When and where to find the hottest outdoor blues fests this season and beyond
Eric Gales will perform at Chicago Blues Festival on Sunday, June 12
Chicago Blues Festival 2022
June 9-12 FREE
Millennium Park, Riverwalk, and in historic blues neighborhoods, Austin and Bronzeville
Toronzo Cannon performs at Blues & Brews Festival in Aurora on June 11
photo: Dianne Bruce Dunklau
June 10, 11,12: Blues & Brews Festival, Mundy Park/The Venue, Aurora
Friday: Ivy Ford, Bear Williams, Toronzo Cannon
Saturday: Joey J. Saye, Dave Herrero & Anne Harris, Mike Wheeler Band, Kinsey Report
Sunday: Album Covers Presents: Robert Cray/ Strong Persuader
June 16-19: Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN
Buddy Guy performs on Aug. 7 at Canal Shores in Evanston. Photo/ Dianne Bruce Dunklau
June 17-18: Blues on the Fox, RiverEdge Park, Aurora, IL
Friday: Shemekia Copeland, Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Saturday: Buddy Guy, Billy Branch & Sons of the Blues, Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers, Melody Angel
While you're at Blues on the Fox, take a walk across the bridge: PARTY AT THE PROMENADE
Across the RiverEdge Park Bridge on the west side of the Fox River, join the celebration for the grand opening of the new Wilder Park Promenade at 350 N. River St. Saturday, June 18 from Noon-7 p.m. Bring the entire family for a day filled with live music, kid’s activities, and a variety of food trucks and vendors selling BBQ, burgers, pizza, ice cream and so much more! FREE.
June 18: Wayne Baker Brooks Band w/ Billy Branch, Blues on the Fox After Party
10:30 p.m. at The Venue, Aurora
June 24-26: Broad Street Blues & BBQ Fest, Griffith Central Park, 600 N. Broad St, Griffith, IN
John Primer, Billy Branch, Toronzo Cannon, Lil' Ed, Willie Buck, Liz Mandeville & the Blue Points, Gerry Hundt, Funky MojoDaddy & more. FREE
Jim Belushi & Dan Aykroyd will perform, along with other blues acts, at the Joliet Historical Museum Inaugural Blues Brothers Con at Old Joliet Prison, Aug. 19-20.
JULY
July 1-4: American Music Festival, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, IL
Sugaray Rayford, North Mississippi All-Stars, Marcia Ball, Nelson Street Revival, Son Volt, Rebirth Brass Band, Terrence Simien and much more.
July 2: Windy City Blues Society’s Red, White & Blues Fest, Lyons, IL
Mud Morganfield, Marty “Big Dog” Mercer, Vance Kelly & the Backstreet Blues Band, Sonia Downs Band, Lauren Anderson, Gyasi, Felix Los Gatos.
July 10: Taste of Westmont, Westmont, IL
1-4:30: Muddy Waters Blues Jam & Tribute to J.B. Ritchie w/ Marty "Big Dog" Mercer
Mike Wheeler Band
Rico (Santana tribute & more)
July 22-23: Fibfest, Des Plaines, IL
Friday July 22
9:00 Mike Wheeler Blues Band 6:00 Luke Repass Blues Band
Saturday July 23rd
9:00 Al Spears & The Hurricane Project 6:30 Smiley Tillmon featuring Kate Moss 4:00 Corey Dennison 1:30 Sheryl Youngblood Blues Band 12 noon Open Hole Soul
Paramount Music Festival, Lime Kiln Park, Grafton, WI
Friday July 22
Will Pfrang & the Goodland Gang, Trapper Schoepp,
Stephen Cooper & the Nobody Famous
Saturday July 23rd
Billy Branch & Sons of the Blues, Altered Five Blues Band, Chicken Wire Empire,
Cathy Grier & the Troublemakers, Katz Sass, Lady A, Luke Cerny
July 26: Wheels of Soul Tour: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos, Gabe Dixon at RiverEdge Park, Aurora, IL
July 30: Windy City Blues Society's Willow Springs Blues Fest
IBC band challenge, plus Dave Weld & the Imperial Flames, Willie Buck, Steepwater Band, Cros Band w/ Jeff Stone, & more.
