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Chicago · Venue

Metro

A 1,100-capacity Chicago club with a balcony, a basement dance-music sibling, and a founding R.E.M. show.

Upcoming shows
29
Address
3730 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60613
Phone
(773) 549-4140
Next show
Tue, 29 Sept 2026
Official siteDirections
Metro in Chicago

About Metro

Metro is Chicago’s 1,100-capacity concert room, built into a 1927 former Swedish community center in Wrigleyville. Its main floor and balcony share the building with Smartbar, the basement nightclub that began as Metro’s dance-focused sibling. That vertical arrangement is the useful distinction here: a sizeable standing-room concert hall upstairs, late-night club culture below, and a history whose opening chapter included a young R.E.M. in 1982.

A club born with R.E.M. on the bill

Joe Shanahan founded Metro and Smartbar in 1982 after encountering the building as Stages Music Hall, years after its original life as a Swedish community center. Shanahan’s first Metro booking was R.E.M.; Metro’s account calls the last-minute big-room date a successful pilot, while Chicago Reader traces the pair of venues to Shanahan’s New York punk and no-wave inspiration. That first gamble set the programming premise: a room built to put developing local acts beside touring names.

The pandemic closure delivered the sharpest recent interruption. Smartbar reopened in June 2021 and Metro followed in July with Lollapalooza aftershows. On September 20, 2021, Metallica played Metro for the first time since 1983, delivering a 16-song surprise set in a room far smaller than the arenas associated with the band. The date gives the venue’s scale a clear meaning: major acts can still choose it for a close-quarters Chicago night.

How the room works now

Metro’s booking philosophy joins local, regional, and national performers, with a calendar that fits indie and alternative rock, pop, electronic music, metal, and adjacent scenes. The upstairs room divides its 1,100-person capacity between the main floor and balcony, while 400-capacity Smartbar operates downstairs as a separate nightclub. Metro labels events all-ages, 18+, or 21+; all-ages shows end at 10 p.m. That makes the event listing’s age designation especially useful when choosing a show.

Sources

  1. History — Metro Chicago
  2. Forty years in review — Chicago Reader
  3. Metallica at The Metro in Chicago, IL on September 20, 2021 — Metallica
  4. Metro Chicago — Wikipedia
  5. Info — Metro Chicago

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