The Chicago live-music scene, by the registry
Ground Frequency tracks 261 live-music rooms in Chicago, 115 of which announced a dated event in the last 28 days — 327 events in that window and 2,209 across the trailing year. That is what our registry sees announced in this city as of 2026-09-02, not a census of everything that happened in it.
261
rooms tracked
115
active in 28 days
327
events, 28 days
2,209
events, 12 months
44% of the rooms we hold in this city announced something dated in the last four weeks. Counts are of announced, dated events at tracked venues — a coverage-weighted signal. How we count
What kind of scene is Chicago?
rooms by the genre on their registry recordDJ / Electronic 85Rock / Band 41World Music 33Vocal 15Jazz 11Pop / Hiphop 6
Which rooms in Chicago are actually running?
ranked by dated events our registry holds for the trailing year — announcements, not attendance| ROOM | GENRE ON FILE | EVENTS 12M | 28D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subterranean Chicago Main | Rock / Band | 48 | 9 |
| Thalia Hall | Rock / Band | 45 | 7 |
| Bottom Lounge Chicago | Rock / Band | 40 | 6 |
| Palladium Nightclub | DJ / Electronic | 38 | 11 |
| Aragon Ballroom Chicago Main | Rock / Band | 38 | 6 |
| Constellation Chicago | Jazz | 38 | 6 |
| Beat Kitchen Patio | Rock / Band | 34 | 7 |
| Cafe Mustache | DJ / Electronic | 34 | 5 |
| The Annoyance Theater | World Music | 34 | 3 |
| House of Blues Cambridge Room Chicago | Rock / Band | 33 | 0 |
| City Winery Chicago | Vocal | 32 | 5 |
| Riviera Theatre Chicago | Rock / Band | 32 | 2 |
Which Chicago rooms are on the chart this week?
the venue chart ranks rooms on audience momentum, not on who played thereWho has played Chicago this year?
artists our appearance ledger places in a room in this city — matched, not complete| ARTIST | LAST DATE | DATES |
|---|---|---|
| Musiq SoulChild | 2026-09-12 | 9 |
| Nejla Yatkin | 2027-03-24 | 2 |
| Lollapalooza | 2026-07-30 | 2 |
| Kenyon Dixon | 2026-08-23 | 2 |
| Damas Gratis | 2026-09-25 | 2 |
| DC Young Fly | 2026-05-31 | 1 |
| Khalid | 2026-05-20 | 1 |
| BET | 2026-05-24 | 1 |
| SPINALL | 2026-05-04 | 1 |
| Radhika Das | 2026-05-12 | 1 |
| Buddy Guy | 2026-07-25 | 1 |
| Mariachi Herencia de México | 2026-05-08 | 1 |
CITE THIS PAGE
Ground Frequency. “The Chicago live-music scene, by the registry”. 2026-W36. https://www.groundfreq.com/scenes/united-states/chicago/
Figures are as of 2026-09-02 and move weekly. Data is published under CC BY 4.0 — reuse it with attribution and a link. How the numbers work
Every tracked room in Chicago · The United States rising charts · The global room index · What these figures mean