With this warmer than usual weather, we’re seeing early bloomers of outdoor shows ever so slightly. It won’t be long before all the patios, gardens and decks are full of live music at the appropriate venues around town. Let’s see what’s in store for this upcoming warm and maybe wet weekend.
Thursdays open our scheduled listings and here we have Mr. Micah Walk covering the grand opening of Vine & Rind’s patio season in grand style. The west-side establishment features a large variety of self-serve wines, plus drinks and cheeses galore, hence the interesting and descriptive moniker along with charcuterie (I can spell it, but not pronounce it) boards, desserts and other goodies. Also, fortunately for us, they’ll feature live music Thursdays on the patio (weather permitting of course) with first-come, first-served seating.
Other Thursday action includes Angel Brown’s Smooth N’ Blue Duo with Rick Gasparin at Mother Road Diner (also catch these two at Lime Street Cafe this weekend) and Kortney Leatherwood hosting the long-running and multiple BoS winning open mic/jam at Blue Grouch.
Here we go searching for a good time on a Friday night and if the weather stays warm and not wet, there are a few outdoor options. JackAsh (that’s Jack Stege and Ashley Staley in possibly the best group name around) hit at Jamie’s Route 66 doing all the hits, DreamCatchers make your dreams come true (if you want them to) at Pease’s at BUNN Gourmet, Doug Brant could be sitting by the deck near the bay at Bar Bella, John Drake drifts through the plains into Boone’s, Alex Pearce drops into Trail’s End in Curran via Nashville and Joel Honey rolls into the station at The Railyard. Fridays continue with the Salty Bros. (that’s Brandon Santini and Joel Gragg together again) at Harvest Market, Downstate getting into it at Buckhart Tavern, David Leatherwood docking at Pier 55 and Cool2Duel at Firefighters-Postal Lake Club as the entertainment part of the Light the Way ticketed event for Girls on the Run.
Racing off to Saturday, the big show can only be the third annual Holiday Concert at the Blue Grouch, featuring Sunshine Daydream, Menace to Sobriety and Pimpin’ Henry as the musical acts plus food trucks and door prizes running all day from 2 to 9 p.m. in the large and lovely outdoor stage space. What holiday are we celebrating, one may wonder? Well if you have to ask, as they say…, but my uneducated guess puts us on the nearest Saturday to April 20 or “4-20” in the vernacular, slang and hipster talk. You must be 21 to attend and tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Party on, Garth.
I’m not even going to mess with the other 40 shows on Saturday night or the 15 some happening on Sunday, but please, please, please look for all the wonderful music on those days and nights, and even afternoons and evenings.
Let’s move to Monday while remembering to get back to The Alamo and the decades long, Illinois Central Blues Club weekly bookings. Last week we had a world-traveling U.K. blues-rocker named Bex and this week there’s a fantastic keyboardist, singer and songwriter named Bruce Katz who is phenomenal, to say the least. Do us all a favor and drop in on Bruce whose credentials include working with Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, John Hammond and Delbert McClinton, as well as receiving several Blues Music Awards and other accolades for his years of working as a playing musician.
That’s all folks… see you next week for an April wrap.
This article appears in April 16-22, 2026.
