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The Horseshoe (4115 N. Lincoln) always kept its main windows by the stage obscured, so when we were walking by on our way to brunch we thought to ourselves that they must not be open on Saturday mornings, only Sundays, and we didn’t really give it another thought. We loved the Bluegrass Brunch — a brunch for those of us not into Gospel, but it’s right back to praising the Lord with our eggs because the Horseshoe seems to be no more.
We came across this posting on MetBlogs and decided that since the bar is less than a block away, we’d go over and drink some cheap beer to see what we could find out. We walked up to the door, pulled on it, but were only able to peer in at the piles of New Citys and Readers in the vestibule since the bar was all locked up with no one in sight. Posters announcing upcoming bands were still behind the chicken wire. It looked like someone just locked the doors and never came back. No postings from the City for health food or liquor violations, just the darkened room.
We always felt like we had entered a Texas roadhouse when walking into the Horseshoe. We weren’t so happy with the service and the clientele who weren’t always into the music gracing the stage, but we’re shedding a few tears for the place where Chicago’s country sound had a place to be heard.
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i actually went by there last night for some sweet and spicy sauced bbq, but alas, darkness.
it made for a disappointing night at the bbq place across the street, smokin' woody's. don't try it.
I'd like to know what's going on over there. I've been going there for a couple of years for the country and honky-tonk music, sometimes some Lone Star beer specials. If it is closing I'll miss the music but not much else. Fulton County Line was a good band to catch, but they've mostly been playing other venues lately like Pontiac, California Clipper and Smoke Daddy's.
where was this place? what do you think happened? have you tried to get to the bottom of the story before publishing it?
Final Grade: F
Matty, I put the address in there. Thanks for reminding me to do that.
I don't feel that it's responsible to speculate on what I think happened to the place.
Something's been posted on Chicagoist! Quick, everyone start whining!
you thought you were disappointed about the recent closing of the horseshoe on Lincoln? how about being the band that was scheduled to play sunday night, and showing up to locked doors at the appointed "band load-in" time. Me and my faithful band of punk trolls worked for weeks to transform our greatest hits into bleeding heart country tunes, we even incorporated a genius lap steel player and female vocalist (as lead screamer i was ill-equipped to handle country crooning duties.) we showed up to find the place locked and our cute as hell flier looking at us through the window. we then went across the street to some german bar and ordered some schlitz and contemplated our next move. we asked the barkeep if she knew anything to which she replied "yeah i think i heard something about them getting shut down". i then called my wife and asked her to find the number of the guy that booked us in my g-mail inbox. she informed me that there was a message from mr. booking guy informing me that the bar got shut down for failing to renew their liquor license. Now. I am no genius entrepreneur, but seems to me that if i was in the business of selling liquor, priority 2 or 3 would be to make sure i had a license insuring that i would be able to sell booze. served. anyhow, we couldn't believe it. we called all the kids we had invited telling them the situation and put signs on the door of the horseshoe informing the world what we thought of the joint and that instead of watching us play, they could come across the street and watch us drink. around 20 of the faithful 'we make thunder' army regulars came over to express their regret and watch us drink liter after liter of whatever the special was. the owner of the bar was happy to have it packed with punk kids along with 3 old regulars finishing their schnitzel. he asked for our card. so our drummer drew him a comic version of our logo with our phone number scrawled on the bottom. I'm sure he's gonna call us to reschedule that country show any day now. but until then, come watch 'we make thunder' rock it h core at cal's at 10pm this saturday, feb 24 w/ other bands. $5. come on out and keep this limping, gasping scene alive.
you thought you were disappointed about the recent closing of the horseshoe on Lincoln? how about being the band that was scheduled to play sunday night, and showing up to locked doors at the appointed "band load-in" time. Me and my faithful band of punk trolls worked for weeks to transform our greatest hits into bleeding heart country tunes, we even incorporated a genius lap steel player and female vocalist (as lead screamer i was ill-equipped to handle country crooning duties.) we showed up to find the place locked and our cute as hell flier looking at us through the window. we then went across the street to some german bar and ordered some schlitz and contemplated our next move. we asked the barkeep if she knew anything to which she replied "yeah i think i heard something about them getting shut down". i then called my wife and asked her to find the number of the guy that booked us in my g-mail inbox. she informed me that their was a message from mr. booking guy informing me that the bar got shut down for failing to renew their liquor license. Now. I am no genius entrepreneur, but seems to me that if i was in the business of selling liquor, priority 2 or 3 would be to make sure i had a license insuring that i would be able to sell booze. served. anyhow, we couldn't believe it. we called all the kids we had invited telling them the situation and put signs on the door of the horseshoe informing the world what we thought of the joint and that instead of watching us play, they could come across the street and watch us drink. around 20 of the faithful 'we make thunder' army regulars came over to express their regret and watch us drink liter after liter of whatever the special was. the owner of the bar was happy to have it packed with punk kids along with 3 regulars finishing their schnitzel. he asked for our card. so our drummer drew him a comic strip with our phone number scrawled on the bottom. I'm sure he's gonna call us to reschedule that country show any day now. but until then, come watch 'we make thunder' rock it h core at cal's at 10pm this saturday, feb 24 w/ other bands. $5. come on out and keep this limping, gasping for breath scene alive.
hey andrew--
we tried to go see you sunday (heavy emphasis on TRIED). 'twas a shitty thing that we couldn't; an even shittier one that they weren't professional enough to let you know in advance. at least you didn't have to go to work the next day and could take part in the drinking of those intimidatingly large specials. looking forward to saturday.
country still lives on at Carol's Pub - at the Corner of Leland & Clark
oops, i didn't mean to post the same thing twice. my computer at work is 12 years old and awful. like most 12 year olds i guess.
A little birdie who is friends with the owners said that some bills weren't paid on time. They'll be back.
Definitely check out the California Clipper (1002 N. California Ave.) if you're looking for good, live country music. Though a little out of the way, it's a great place to get your drink on. It's got a beautiful, vintage bar with red neon lighting throughout that creates a great atmosphere. And check out their Purple Martin if you're in the mood for something sweet.
That is too bad. The people at Horseshoe,were always nice and friendly. The food was always wonderful. Havent been back in some time, but at least it was good while it lasted.