Wild Hare

Wild Hare is a live-music club in Chicago’s Fulton Market district, with space for groups of up to 200. Its distinguishing feature is a split personality built into the building: a lower-level club for permanent-stage shows and a rooftop room under retractable glass. That gives a reggae set, DJ showcase, or band night two very different settings within the same operation. The venue’s current program carries its reggae foundation into hip-hop, electronic, Latin, Afrobeat, dancehall, funk, and artist-led one-offs.

A club rebuilt around live music

Wild Hare began in Wrigleyville in 1986 as a small country-music bar before Zeleke Gessesse, leader of the Ethiopian reggae band Dallol, took ownership and shifted its musical center toward reggae. Gessesse closed the original club in 2011; former Dallol members Ruphael Woldemariam and Asrat Sellassie then joined William Glastris and Joel McCarthy to revive it at 2610 North Halsted in 2012.

The revival spent years tied up in a fight for a live-music license. Neighbors petitioned against the Lincoln Park operation, the city denied the public-place-of-amusement license, and Cook County Judge Leroy Martin Jr. ordered its issuance in August 2013. The city later dropped its appeal, clearing the way for the club’s first live music there in three years during August 2014. In May 2025, Wild Hare moved again, this time to Fulton Market, retaining the reggae focus while gaining room for lower-level and rooftop events.

Two levels, one sound system

Expect a club built around DJs, live bands, and local or visiting artist showcases. Wild Hare describes a nightly format led by a house band before resident DJs and curated performers take the stage, while its event listings make reggae and world-beat a recurring anchor. The lower level has the permanent performance stage; the rooftop is used for live sets and the Wild Hare Sound System, with retractable glass overhead. Cocktails and comfort food are part of the venue’s intended concert-night rhythm, and the operation is cashless.