AUGUST
Aug. 7: Buddy Guy, Todd Park Mohr w/ Bobby Rush, Out of Space Concerts, Canal Shores, Evanston
Aug. 12-13: Wayne Baker Brooks, Marty "Big Dog" Mercer, Smiley Tillmon Band, Stoney Curtis, Nick Byrd Band, Matteson All-Stars.
Foxpointe Blues, Brews & BBQ Fest, Lansing, IL
Aug. 13: Laurie Morvan Band, Cash Box Kings, Nigel Mack & Blues Attack, Bill Grady, 3:30 - 9 p.m. Joliet Blues Festival, Joliet, IL
Mike Wheeler Band performs at Blues, Brews & BBQ Fest August 21
Aug. 19, 20, 21: McHenry Rotary Club Blues, Brews & BBQ Fest, McHenry, IL
Friday: Jimmy Nick, John Todd Band
Saturday: Sharon Lewis & Texas Fire, Kashmir, Hot Rocks
Sunday: Mike Wheeler Band, Delta Rising
Aug. 20: Boz Scaggs, Robert Cray, RiverEdge Park, Aurora
Aug. 19-20: Little Bear Ribfest, 1001 Lakeview Parkway, Century Park, Vernon Hills
Shawn Holt & The Teardrops, Laura Rain & the Caesars, Funky MojoDaddy, Jake & Elwood, The Chicago Experience.
Joliet Historical Museum Inaugural Blues Brothers Con at Old Joliet Prison
1125 N. Collins St., Joliet
Dan Aykroyd & Jim Belushi, Curtis Salgado, Toronzo Cannon, Mondo Cortez & Chicago Blues Angels, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Gospel music, Bob's Country Bunker, Maxwell Street, Bluesmobile, orange whip drinks, Blues Bros. film & more.
Aug. 27: Crossroads Blues Society Festival, Byron, IL
Women of the Blues: Teeny Tucker, Shaun Murphy, Tia Carrol, Donna Herula, Gina Meeks, Amanee Avery
Aug. 27: Moose-a-Palooza, Batavia, IL
Lil Ed Blues Imperials, Michael Charles, Head Honchos, Tin Fiddle Band
All net proceeds from the event help the Batavia Moose Lodge support Mooseheart Child City and School.
Aug. 25-28: Big Blues Bender, Las Vegas
(normally held the weekend after Labor Day in Sept. but has been moved to August)
SEPTEMBER:
Sept. 3: Delmark Records Rockwell Street Jazz & Blues Stroll, on Rockwell between Irving Park and Berteau.
12 noon to 9 pm. The Delmark All Star Band, Jimmy Burns, Willie Buck, Demetria Taylor, Linsey Alexander & Milwaukee Slim, Bob Stroger & The Headcutters, Frank Catalano, Dave Weld, Dee Alexander, Donna Herula with Harlan Terson & Lynne Jordan, Gerry Hundt, Andy Cohen and more.
Sept. 23-25: Berwyn Blues Festival at FitzGerald’s Berwyn, IL
Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside, J.D. McPherson, Larry McCray, Carolyn Wonderland, Mud Morganfield, Jontavious Willis, Toronzo Cannon, Indigenous, Altered Five Blues Band, Alastair Green, Nick Moss Band & much more.
OCTOBER:
Oct. 22:
Delmark Records’ 70th Anniversary Concert, Prairie Center for the Arts, Schaumburg, IL
Dave Specter Band w/ Jimmy Burns
Dave Weld & The Imperial Flames w/ Pierre Lacocque
Mike Wheeler Band w/ Demetria Taylor
Tickets on sale now.