Rock Shows in Chicago

Saturday, January 16 Tomorrow Never Knows Festival 2027… Gash * baby * Weird 1000 $15 adv. / $18 day of / 21 & over / Doors: 7:30pm / Show: 8pm

FITZGERALDS NIGHTCLUB PRESENTS: ROCKS OFF: A Rolling Stones Tribute Returns to FITZGERALDS NIghtclub $25 General Admission / Reserved Tables Available Rocks Off is the premier Rolling Stones tribute, delivering the songs and sensations of the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band! From the iconic hits to the deep cuts Rocks Off captures Mick's moves, Keef's riffs, Charlie's groove, and the blazing Mick Taylor solos from their early-seventies golden era. Based in Chicago, the band is steeped in not only the sound of the Stones, but in the sound of the Blues men that inspired them. Rocks Off isn't shy about claiming the most faithful recreation of the Rolling Stones in concert-- and welcome any skeptics to come listen for themselves. Satisfaction-- it goes without saying-- is guaranteed Grab dinner before the show at BABYGOLD BARBECUE (link to restaurant website) Or enjoy full service dining inside the club when doors open. ***PARKING*** There is rather limited street parking in the area, we recommend arriving by rideshare, bicycle, or rickshaw. ***AGE RESTRICTIONS*** 21+, minors admitted with guardian

8:30pm. $15 ADV / $20 DOS Lineup: Ausberto Acevedo (bass) Dan Bitney (drums, electronics, percussion) Jeb Bishop (trombone) Matthew Davis (tuba) Hunter Diamond (tenor saxophone) Dan Fliegel (drums and vocals) Casey Foubert (guitar) Nick Zoulek (alto and bass saxophones) Scurvy Jazzby started as Scurvy (1992-96) in Chicago, playing compositions by Dan Fliegel over several years with a rotating lineup at the old Bop Shop, the original Hot House, Lunar Cabaret, the Tao, and elsewhere. The group's only available recording is a collaboration of "Tell Me Once More" with Tortoise, recorded by John McEntire, and released as part of a Tortoise suite entitled "Cliff Dweller Society" on Stereolab's Duophonic label in 1995, featuring Josh Abrams, Jeb Bishop, Evan Coleman, Fliegel, Chris Lopes, Jeff Parker, and John Sandfort with Dan Bitney, Bundy K. Brown, John Herndon, and Doug McCombs of Tortoise. The recording is also included in the Tortoise box set, A Lazurus Taxon in 2006 from Thrill Jockey. The band stopped performing live around 1996. Scurvy became a catch-all name for Fliegel's solo and collaborative recordings through the next couple decades, including "Louise," recorded with McEntire at his Soma Studio in 2001, featuring many of the above musicians and others (forthcoming in 2027). The reborn project, now Scurvy Jazzby, released Solamente in February 2025 with Fliegel on vocals and drums recorded live without overdubs, in two sessions, in July 2013 (by Wayne Montana) and December 2024 (by Brooks Hannon). A second LP, Friendly Fire (forthcoming in 2027) was recorded and mixed by Hannon at West Town Magnetics during the summers of 2025 and 2026 and features Ausberto Acevedo (bass), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Dan Bitney (additional drums), Matthew Davis (tuba), Hunter Diamond (tenor saxophone), Fliegel (drums and vocals), Casey Foubert (guitar), Damon Locks (vocals), Matthew Lux (bass), Wayne Montana (bass), Takeru Satoh (alto saxophone), Mai Sugimoto (alto saxophone), Lea Tschilds (vocals), and Taylor Zorn (trombone).

