Lincoln Hall: An intimate musical space
Last fall, Chicago was blessed with one of its best music venues in the form of Lincoln Hall. For more than 20 years, Chris and Mike Schuba have successfully run the bar/music venue Schuba’s -- a Chicago institution. Akin to Schuba’s, Lincoln Hall is a state-of-the-art music venue hosting intimate performances from the world’s best musical acts.
The owners took over the defunct 4,400-square-foot Three Penny Cinema space across the street from the infamous Biograph Theatre (where Dillinger was shot), installed a crisp audio system and added exposed brick and earth tones to the décor. Unlike most of the music venues in the city, Lincoln still smells like fresh paint and hasn’t been decimated with graffiti on the bathroom walls.
Whereas Schuba’s is split into a bar and music room on one floor and can only hold 167 people, Lincoln Hall contains two floors, three bars and a 507-person capacity. The downstairs area holds the main bar with a variety of beers on tap and serves up food all day such as burgers, wraps and flatbreads.
Inside the music room, bands perform on the small stage surrounded by the audience on the floor and upstairs. An open balcony encircles the second floor allowing the audience to pull up a chair to the railing and stare down at the stage below. Satellite bars upstairs and downstairs give concertgoers quick access to drinks.
When Lincoln Hall isn’t putting on shows, they throw a monthly Three Penny movie night screening free double features of hip films from Wes Anderson to Mel Brooks. In conjunction with Schuba’s, every January Lincoln hosts the Tomorrow Never Knows festival, a week-long celebration of nascent indie rock bands.
Posted by Garin Pirnia
