Contributed by Mike Guzaski (@312mrg) Chicago experienced a typically loaded Spring weekend over the 4/20 “holiday”.  Highlights included Greyboy All Stars and Funky Meters holding court on Friday, and Jim James bringing his show to the Vic. But the clubs had some worthwhile shows as well, and Animal Liberation Orchestra gave Double Door denizens a [...]

Amidst a pall of uncertainty about the venue — ticket sales were ordered capped by local authorities — the show went on Friday night.  The heavy funk of the headliners didn’t do much to bolster the Congress Theater’s crumbling infrastructure, which was cited for a shocking 26 violations the week prior. The Congress has played [...]

Widespread Panic anchored a fantastic weekend of music in Chicago.  I’ve managed to post updates throughout the weekend, but wanted to consolidate all of our stories and some great videos and links into a front page post.  I’ll keep links here fresh as any additional coverage is added.  What were your best memories from the [...]

When Toots & The Maytals took the stage at House Of Blues in Chicago on April 4th, the packed house let the band’s powerful reggae grooves wash over them.  But many in the crowd, as well as Toots, realize that reggae legends at huge clubs like HoB are disappointingly one of the only options for [...]

[Update 5/13 - some photos from construction at the site are available here] [Update 5/1 - more artists renderings from inside the ampitheater via Charter One Pavilion facebook included below (final two images)] For a Chicagoan and die hard Phish fan, this winter has proved to be quite a roller coaster. After weeks of will [...]

It was with certain amount of amusement, and shameful delight, that I watched the “reviews” roll in for the Umphrey’s McGee “Chicago tourist anthem” last spring.  Admittedly I was excited to hear a band that I liked pay tribute to the city I love, but the final product was a bit of a head-scratcher. It [...]

Are you annoyed when you see “Year In Review” type articles start popping up around the end of November?  If so, I hope you’re not offended by a late-January 2012 summary… The Barn is offering a few different attempts at 2012 recap. The first is my list of the best musical things of the year [...]

As far as musicians go, Cornmeal's Wavy Dave Burlingame poses a formidable triple threat these days — throwing down psychedelic banjo jams with his main band, channeling Phil Lesh as the occasional bassist for Terrapin Flyer and serving as an ambassador for our very own Chicago music scene, often dropping by to add some hot [...]

The music of Leftover Salmon radiates its high country Colorado origins without overlooking its Appalachian roots– yet there is something about it that feels at home in Chicago. LoS made the city a regular stop in the band's legendary first chapter, building up a loyal following over the course of a few dozen dates. At [...]

In 2010, when I first conceived of a holiday mix tape, the concept seemed like fertile ground — there were a number of much celebrated holiday takes from my favorite jambands, and all I had to do was  assemble them.  The playlist just sort of fell together A few leftover tracks turned into the seed [...]