Endless prairies and ocean waves; long drives and highway expanse; dancing, smoke, sex, and physical desire -- the core images of Jess Williamson's new album Time Ain't Accidental revel in the earthly and the carnal. After a protracted breakup with a romantic partner and longtime musical collaborator who left Williamson and their home in Los Angeles at the start of the pandemic, the album's reckoning with loss, isolation, romance, and personal reclamation signals a tectonic shift for Williamson as a person and as an artist: from someone who once accommodated and made herself small to a woman emboldened by her power as an individual. A daringly personal but inevitable evolution for the Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Time Ain't Accidental is evocative of iconic Western landscapes, tear-in-beer anthems, and a wholly modern take on country music that is completely her own. Above everything, sonically and thematically, this album is about Williamson's voice, crystalline and acrobatic in its range, standing front and center. Think Linda Rondstadt turned minimalist, The Chicks gone indie or even Emmylou Harris' work with Daniel Lanois. Ringing boldly and unobscured, it's the sound of a woman running into her life and art head-on, unambiguously, and on her own terms for the first time. Last year, Williamson and Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee released I Walked With You A Ways under the name Plains; a critically acclaimed record filled to the whiskey-barreled brim with feminine confidence, camaraderie, and straight-up country bangers and ballads. After past records Cosmic Wink (2018) and Sorceress (2020), both released on Mexican Summer, Williamson felt primed to shift in a new direction. Revisiting what she loved growing up, simplifying her process, and making music with a friend proved to be the best step forward for Williamson. In early 2020, while getting used to the new estrangement and in quarantine with her thoughts, Williamson wrote and recorded the stripped-back standalone single , "rdquo" -> Pictures of Flowers" by herself at home. This experience became the foundation on which Time Ain't Accidental was built. The song's lyrical themes were terrestrial and plain-spoken, with Williamson's voice set against a drum machine and paired with textural guitar by her friend Meg Duffy (Hand Habits). Soon, Williamson realized that musically she was just as good---better, even---on her own. Tours with Weyes Blood, Kevin Morby and Hamilton Leithauser, and José González bolstered this newfound self-assurance, letting her voice ring out in rooms the size of which she hadn't played before. Amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, Williamson began dating in Los Angeles and tracking demos centered on the realness of those experiences, filled with excitement, anxiety, and disappointment. The drum machine stuck around (this time in the form of an iPhone app), as did her determination to forge a new path as a truly solo singer and songwriter; as a woman finding the sound of herself without anyone else's input. It was a lonely, but revelatory, period.

Thursday, January 21 Tomorrow Never Knows Festival 2027… Bottom Bracket * Sweet Bike $15 Adv. / $18 Day of / 21 & over / Doors: 7:30pm / Show: 8pm

In an effort to mitigate scalping, Bottom Lounge does not certify any secondary ticket sales via third parties and is not responsible for fraudulent ticket sales on third party websites. Please be mindful of scammers. Tickets for this event will be sent on a delay (extra time is required to process and confirm all orders), but you'll always receive your tickets in time for your event. If you have not received your tickets one day before your event, be sure to let TicketWeb know.

There is a delivery delay on all orders until approximately one week prior to the show. This show will be taking place inside the Shed.

Independent local night out.

All ticket purchasers agree to be opted into State Radio's e-mail marketing. State Radio is back and the timing feels anything but accidental. The politically charged rock trio led by songwriter and activist Chadwick Stokes recently returned to the stage after an extended hiatus, performing at Tom Morello's Power to the People festival alongside Foo Fighters, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen and others. This winter, the band heads back on the road for a run of shows centered around Us Against the Crown, the album that first established State Radio's unmistakable collision of rock, punk and reggae with music built to say something. Songs written about war, corruption, inequality and the responsibility to speak up have found renewed resonance in the current moment. Rather than looking backward, State Radio's return feels like a continuation of the conversation the band started from the beginning. That sense of purpose has always extended beyond the stage. State Radio became known not only for relentless touring and an intensely devoted live following, but for organizing service projects in the communities where they played. That work helped fuel Calling All Crows, the nonprofit Stokes co-founded with Sybil Gallagher in 2008. For nearly two decades, Calling All Crows has used music as a vehicle to engage music fans in feminist movements, reaching and mobilizing millions of people along the way. Stokes has continued to move between music, storytelling and activism throughout his career. As a member of DISPATCH, he has played some of the world's most iconic venues and wrote the platinum-selling song , "rdquo" -> The General." More recently, he has spent years developing 1972: A Rock Opera, a new musical set before Roe v. Wade about a young woman searching for a safe abortion and the unlikely community she encounters along the way. 1972 receives its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in fall 2026. Now, State Radio returns at a moment when the questions at the heart of its music feel as urgent as ever.

