BluesFest
This year, the Chicago Blues Festival will feature six stages of live music from 11:30 am till 9:30 every night in Grant Park, right downtown in the heart of Chicago's Loop.
Shows Not To Miss
Lydia Breen, our live blues music curator has given us her recomendations of artists that we should absolutely not miss.
- Thursday: Saffire: the Uppity Blues Women 4:30 at U.S. Cellular Front Porch
- Friday: Kenny Blues Boss Wayne 3:00 at Louisiana Bayou Station and Social Club, Henry Butler Band and Elvin Bishop Group, both at Petrillo
- Saturday: Henry Gray and the Cats 2:30 at Louisiana Bayou Staion and Social Club, Eddie Shaw, Siegel-Schwall Blues Band w/ Marcy Levy, both at Petrillo
- Sunday: Catherine Russell (unless we're in line - see note below about The Hand Stamp), probably Louisiana Red (1:30 Louisiana Bayou), and Bobby Blue Bland - last show of Petrillo.
Check out Lydia's List, a more detailed schedule covering each day of the festival and the stages where we'll be.
The Hand Stamp
One of the best kept secrets of the blues fest is the "hand stamp". At the mainstage (Petrillo Music Shell), there is an enclosed area up front with seats (plus large enough area of cement to dance on off to the side). In there, the acoustics are much much better than outside the fence on the grass. People "not in the know" think it must cost money to get inside, but really it doesn't. You just have to know when to line up to get in. The tricky part is knowing when to line up - since they don't post anywhere what time they're gonna start letting people in. In past years, it's usually around 30 to 45 minutes before the show starts (but please note the show time is 6 on Thursday and Friday and 5 on Saturday and Sunday!!! ), and people "in the know" just start lining up around an hour beforehand. The time is never exact, so we may have a look-out person to let us know if they're lining up yet, but it will be much easier if you have it in your heads that about an hour before you should be thinking about that line. Once you get in, they stamp your hand, and then you can come and go as you please - but noone else can! They close it off to new entrants once they hit some magical number.