Moe's Tavern To Host A Battle Of The Bands

By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 27, 2014 10:00PM

It may be hard to imagine that a place that modeled itself after a kitschy cartoon bar would have good live music, but Moe’s Tavern is a delightful surprise. Stumble into the Avondale watering hole most days of the week and you’ll find blues, rock, jazz and bluegrass acts from all over the States, but the focus is certainly on local bands. To celebrate Chicago’s music scene, the dive will host its second annual battle of the bands this spring, and it’s making a call for musicians interested in taking the stage for the chance to win some money.

The battle is divided into three levels. The preliminary competition starts out with 20 bands and takes place March 31 through April 3, while the semi-finals (which features seven acts) are April 3. The championship round is April 25 and will feature four bands who will go head to head for the chance to win some seriously sweet grand prizes: $500 in cash, a performance spot at CIMMfest and a video and recording package from Dimensions Multimedia.

To take part in the competition, you must enter by March 21. It’s only open to bands of three or more people, and because each act performs up to three original songs with up to 20 minutes to perform, you need to actually have enough original material to last through the entirety of the competition (no cover songs are allowed). Those interested can shoot an email over to MoesTavern@outlook.com with your band name, names and positions of its members, type of music and a short band bio. You should also include audio or video of your act performing, though you can request instead to audition live at one of Moe’s Sunday or Wednesday open-mic nights.

Moe's tavern is located at 2937 N Milwaukee Ave.