The Western Elstons have been playing the first and third Wednesday of the month at the historic Simon's Tavern in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago for over ten years now. We are one of Chicago's best-kept secrets and we kind of like it that way. We set up on the floor of this classic Chicago tavern (Simon's opened in 1931 and hasn't changed that much), and play country, honky tonk, and rock & roll with minimal amplification to an appreciative crowd of regulars and local music fans. The Western Elstons feature the tight two-part harmony of Scott Ligon and Casey McDonough (who play and sing together in countless projects including NRBQ and The Flat Five), myself of guitar, and the always tasteful drumming of Alex Hall (another musician with way too many credits to list here).

FITZGERALDS NIGHTCLUB PRESENTS: The Jimmys at FITZGERALDS Nightclub $20 General Admission / Reserved Tables Available , "rdquo" -> The Jimmys are excellent musicians, wildly fun entertainers, and perform a slew of strong, original songs. They're a treat for any fans of roots rock, old school R&B, and straight-up blues. every performance is like a party!" - Bruce Iglauer, Alligator Records Grab dinner before the show at BABYGOLD BARBECUE (link to restaurant website) Or enjoy full service dining inside the club when doors open. ***PARKING*** There is rather limited street parking in the area, we recommend arriving by rideshare, bicycle, or rickshaw. ***AGE RESTRICTIONS*** 21+, minors admitted with guardian

Alan Zreczny's songs are narrative poems set to spirited melodies, which he performs on the guitar and piano, solo and with his band bluefront. Over the years Zreczny has created an imaginative and truly original body of work with lyrics that often put a new twist on age-old sayings giving them a fresh, surprising new meaning. Melding the vintage sound of Television, The Modern Lovers and early Talking Heads with the current but equally timeless approach of The War On Drugs, the Chicago outfit celebrate the sound of classic guitar-driven rock. bluefront is Alan Zreczny, Keith Herc and Scott Paeth.

S.G. Goodman returns from the Western Kentucky bottomland with her latest full-length album, Planting by the Signs, Available June 20, 2025 on her very own Slough Water Records via Thirty Tigers. Composed of songs inspired by love, loss, reconciliation, and the aforementioned ancient practice. Eleven tracks highlighted by the critically-acclaimed and award-winning artist's singular voice and her penchant for juxtaposing vulnerable folk music with punchy rock 'n roll, replete with chiming guitars, ethereal atmospherics, and her DIY ethos. Goodman provides a timely reminder that the only way forward is together, and that we must always take into account humanity's dependence on and responsibility to the natural world. Back in the early hours of 2023, Goodman told her late friend Mike Harmon and his wife Therese that she wanted to base her next album around the concept of planting by the signs, which she had heard about growing up, and recently rediscovered while reading a volume of Foxfire. She remembered general points from her rural southern childhood - how planting a garden, or weaning a baby, or getting a haircut are best timed in accordance with the cycle of the moon. A concept diametrically opposed to the tech-obsessed, profit margin-driven mania swirling around her. Through exploring themes related to planting by the signs, Goodman hoped to help herself and others reconcile this jarring disconnect, as well to pass along the story of the practice to her nieces and nephews - the latter being a role she took very seriously. But it wasn't an easy path to writing Planting by the Signs or to the recording studio. 2023 saw the passing of her beloved dog, Howard, as well as the tragic death of Harmon, a father figure and mentor. Mike was mentioned in Goodman's song, , "rdquo" -> Red Bird Morning" on Old Time Feeling, her debut. Her band used to practice in the quonset hut behind his house. He would check on her house while she toured. Often, Goodman would call him for advice from the road. A few days before he died, he advised her about putting chains on her van during a snow storm. He once drove that same van from Boston to Chicago so the band could play a one-off in the middle of a tour. He was a rock for Goodman, and a rock star in his own right. Harmon's death led to Goodman reconciling with her longtime collaborator and guitarist, Matthew Rowan, who had become estranged from her following a year of grueling live shows in 2021. Rowan and Goodman had met in their early 20s while at college in the Murray, KY, indie rock scene, and eventually began playing music together. His idiosyncratic guitar work became an essential part of her production. He wrote most of the guitar parts on her first two records, and their creative relationship stretched for nearly 10 years. But life on the road isn't for all, one thing led to another, and Rowan decided to step away. After Harmon passed, Matt was one of the first people Goodman called. From there they began to mend their relationship, and eventually, once she started working on her new album, S.G. asked Rowan to be her co-producer. The album would not exist in its current form without their reconciliation.

