CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago Live, the Midwest's largest free performing arts festival, is coming back to Chicago this September.
Anyone who’s ever wanted to see the Joffrey Ballet, Second City and the Blue Man Group will soon be able to catch performances from all three at the fourth annual Chicago Live festival.
“We have over 1,000 artists that will be performing on our stages over two days,” said Erika Taylor, with Navy Pier. “There's 110 performance groups.”
Taylor said Chicago Live is almost like the Lollapalooza of performing arts.
“Each group gets 20 minutes to showcase their best and their brightest and give you, really, a taste of what they're doing on the regular,” Taylor said.
Taylor says the event allows everyone to access Chicago's performing arts scene.
“We've heard from people who said they can't afford one ticket to go to one performance of this, and now they get to come here and they see hundreds of performances — all for free,” she said. “So we're really, really grateful to be able to present this and give them that opportunity.”
Jeff Tweedy, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of local band Wilco, is the festival’s headliner and will perform a solo acoustic set on Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. on the Lake Stage at Polk Bros. Park.
Chicago Live takes place Sept. 21 – 22. A full lineup can be found online.
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok