?  Because we feel that compelling charts, graphs, data analysis, even striking visual cartoons can provide yet another engaging way for us as fans to interact with, comprehend and get closer to the music we enjoy.  With so much data at our fingertips (song lists, timings, discographies, band histories, etc.), sorting it all out visually in creative ways comes naturally and can be a lot of fun.  In this section, we’ll showcase the best of these items that we have cultivated from around the web and, of course, our Barn original InfoGraphics, that generate insight into the bands and music that we enjoy the most.  We’re looking to make great strides in the ways in which we can collect and present information and statistics to our community, so stay tuned for some exciting announcements.

Audiovisual This is about music, right?  In this section, we’ll deliver just that. Whether it’s the audio from our latest show, another notable recent show around town, an oldie but goodie from the distant past (our Retro Jamming feature) or some interesting multi-artist themed mixes, check back often for some great tunes to listen to or video to watch.  Most everything you’ll be able to stream directly from our site.  If you want to take the music with you, we provide downloads that are iPod ready (tracked, tagged, zipped and ready to drag directly into iTunes or your music of choice), without having to suffer through annoying ads or insufferable waiting periods.

Show Previews Tons of shows every day of the week in Chicago.  We’ll gather up the best of them to preview here.

News Bites We gather some of the coolest links, videos and photos from around the web and share them here.

Contests We have been honored to partner with an number of great bands and venues to offer free merchandise and show tickets.  Check here often to win something good.

Visual Setlists We’re constantly trying to put shows of our very favorite bands into statistical perspective.  This is our way of visually communicating what is special about these bands and their shows.

Calendar Want to know when all the best shows are coming to Chicago?  Have a look at our events calendar.

Why are you doing this?  What are you trying to prove? top

We believe that music is best experienced as a part of a thriving and engaged community.  We intend to extend the live show beyond the hours spent in the venue, giving our audience a place to gather online to relive and discuss their experience at The Barn’s events, and elsewhere.

As true music lovers and connoisseurs of the live experience, The Barn is 100% fueled by our passion.  We seek to promote live entertainment in the manner that we love to consume it.  The Barn stresses performance as it should be, in a clean, comfortable setting, with top quality production values and reasonable prices.  We value each aspect of the concert going experience, and believe that every interaction with the audience is a reflection on our ability to create an outstanding and unique event.

How can I get involved? top

We encourage you to participate in our community!  We will set the wheels in motion, but The Barn will ultimately be shaped by the will of its audience.  Got an act you’d like to see?  Tell us.  Got suggestions for how we can improve or a question about what we do?  Please offer it.  Want to comment about the last (or next) show?   Visit the blog portion of this site and join the community in our comments sections or stay connected by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Want to get even more involved?  We’re also looking for people that can help us make connections to great bands, venues and fans.  If you want to volunteer online or on the street, drop us a line at info@thebarnpresents.com

And of course, you can come to the shows!