With special guests INAKTIV Tickets starting at $18 + fees

Doors: 8PM / Show: 9PM / 21+ The Golden Dragon Buffet Tour With a heavy-duty catalog of new material for a career first double album, The Universal Bubba marks a half dozen releases for folksinger Willi Carlisle and reaches new heights with the added accelerant of first time producer Tyler Childers. In an all-time DIY effort, Childers and his band convened to a makeshift home studio nestled in the Bywater District of New Orleans for two weeks to cut 17 tracks that expand Carlisle's sonic scrapbook and capture the off-kilter characters living in his songs. , "rdquo" -> I think this one goes to outer space," says Carlisle. , "rdquo" -> I think this is the widest range of influences that I've ever had. It touches on funk, it touches on Americana, Cajun, oldtime, and experimental music." With Childers' band behind him, Carlisle embraced the freedom to wander across genres both familiar and new, testing out instrumentation and toying with the surreality of traditions being turned on their head. , "rdquo" -> It feels like getting drunk at the Civil War reenactment, or cruising at the cattle auction, or doing molly at the square dance," says Carlisle. , "rdquo" -> It's the first time I've ever used synthesizers and double electric guitars. There's also more fretless 19th century style banjo on it than any record I've ever made." Exploration aside, Carlisle's mission as a folksinger largely remains the same - documenting the stories and struggles of the people and balancing the humor and hope of existence. , "rdquo" -> I want to make a universal folk music. Songs for all kinds of weirdos," says Carlisle. , "rdquo" -> With the idea that there is nobody that doesn't have folk songs and everyone deserves folk songs. I want to write songs that prove the old weird America didn't go anywhere, that we are living and dying for it everyday. I believe there's noble work to do in that context. That if we feel despair, we don't need to because there's so much good work to do."

More than a decade into one of contemporary folk's most quietly extraordinary careers, Alela Diane returns with Who's Keeping Time? on May 22 via Fluff & Gravy / Loose Music. The Portland songwriter's seventh full-length came as the consequence of intuition, coincidence, and community. , "rdquo" -> I came to the end of a season last year," Alela shares. , "rdquo" -> My daughters had grown a bit. I no longer had babies waking me in the middle of the night. I could hear myself think again." More and more, those thoughts circled music. The ultimate spark for Alela's return to her music community came in April of last year with the death of her close friend and mentor Michael Hurley --- folk legend and indispensable presence in the Portland music scene. Tracked live in the attic of her 1892 Victorian home, Who's Keeping Time? was produced by Sam Weber (Madison Cunningham, Anna Tivel) and brought to life with staples from the local music orbit, including members of the bands Lucius and Blind Pilot and fellow singer-songwriters Anna Tivel and AC Sapphire. Over the years, Alela's lustrous discography has gathered major critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR Music, The Guardian, and plenty more. UNCUT counted her work in their ambitious , "rdquo" -> 50 best singer-songwriter albums" of all time roundup---a canon comprising John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Paul Simon---with Consequence echoing that significance, declaring, , "rdquo" -> Hers is a timeless sound, that of a wayfaring troubadour, which only seems to come a few times a generation."

