It always takes something a little extra special to feature media of an event that didn’t take place in Chicago. How’s this? When one of our favorite Midwest bands made it out to Portlandia, archivist Mark Burgin recorded the entire show with multiple high quality cameras and edited the footage to create what has to [...]

Keeping track of the venue evolution game for rising bands in the Chicago market is a fun diversion. With two co-headlining spots at Park West and a a big Saturday night gig at the Abbey in 2012, Greensky Bluegrass will alternate to the decidedly upscale City Winery for their first Chicago appearance of 2013. It’ll [...]

Last month's Live Music Blog feature, the five part What Bands Should Be Bigger Than They Are was one of the most enjoyable reads of November. Equal parts validation of some of my favorite under-the-radar acts, controversial picks that make you think, and short list of new bands to check out, I eagerly awaited each [...]

Ive already stuck this in the calendar, but I think an event of this caliber warrants a front page post, too.  So many members of The Barn's favorite groups are coming together on this evening at one of our favorite venues.  I'm guessing there's a deliberate use of the term Ramble here, as both the [...]

Every summer, interesting festivals overtake the music landscape in and around Chicago. While the festival calendar dries up after Labor Day, leave it to the area's best venues to make our holidays seem like mini-festivals of their own. And with Thanksgiving more of a homecoming style occasion, the program leans delightfully local. We've already seen [...]

We were out-of-our-minds-with-joy when last January’s Strange Arrangement / Greensky Bluegrass co-bill at the Park West was announced.  Not surprisingly, the gig itself more than lived up to the hype, with the closing encore of “The Shape I’m In” featuring members of both bands totally bringing down the house. Though Wednesday, November 21st will be [...]

We’ve creeped past the solstice marker and are entering the heart of festival season in the Midwest.  The oddest trend for 2012 seems to be festivals moving locations, which no less than five of the fests that we are tracking declaring a new home this year.  Here’s our roundup of the most intriguing camping and [...]

Stonehouse Park came under quite a bit of fire regarding noise and crowds in the festival off-season.  While the Dekalb county park will see the addition of Camp Terrapin come, Barefoot Fred Productions think they’ve found an even better location for their mid-July Whippersnap Music and Arts Festival. For 2012, Whippersnap moves to Lyran Park [...]

Greensky Bluegrass turned heads and won over many fans at the Park West last Friday, and even welcomed longtime friend Joe Hettinga of Strange Arrangment to the stage for a trio of tunes.  There will be plenty more on the blog about this show to come, but for now enjoy a full audio stream and [...]

Updated (4/9) to include stream and download of the set (no encore) recorded fromthe soundboard.  The video featured below is the night’s finale featuring three members of Greenksy Bluegrass as guests on a cover of The Band’s classic “The Shape I’m In”. Strange Arrangement Park West January 27, 2012 Destination > Bed Bugs > Booger Jam > Golden [...]