Mount Prospect

A suburb in the Chicago area

Mount Prospect puts live music inside its downtown bars and restaurants rather than in dedicated concert halls, keeping shows casual and free of cover charges at most spots. Station 34 on South Main Street runs Friday-night band sets starting at 8:30 p.m., booking cover and original acts that mix rock, pop, Top 40, and country. Admission is free. Emerson's Ale House, an American-style pub in historic downtown, is another anchor of the local bar music circuit, posting live-music alerts on a regular basis. Summertime, listed among the area's top bars with live music, rounds out the options a short distance from the downtown core. The suburb also has an appetite for larger music events: the 56 Music Fix is a village-wide festival where regional bands of all sizes and genres play across Mount Prospect's bars, restaurants, and shops over a summer weekend. The Red Barn Restaurant and Brewery is listed as a local music venue but specific booking details were not available at time of publication.