Matt the Electrician is Matthew Sever, a quirky, sincere folk/pop singer songwriter based in Austin, TX. He has self-released 11 studio albums, 2 live albums and 7 vinyl 45's since 1998. Matt moved to Austin, TX from the West Coast in 1996 to pursue music full time. He regularly tours all over the world, specifically The US, Canada, Western Europe and Japan. His songs have been featured on Network TV shows, in feature length movies, and in TV commercials. He regularly plays festivals, theaters, nightclubs, and house concerts, and will continue to do so until he cannot. ---------------- Tim Easton is a consummate troubadour who knows his way around stages, stories, and songs. He is the youngest of seven children, born in Upstate NY, raised in Tokyo, Japan and also Akron, OH, by his Canadian Mother and American Father. Influenced by a combination of songwriting legends and folk masters from his older brother's and sister's vinyl collections, Easton found himself busking the streets of Europe on and off for seven years after graduating from The Ohio State University with an English degree specializing in poetry, returning to the USA to record his first solo album in Nashville. His songwriting and storytelling abilities earned him a deal with EMI Publishing in 1999. He relocated to Los Angeles, performed at songwriter hubs like Largo, and signed a recording contract with New West Records. His first release for the label was 2001's The Truth About Us, featuring three members of WILCO as the backing band, after which he toured with his heroes John Hiatt and Lucinda Williams. Next came , "rdquo" -> Break Your Mother's Heart," garnering 4 stars in the print version of Rolling Stone and heralding his songwriting as having a , "rdquo" -> novelist's sense of humanity."

RESCHEDULED FROM 10.9.26 // ALL TICKETS HONORED Wednesday, January 27 feeble little horse * Snuggle $26 Adv. / $30 Day of / All Ages / Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:30pm feeble little horse is naturally delighted to present their third full-length LP, bitknot . The album was written, arranged, produced, and recorded by Sebastian Kinsler, Lydia Slocum, and Jake Kelley across their respective homes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A spirited investigation into the unnatural space created between human nature and a culture of convenience, a synthesis of dirt and digital, bitknot by feeble little horse creates a language wherein one can re-imbue a sanctity of interdependence away from consumptive “self-sufficiency” and materialism. “The album art is based on the coincidental core memory matrix, which was used in old computers to store memory / access information using 0s and 1s. Each core, or ‘bit,’ is accessed through the grid of wires, like a knot that stores secret details and memories.” bitknot asks that we find new modes of being through this grid, entrusting one another with the collaborative construction of these knots. This negotiation with an ever-developing hybrid reality is expertly exemplified in the album’s production – the buoyancy of Kinsler’s arrangements provide a perfectly balanced surface tension for the weight of Slocum’s meandering introspection as they playfully harmonize against saccharine hooks, walls of noise, a supercharged car battery’s worth of synths and samples dropped in the ocean of their guitar-driven songwriting framework, and some of Kelley’s most laser-focused drums to date to create a sonic chimera that is as likely to be found nascently developing in the early aughts as some unknown, chromatic future.

Grammy-nominated Yonder Mountain String Band set the tone for a new way forward in acoustic music, carrying bluegrass into rooms and conversations it had never reached before. Nearly three decades later, that same spirit still guides them, alive and present on Good As True (2026), the band's 12th studio album. The record captures Yonder in full stride. It's unguarded and in motion, preserving the spark of musicians playing in real time and leaning into everything they have learned along the way.

