Music and Concerts – Page 2

My Sacrifice, a south suburban-based Creed cover band, plays in 2025 at The Forge in Joliet. (My Sacrifice)

Popular Joliet concert venue The Forge to close after 9.5 years

By Elena Tittel

October 27, 2026 at 1:37 p.m.

Joliet concert venue The Forge will close this weekend after a decade of promoting local...

FILE – Jay-Z gestures from the sidelines prior to the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

Jay-Z picks himself to headline the Super Bowl halftime show

By Jonathan Landrum Jr.

October 27, 2026 at 8:41 a.m.

The man who has helped produce the Super Bowl halftime show is stepping into the...

An Aztec dance group will be among the highlights of the Dia de los Muertos Festival on Nov. 1 in Oak Park. “I think the community is ready to celebrate again," said organizer Alma Martinez. "The community is asking to get together to honor our ancestors.” (Daveed Holmes, Aperture Photography)

Oak Park Dia de los Muertos Festival returns a year after being canceled by immigration enforcement fears

By Myrna Petlicki

October 26, 2026 at 2:07 p.m.

Public ofrendas are returning to Oak Park for a Dia de los Muertos Festival that...

Marcia Raubach, formerly Schafer, in a recreation of the WFRX radio studio on June 3, 2026, where she interviewed Beatle George Harrison during his time on Benton, at the Franklin County Historic Jail Museum. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

The first performance by a Beatle in America was in Illinois: Benton keeps its historical footnote alive

By Christopher Borrelli

October 18, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

Months before Beatlemania in America, George Harrison visited his sister in Benton, Illinois, for two...

Naked Raygun’s Jeff Pezzati, left, and Eric Spicer speak on a panel commemorating new record pressings at the Smashed Plastic record plant in Belmont Gardens on Oct. 10, 2026. (Arthur Maiorella/baiduhai)

Tale of the tapes: Naked Raygun and Eleventh Dream Day create new albums from an essential Chicago archive

By Kevin McKeough

October 14, 2026 at 5:40 a.m.

A 1985 Naked Raygun show has become a limited-edition vinyl album.

FILE – Duane Davis, right, and his attorney Michael Sanft sit in a courtroom, after a jury found Davis guilty of first-degree murder in his trial related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court Regional Justice Center on Aug. 31, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis gets 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur

By Jessica Hill

October 13, 2026 at 3:42 p.m.

An aging ex-gang leader was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison for...

Olivia Rodrigo performs at the United Center on Oct. 11, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/baiduhai)

Review: Olivia Rodrigo, in a sea of flowers, kicking her way towards what’s next

By Christopher Borrelli

October 12, 2026 at 10:38 a.m.

In Chicago at the United Center on her "Unraveled Tour," Olivia Rodrigo leans into the...

Baritone Thomas Hampson in a performance of William Walton’s "Belshazzar's Feast" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, led by Klaus Mäkelä. (Todd Rosenberg)

Review: Mäkelä and CSO bring back a delicious ‘Feast’

By Hannah Edgar

October 9, 2026 at 1:15 p.m.

Fifty years have passed since the Chicago Symphony last played “Belshazzar’s Feast” by English composer...

All the artists stand together on stage after singing “Paradise” at the Chicago Theatre for Souvenirs: 80 Years of John Prine tribute show, Oct. 8, 2026. (Nate Swanson/for the baiduhai)

Review: A heartfelt tribute to John Prine let his music and legacy shine through

By Bob Gendron

October 9, 2026 at 1:07 p.m.

Musicians from Margo Price to Jeff Tweedy covered the late singer-songwriter's songs and channeled his...

Damon Albarn of the Gorillaz on their Mountain Tour at the United Center on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the baiduhai)

Review: At the United Center, a lesson in why people love the Gorillaz

By Britt Julious

October 9, 2026 at 12:18 p.m.

I learned that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have created something far greater than what...

Mario Abney, co-founder and CEO, right, dances as Kevin Nabors and other members of the Windy City Ramblers perform at the 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line CTA station in Roseland on Oct. 1, 2026, at the culmination of the Red Line Jazz Festival. (Eileen T. Meslar/baiduhai)

A quartet of new music festivals take root in Chicago this month

By Hannah Edgar

October 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

Summer is over, but music festival season very much isn’t. Cue the Red Line Jazz...

FILE – Freddie Jackson attends a special screening of “The Magnificent Seven” in New York on Sept. 19, 2016. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Freddie Jackson, known for ’80s hits like ‘You Are My Lady,’ dies at 70

By Maria Sherman

October 6, 2026 at 1:51 p.m.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Freddie Jackson, known for his smooth ’80s hits “Rock Me Tonight (For...

City Voices, under director William Chin, will perform “A Song of Joys,” a program of choral pieces inspired by the poetry of Sara Teasdale and Walt Whitman, in Oak Park on Oct. 17 and 18. (City Voices)

City Voices to put poetry of Walt Whitman and Sara Teasdale to song in Oak Park

By Myrna Petlicki

October 5, 2026 at 4:55 p.m.

Oak Park's City Voices will perform a program of choral pieces inspired by the poems...