13 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Week
By Michelle Meywes Kopeny in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 17, 2017 7:00PM
Outdoor music, film and nature events dominate the week in summer events.
MONDAY JULY 17
MILLENNIUM PARK MUSIC SERIES: Big Thief and Overcoats are this week’s bands at the Millennium Park Summer Music Series at Pritzker Pavilion at 6:30 p.m. Expect an evening of rock, synth, pop and melody. The series runs every Monday and Thursday throughout the summer (with some exceptions) and admission is always free.
WATER FLICKS: Navy Pier gets in on the free outdoor movie screenings with the Water Flicks series, hosted with Chicago International Film Festival. Monday’s feature is the 1987 comedy Overboard, and the series will continue through August with other water-themed flicks like Splash, Finding Nemo and Jaws. Showtime is at 7 p.m. at Lake Stage in Polk Bros Park.
RHYTHM WORLD FESTIVAL: Savion Glover, Maurice Hines and STOMP are a few of the famous names appearing at the 27th Rhythm World July 17-23. Presented by Chicago Human Rhythm Project, the tap and percussive dance festival will take place at several venues across the city including the American Rhythm Center and a free show at the new Polk Bros Performance Lawns at Navy Pier. In addition to showcase performances, intensive residencies, courses, workshops and master classes will also be part of the festival. For more information, visit the Rhythm World website.
TUESDAY JULY 18
MILLENNIUM PARK SUMMER FILMS: The much celebrated film La La Land is the next feature in the Millennium Park Summer Film Series at Pritzker Pavilion at 6:30 p.m. Dance and sing with Academy Award Winner Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling on the 40 foot outdoor LED screen. Free.
PET RESCUE CONCERT: We love pet rescues here at Chicagoist, and another organization, Famous Fido Dog Rescue, is holding a fundraiser concert at Chop Shop/First Ward from 5 to 9 p.m. Soul artist Jennifer Hall will perform, plus there will be vegetarian appetizers and 50/50 raffles. Tickets are $10.
INDIE PSYCH-POP: Elf Power's latest, Twitching In Time, continues to mix gentle ‘60s pop with light shrouds of psychedelia. The band is still trucking after 20 years together, and they've regained a heft and presence in their sound that makes the new material strongly magnetic, causing ears to bend in every which direction in order to suck in the sound. The band plays Beat Kitchen Tuesday night.
WEDNESDAY JULY 19
Image courtesy of Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
SUMMER NATURE FESTIVAL: From 5 to 8 p.m., the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum hosts their first free Summer Nature Festival with guided outdoor hikes, animal encounters, nature crafts, live music and more. Explore the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven and other exhibits free of charge. RSVP here.
IRRESISTIBLE FEELS: Cayetana's New Kind of Normal is filled grungy pop and hooks galore carried aloft by Augusta Koch's winding and wending vocals. It's an album that sound instantly familiar yet fresh, like favorite band posters plastered to your bedroom wall. We dare you to listen to something like "Bus Ticket" and not immediately feel the pang on the painful and the familiar in all the sweetest ways. The group is opening for Waxahatchee a.k.a. Katie Crutchfield, touring behind her own new album, Out in the Storm, itself a masterful mix of guitars, feels that pulls you into its web. Self-loathing and self-criticism sounds alluring when Crutchfield is singing abut it. Two acts supporting two excellent new albums? Sign us up! Catch both bands at Thalia Hall on Wednesday night.
THURSDAY JULY 20
MILLENNIUM PARK MUSIC SERIES: Thursday is a big night for the Millennium Park Summer Music Series with Southern American rock band Drive-By Truckers headlining the free show. Progressive folk trio Honeysuckle will also play. 6:30 p.m.
GREEN CITY MARKET CHEF BBQ: Green City Market gives fans an opportunity to try dishes prepared with produce and goods sourced from the market’s farmers this Thursday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. 100 local restaurants and beverage purveyors will provide tasting portions of vegetarian and meat dishes and craft beverages. Tickets are $125.
FRIDAY JULY 21
Photo: Matt Beard © 2017 Cirque du Soleil
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: It’s always a treat when Cirque du Soleil comes to town, and they’re back this week with LUZIA, running under the Big Top at the United Center parking lot through Sept. 3. The breathtaking circus and aerial acrobatic show takes the audience to an imaginary Mexico in the latest touring production. Tickets start at $35.
TASTE OF RIVER NORTH: Sample cuisine of the hot downtown neighborhood this weekend at the Taste of River North. Big & Little’s, DaLobsta and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse are just a few of the restaurants getting in on the action, plus they’ll have live music all day long with familiar tunes from some of the city’s hottest cover bands.
LITERARY FIGHT NIGHT: Hemingway goes up against Fitzgerald at the Chicago Athletic Association’s Literary Friday Night Fight from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Drawing Room. The event, a collaboration with the new American Writers Museum and Drinking and Writing Theater, would mark Ernest Hemingway’s 118th birthday. Watch as performers take on the roles of the Hemingway and his longtime literary rival F. Scott Fitzgerald in a verbal boxing match. Free.