Thursday, January 28 Tomorrow Never Knows Festival 2027… Clarion * Cheerleader Roadkill * This House is Creaking $22.50 Adv. / $25 Day of / All Ages / Doors: 5:30pm / Show: 6:30pm

Grammy-nominated Yonder Mountain String Band set the tone for a new way forward in acoustic music, carrying bluegrass into rooms and conversations it had never reached before. Nearly three decades later, that same spirit still guides them, alive and present on Good As True (2026), the band's 12th studio album. The record captures Yonder in full stride. It's unguarded and in motion, preserving the spark of musicians playing in real time and leaning into everything they have learned along the way.

FITZGERALDS NIGHTCLUB PRESENTS: MELVIN TAYLOR Returns to FITZGERALDS Nightclub $20 General Admission / Reserved Tables Available With shows that sell out all over the world, Melvin Taylor is one of the greatest guitarists in the history of rock, blues, and jazz. He is often referred to as a guitar players guitarist. This self taught master was influenced by many of history's true guitar pioneers including - Albert King, Jimmy Reed, Wes Montgomery, and Jimi Hendrix. He has appeared on the same ticket with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, George Benson, Buddy Guy, and BB King. Melvin Taylor was born in 1959 in Jackson, Mississippi. His musical roots however have always been in Chicago, where he moved with his family when he was 3 years old. The proverbial musical prodigy, started playing guitar at age 6. Melvin was influenced and inspired by some of the world's greatest blues players, many of whom lived in or near his Chicago neighborhood. By the age of twelve, he was working in clubs. He taught himself slide playing, finger-picking, and flat-picking styles from listening to his favorite artists. By the time he was a teenager, Melvin's incredible ability and unique style was already grabbing attention on Maxwell Street. In 1980, he joined veterans Pinetop Perkins, and Willie , "rdquo" -> Big Eyes" Smith of the Muddy Waters Band to form the Legendary Blues Band and tour Europe. Melvin made an immediate impact on the European circuit, and while in France, he cut his first two albums - Blues on the Run(1982), and Plays the Blues for You (1984). Following his return to the US, Melvin recorded four additional CD's for Evidence Music - Bang That Bell (1999), Dirty Pool (2002), Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (2003), and Rendezvous With the Blues (2004). Melvin also contributed to two tracks on John Mayall's 2022 Grammy Nominated album, The Sun Is Shining Down! Melvin is currently working on his new album coming out in 2027! Grab dinner before the show at BABYGOLD BARBECUE (link to restaurant website) Or enjoy full service dining inside the club when doors open. ***PARKING*** There is rather limited street parking in the area, we recommend arriving by rideshare, bicycle, or rickshaw. ***AGE RESTRICTIONS*** 21+, minors admitted with guardian

All sales are final, no refunds/exchanges permitted, but tickets may be transferred through your TM Account. Garcia's is fully ADA compliant featuring wheelchair lifts and ramps between the various levels of the venue, assisted listening devices upon request, and allows official service animals. Premium Table seating is located closest to the stage offering the most intimate music experience for guests and includes table service. Reserved Table seating is located on our main floor, behind the Premium section, and also includes table service. Both Premium and Reserved table seating is cabaret style which means you may be sitting with other fans. Private Booths are available and depending on the booth seats 1 to 4, 5, or 6 guests. General Admission/Standing Room is located around the sides of the room on an elevated level for quality viewing and easy bar access.

All sales are final, no refunds/exchanges permitted, but tickets may be transferred through your TM Account. Garcia's is fully ADA compliant featuring wheelchair lifts and ramps between the various levels of the venue, assisted listening devices upon request, and allows official service animals. Premium Table seating is located closest to the stage offering the most intimate music experience for guests and includes table service. Reserved Table seating is located on our main floor, behind the Premium section, and also includes table service. Both Premium and Reserved table seating is cabaret style which means you may be sitting with other fans. Private Booths are available and depending on the booth seats 1 to 4, 5, or 6 guests. General Admission/Standing Room is located around the sides of the room on an elevated level for quality viewing and easy bar access.