Top events in Chicago this week

Where to go in Chicago: events, concerts, games and shows worth your night

Chicago is the great American music city that isn’t on a coast: the home of electric blues and house music, of improv comedy and a theater scene second only to New York’s, with two ballparks, a lakefront of festivals and a downtown of concert halls built when the city was the richest in the world. Below is where to go in Chicago for a night out, with addresses, and what tends to be on when.

Concerts and live music in Chicago: from the Metro to the United Center

The Metro (3730 N Clark Street, Wrigleyville, metrochicago.com) has broken bands since 1982, 1,100 people under a balcony a block from Wrigley Field; the Vic and the Riviera on the North Side take the mid-sized tours, and the Chicago Theater (175 N State Street), the 1921 movie palace with the famous sign, the seated ones. Arena shows play the United Center (1901 W Madison Street), and in summer the lakefront: Northerly Island and Soldier Field. Blues lives at Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy’s Legends, jazz at the Green Mill (4802 N Broadway), a speakeasy that has been open since 1907; house music, invented here, at Smartbar under the Metro.

Chicago nightlife: Wicker Park, Logan Square and River North

Wicker Park and Logan Square, on the Northwest Side along the Blue Line, have the bars, the small venues and the late kitchens; River North has the clubs and the rooftops; Boystown on Halsted the queer scene. Bars close at 2 a.m., 3 on Saturdays, and a few late-hour licenses run to 4 and 5. The L runs all night on the Red and Blue Lines.

Theater, comedy and opera in Chicago

Chicago theater is the best in the country for new work: Steppenwolf (1650 N Halsted Street) and the Goodman (170 N Dearborn Street) produce it, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier and the Lookingglass stage the rest, and Broadway tours play the Nederlander, the CIBC and the Cadillac Palace in the Loop. The Lyric Opera (20 N Wacker Drive) runs September to May in an art deco house on the river, and the Chicago Symphony at Orchestra Hall (220 S Michigan Avenue) is one of the world’s great orchestras. Comedy was reinvented here: The Second City (1616 N Wells Street) has run improv and sketch nightly since 1959, and iO and the Annoyance keep the scene going.

Sports in Chicago

The Cubs at Wrigley Field (April to October, the best afternoon in the city), the White Sox on the South Side, the Bulls and the Blackhawks at the United Center from October to April, the Bears at Soldier Field on fall Sundays, the Fire at Soldier Field too. A Cubs day game and a Wrigleyville night are one ticket to the whole city.

Museums and galleries in Chicago for an evening

The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Avenue) is open late on Thursdays, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E Chicago Avenue) on Tuesdays, when it is free for Illinois residents. The galleries of West Town and Pilsen open together on the second Friday of the month, and the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium hold evening events through the year.

Chicago festivals and events by season

• Winter: the Chicago Auto Show in February, restaurant week in late January, and the Blackhawks and Bulls seasons.
• Spring: Cubs opening day in late March or April, and the Chicago Blues Festival in Millennium Park in June.
• Summer: Taste of Chicago, the Pride parade in late June, the Pitchfork Music Festival in July, Lollapalooza in Grant Park in early August, and the Chicago Jazz Festival over Labor Day.
• Fall: Riot Fest in September, the Chicago Marathon in October, and the theater, opera and symphony seasons opening.

Things to do in Chicago tonight and this weekend

The listings above are the live version of all this: every concert, show, game, club night and exhibition on in Chicago tonight, tomorrow and this weekend, with times, prices and tickets, updated every hour.