Metro Chicago

This page is about the concert hall; for the metro region surrounding Chicago, see Chicago metropolitan area.

Metro
Former names Cabaret Metro
Address 3730 N. Clark Street
Location Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°57′0″N 87°39′31″W / 41.95000°N 87.65861°W / 41.95000; -87.65861Coordinates: 41°57′0″N 87°39′31″W / 41.95000°N 87.65861°W / 41.95000; -87.65861
Owner Joe Shanahan
Construction
Built 1927
Opened July 1982 (1982-07)
Website
metrochicago.com

Metro (formerly Cabaret Metro) is a concert hall at 3730 N. Clark Street in Chicago, Illinois that plays host to a variety of local, regional and national emerging bands and musicians.[1] The Metro was first opened in 1982. The capacity is 1100, divided between the main floor and the balcony. The building housing Metro also houses Smart Bar underneath the main venue.

History

In the late 1970s, Joe Shanahan, having experienced the art, music and dance culture in New York City, created a club to host creative acts in Chicago.[2]

Shanahan was directed to the Northside Auditorium Building. The building was originally built in 1927 as a Swedish Community Center.[3] When Shanahan came across it, it was home to a jazz/folk club, Stages.

Shanahan opened Smart Bar in July 1982 as a dance club, mixing a variety of the new genres of the time. Smart Bar was on the fourth floor of the building, which now houses the offices of the Metro staff. DJs Frankie Knuckles and Joe Smooth performed regularly. Ministry and similar bands performed their new industrial music music by playing tapes of newly recorded songs.

In August 1982, Shanahan, through his production company Latest Creations, booked and promoted a concert the then little-known band from Athens, Georgia, R.E.M. The show was a success and Shanahan began booking the club's weekend slots, gradually taking over the main floor of Stages. He then moved Smart Bar from the fourth floor to the basement of the building. Metro, then called Cabaret Metro, was re-opened as a live music venue in its current space.

Metro at first booked mainly local bands, including Naked Raygun and Big Black, and later brought in bands from out of town, including New York's Sonic Youth, Glenn Danzig's Samhain and the Ramones, Athens for R.E.M. and Pylon. Minneapolis for The Replacements, Hüsker Dü and Soul Asylum. Texas for the Butthole Surfers, and California for X and The Bangles. In Metro's first year of business, it hosted New Order, Depeche Mode, Killing Joke, Billy Idol and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Metro booked many early industrial bands, including Cabaret Voltaire, KMFDM, and Einstürzende Neubauten.

During this time, Metro began a long-standing relationship with Chicago's Jam Productions.

In the 1990s the club booked grunge and alternative music. Urge Overkill, Liz Phair and Veruca Salt began their careers in Metro. Seattle bands included Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, and Los Angeles bands included Jane's Addiction and Perry Farrell. Bands from Britain, such as Oasis (band) and the Manic Street Preachers, played their early US gigs at the Metro. Smashing Pumpkins played their first and last gig, before their reunification seven years later, at the Metro. The Metro also hosted one of the last Blind Melon shows with Shannon Hoon on September 27, 1995. Hoon died of a drug overdose less than a month later. Additionally, Jeff Buckley filmed his only concert DVD at the Metro before dying.

Other artists and bands that performed at the venue included James Brown, Iggy Pop, George Clinton, Joe Strummer and Prince, The White Stripes, Alkaline Trio, The Killers, No Doubt, Disturbed, Chevelle, Travis, Jimmy Eat World, Interpol, The Frames, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, Moby, The Faint, Fatboy Slim, Arctic Monkeys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Academy Is..., Chance the Rapper, Fall Out Boy, and Kill Hannah. Local bands can get booked at Metro through the same method used in the club's earliest days, sending a demo.[4] Bob Dylan performed two shows at Metro to celebrate the club's 15th Anniversary.

25th Anniversary Year

On July 22, 2007, Metro celebrated its 25th Anniversary, with a free public concert at Millennium Park's Pritkzer Pavilion with the Decemberists backed by the Grant Park Orchestra.[5] On July 21, 2007, Metro held an employee reunion and public party to count down the hours to the official anniversary at midnight on July 22, 2007.[6]

On October 11, 2007, Metro's owner Joe Shanahan was awarded a Recording Academy Honors from the Chicago Chapter of the Recording Academy in recognition of Metro's 25 years. [7]

References

  1. ↑ Rock Clubs Still Key Touring Component. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1 June 2002. pp. 86–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  2. ↑ http://www.jimdero.com/News2003/May18Metro.htm
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  5. ↑ . Daily Herald (Arlington Heights). 2007-08-19 https://web.archive.org/web/20110608233253/http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=332976. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ . Chicagoist.com. 2007-08-19 http://chicagoist.com/2007/07/24/weve_never_seen.php. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/588487,WKP-News-out05iNorth.article". Chicago Sun-Times. 2007-10-16. External link in |title= (help)
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