Venue Still Community Focal Point After 25 Years

It’s not always the most peaceful place on the floor of the Metro, located on Clark street in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.  It’s a Tuesday night, and hordes of screaming fans flood towards the stage in order to catch a glimpse of the night’s headlining act, the New Jersey originated Streetlight Manifesto.  However, on the grand perspective, the date and even the band are totally irrelevant to the experience; this is how it is every night.

Although the music scene of Chicago and the nation at large has changed rather dramatically over the Metro’s 25 years of existence, the same basic crowd base hasn’t.  Those who witnessed the birth of the now famous Smashing Pumpkins within the walls of the Metro in 1988 now come to see the Chicago-born math rock group Maps and Atlases.

“We’re seeing the second, even third generations of the Metro community come to the shows now,” said Jenny Lizak, the publicist for Metro Chicago as well as a self-proclaimed concert junkie.

A major part of the appeal of the Metro according to many of its fans is the inherent nostalgia that comes with the venue’s long history within the community.  

The Metro has been a presence within the Lakeview community since 1982, as a result owner Joe Shanahan’s return to Chicago from New York City, where he experienced the infamous New York club scene first hand.

“I came back (to Chicago), and I realized there weren’t any clubs like CBGB (a New York based club that played host to the American punk rock explosion of the 70s),” said Shanahan, “so I wanted to fix that.”

The club, which began its life in the parties Shanahan would throw in his personal loft, soon spilt out into the streets, branching out into DJ-driven parties in local art galleries, to finally its current location.  The building, which originally housed a Swedish Community Center when it was built in 1927, was home to a jazz and folk club, Stages, when Shanahan came across it.

Shananhan opened the Smart Bar, now located in the basement of the Metro, in July of 1982.  Groundbreaking DJs, such as the now legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles, frequently worked the turntables, while Chicago industrial icons Ministry and Trent Reznor showed off their new material to an eager crowd.

The current era of the Metro was born a month later, when the then virtually unused “big room” (now the main stage of the venue) played host to a relatively unknown at the time act from Athens, Georgia, that went by the name of R.E.M.

The Metro quickly established itself as a place for those within the Chicago music scene to cut their teeth, hosting memorable shows from such acts as Big Black and Naked Raygun.  Soon, the Metro spread its booking influence outside of the Chicago community, and by 1986, the venue had played host to the Minutemen, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Replacements, Slayer, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, and virtually every influential act of the day.

According to Jim DeRogatis, the Pop Music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, the Metro served as a focal point for many of the subcultures that would ultimately make their impact on the mainstream.  In the 80s, Chicago served as the melting pot for the emerging industrial genre, and the deep, electronic and brooding beats echoed nightly 

the venue’s walls.

In the 90s, the tone (although certainly not the nihilist attitude) changed, with the birth of the Smashing Pumpkins two years prior (Technically, Smashing Pumpkin’s 1988 debut at the Metro was not their first show, it was their third, however, it was the first show with their completed line-up), the venue soon found itself in the middle of the grunge explosion.  Vecura Salt, Liz Phair, and Urge Overkill all cut their teeth within the walls of the venue, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth produced now legendary shows, and Nirvana debuted several songs from their 1991 breakthrough album, “Nevermind”, in a concert that has now become one of the most sought-after bootlegs of the time period.

However, history alone isn’t the deciding factor to the Metro’s continued popularity and relevance within the music world.  After all, most of the similar sized clubs in Chicago, including the Aragon Ballroom and the Riviera can boast similar line-ups throughout the years, but neither of these clubs seem to have the same sense of community as does the Metro.

“A lot of the community comes from consistency,” said DeRogatis. “Unlike most of the venues in Chicago, the Metro’s been owned by the same guy, independently, for over 25 years.  Time’s the only way to get that community.  If your booking’s solid, and it stays solid, the respect comes eventually.”

“The atmosphere is just awe-inspiring,” said Christine Covak, who has been frequently attending shows at the Metro for the last five years.  “You go in there, and it's this classy as fuck place, with really ornate decorations and just this classic attitude.  You contrast that with whatever unbelievably hip band is playing that night, and then you start thinking about everything that’s gone down on that stage, and it just makes you take a step back.”

For many fans, the Metro has served as the birthplace of their live music experience.  The Metro is where they have their first concert, expose themselves to new genres of music and new schools of thinking, and usually, they get hooked.

“On my 18th birthday, I headed to the Metro to celebrate with the first of now many concerts of my life, “ said Noel Fotz, a 20 year old Lakeview resident.  “It was 2005, and I saw The Promise Ring and Make Believe, and I can’t even begin to tell you how hip I felt just standing in the same room as them.  Without a doubt, it was that moment that made me a music fan. I mean, sure, I always used to listen to music, but after that concert, I started to feel it.”

Although the Metro has firmly cemented its part within the music community in Chicago, that’s not to say its future is absolutely certain.  According to DeRogatis, who has done extensive research on the subject, the booming popularity of both the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza, which both book similar bands as the Metro, can take away potential acts from the venue due to exclusivity contracts which can prevent acts featured at the festivals from appearing in Chicago up to four months prior and after the scheduled festival date.

However, Lizak says the festivals don’t threaten the venue, and that the Metro has a good relationship with each of them, playing host to various after-parties and shows related to the festival proceedings.

One sure thing, however, is that music scene is indeed changing.  Although medium sized clubs such at the Metro have done exceedingly well in the past, according to DeRogatis, the concert scene is changing.  The middle ground is slowly (or rapidly in some cities) dissipating, giving way to the small, hole-in-the-ground clubs for local and unknown acts, and the mega-hitters that fill large arenas throughout the country.  The fate of the medium sized venues of the country at this point is unknown, but not everyone is worried.

“We’re just going to do what we’ve been doing for the past 25 years,” said Shananhan.  “We’re going to keep on putting the best shows we can every night.  If we can’t do that, there’s nothing left to do.”