The best Chicago shows I saw in 2025

Chicago Underground Duo

In Chicago, I’m blessed to be able to see exciting new artists, veteran acts and even reunion shows.

I’m a much bigger fan of the small stages than the mega venues. And yet in 2025 three of my favorite live shows were at one of Chicago’s largest spaces, a converted industrial site once operated by Morton Salt and now known as the Salt Shed.

Here are the 10 best shows I saw in 2025.

The Hard Quartet
April 4
Empty Bottle

Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus and his super group comrades played an awesome intimate show at Empty Bottle, my favorite live-music place in the city.

Amyl and the Sniffers
May 8
The Salt Shed

I was blown away when I saw these Aussie punks at a street fest in Wicker Park in 2019. It was strange seeing them in such a huge concert hall but they really lived up to the billing. The band promoted its excellent 2024 release Cartoon Darkness,

MJ Lenderman
June 18
The Salt Shed

Just a year earlier, I saw MJ at a room 10 times smaller than the Salt Shed. His rise in popularity was well known, but wow. He also played one of the best shows I saw in 2025.

Calexico
July 12
Square Roots Festival

I was a casual fan of Calexico heading into this show at an annual street fest in Lincoln Square, but the band blew me away with this summer night outdoor set. Calexico has a number of lively songs in its catalog. It also covered the legendary ’60s band Love.

Chicago Underground Duo / Jeff Parker Expansion Trio
September 12
Beat Kitchen

What a double feature this show at Beat Kitchen turned out to be at the inaugural night of the Sound and Gravity Festival. Both acts were just amazing.

Jeff Tweedy at the Salt Shed

Jeff Tweedy
September 25
Adler Planetarium

I was lucky enough to sneak into an intimate set Jeff played at Adler the night before his great album was released. He was gracious enough to do a pair of shows that supported Chicago’s WBEZ.

Silkworm
September 25
Sleeping Village

This was a really great reunion show at Sleeping Village that included three encores! Admittedly, you have to be a huge Silkworm fan to appreciate this concert. I chatted up a group of guys who had crossed the country to follow the reunion tour, and their assessment was this was the show.

The Tubs

The Tubs
October 18
Schubas Tavern

Welsh band the Tubs made an extraordinary pop album in 2025 released by Chicago’s venerable Trouble In Mind Records (R.I.P). Frontman Owen Williams said at the Schubas show that the concert was the band’s fourth appearance in the city!

“How many bands from Wales played Chicago four times this year?” Williams asked the crowd.

Jeff Tweedy
November 1
The Salt Shed

This was the big hometown show for Jeff, his sons and his young band. What a show! Almost all of the songs played were from the 30-track Twilight Override, my favorite album of 2025. Every time I see Jeff and Wilco play I think that this must be what it was like to see Bob Dylan, Neil Young and other greats play back in the day.

Golden Smog
December 9
The Vic Theatre

Jeff Tweedy returned to Chicago with friend Gary Louris of Jayhawks and their collaborators in Golden Smog in December for a blazing show at the Vic. This was one of only three shows after New York and New Jersey and it was so good.

Golden Smog