The Chicago live-music scene, by the registry
Ground Frequency tracks 261 live-music rooms in Chicago, 126 of which announced a dated event in the last 28 days — 454 events in that window and 2,990 across the trailing year. That is what our registry sees announced in this city as of 2026-10-22, not a census of everything that happened in it.
261
rooms tracked
126
active in 28 days
454
events, 28 days
2,990
events, 12 months
48% 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 recordWorld Music 95DJ / Electronic 88Rock / Band 41Vocal 15Jazz 12Pop / Hiphop 7
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 | 63 | 7 |
| Thalia Hall | Rock / Band | 59 | 11 |
| Bottom Lounge Chicago | Rock / Band | 53 | 9 |
| Constellation Chicago | Jazz | 50 | 11 |
| Aragon Ballroom Chicago Main | Rock / Band | 47 | 10 |
| Beat Kitchen Patio | Rock / Band | 46 | 8 |
| Palladium Nightclub | DJ / Electronic | 46 | 8 |
| The Annoyance Theater | World Music | 43 | 7 |
| House of Blues Cambridge Room Chicago | Rock / Band | 42 | 9 |
| Cafe Mustache | DJ / Electronic | 42 | 4 |
| Stereo Nightclub | DJ / Electronic | 41 | 3 |
| Renaissance Bronzeville | DJ / Electronic | 39 | 5 |
Who 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 |
| DJ - Producers | 2026-08-22 | 3 |
| Scarlet Demore | 2026-11-07 | 3 |
| Start Making Sense | 2026-11-07 | 3 |
| Nejla Yatkin | 2027-03-24 | 2 |
| Kenyon Dixon | 2026-08-23 | 2 |
| Damas Gratis | 2026-09-25 | 2 |
| Flooding | 2026-10-17 | 2 |
| Bussy Kween Power Trip | 2026-09-09 | 2 |
| Sara Kay | 2026-09-27 | 2 |
| Violentmagicorchestra | 2026-09-22 | 2 |
| THE BODY “official” | 2026-07-14 | 2 |
CITE THIS PAGE
Ground Frequency. “The Chicago live-music scene, by the registry”. 2026-W43. https://www.groundfreq.com/scenes/united-states/chicago/
Figures are as of 2026-10-22 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