Bucktown

Gallery Cabaret, open since 1988, is one of Chicago's long-running bar-and-live-music hybrids and the neighborhood's most active music spot. The Gallery has offered free entertainment seven nights a week since it opened. Mondays are reserved for jazz, Tuesdays for a blues jam, Wednesdays for original acts, and Thursdays and Sundays for open mic, with booked bands on Fridays and Saturdays. Early open mic nights drew fledgling Chicago bands including Urge Overkill and the Smashing Pumpkins, and later Liz Phair. Liar's Club, in operation since 1995, sits at the harder end of the spectrum. With a gothic interior illuminated in red, it offers a raw, unpolished experience reminiscent of an underground club. It draws punk rockers and metal fans but is open to anyone after that combination of music, mingling, and booze. Live music runs on Friday and Saturday nights. Together, the two bars give Bucktown a live-music character that runs from no-cover jazz and open mics most nights of the week to weekend rock and punk shows in a darker room down the street.