CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - It’s not your average concert venue, but it seems to be hitting the right notes with plenty of Chicagoans.
The Chicago River, near the Belmont Avenue bridge, is a spot local musician Ben Kinsinger, aka the River King, is pretty familiar with.
“Historically, it had been kind of a hobo haven, full of old clothes and garbage. Kinda gross and scary,” Kinsinger told WBBM.
But, when volunteers cleaned the area up, inspiration struck.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is cool. This is a place where something could happen. Maybe it’d be cool to have a show here,'” Kinsinger recalled.
Since 2022, Kinsinger’s band, Lawrence Tome, has done just that, taking battery powered amps to a cement pylon in the water via an inflatable dinghy and treating fans and kayakers to music.
“It’s been cool,” Kinsinger said. “It kinda makes sense. I feel like that was part of the idea: you do something cool, people will come.”
A video of their most recent show has been seen by over 100,000 people online.
“It’s a team effort. I’ve got a lot of great friends who help me out,” Kinsinger.
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