Empty Bottle

Music 7 days a week. Everything from Anti-pop Consortium to Trans Am, the indie-rock, electronic, experimental, jazz; post-this and pre-that. We’re honored to host it, with the most it.

In 1992 the Empty Bottle started out as a cat-ridden hole-in-the-wall bar in Ukrainian Village (just south of Wicker Park) where you could get any one of nine beers for a buck-fifty or less, play pool for 50 cents, and find everything from Monster Magnet to Bill Monroe in the jukebox.

On Halloween of 1993, we moved two blocks up the street and threw open the doors to our new, sound-equipped, slightly larger hole with three nights of great shows, culminating with a SCRAWL performance that could have been a scene out of “Carrie.”

We also hosted the highly acclaimed Chicago Homocore series, the highlights of which included TEAM DREASCH and COME. We’ve hosted six years of Improvised/Jazz music festivals that have brought folks from all over the globe. In fact we’ve been anything but empty space since our first great year, thanks to the same low prices, lack of attitude, and dedicated regular that made the bar such a success.

We are located at the corner of Western and Cortez in Chicago, three blocks south of Division and just north of Augusta. The Empty Bottle is most easily accessible from the Interstate 90/94 (The Kennedy Expressway).