06/02/2018

Best Free Summer Music Festivals in Chicago

Chicago is one of the country’s musical epicenters, no question, and some of the best performances are yours to enjoy without laying down a dollar. Summer in the Windy City means a lineup of free concert events, among them some of the largest of their kind in the world.

Let’s review three of the biggest, each one of them easily accessible from your Autograph Collection lodgings at Hotel Chicago here in River North!

Chicago Blues Festival: June 8 to June 10, 2018

We profiled the wonderful Chicago Blues Festival here at the Hotel Chicago blog not long ago. It’s the very biggest free blues festival on Earth, and the largest of Chicago’s annual music festivals. Established in 1984, this celebration of a signature American genre has brought everyone from B.B. King and Ray Charles to Taj Mahal and Keith Richards to the festival stage.

This year’s headliners include Selwyn Birchwood, Willie Clayton, and Mavis Staples. There’ll also be special musical tributes to harmonica master Little Walter as well as Sleepy John Estes, Junior Wells, Big Time Sarah, and other blues innovators.

Chicago Jazz Festival: August 30 to September 2, 2018

The Chicago Jazz Festival was born in 1974 with the passing of one of America’s musical geniuses, Duke Ellington. The tribute concert arranged shortly thereafter became an annual affair, and soon broadened in scope to become an official jazz festival.

Held at the Claudia Cassidy Theater and Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center as well as Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival features a slew of fine performers, including Ramsey Lewis, Maceo Parker, Kurt Elling (appearing with Marquis Hill and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts), and Dianne Reeves.

World Music Festival Chicago: September 7 to September 23, 2018

Rhythms, styles, and instruments from all across the globe take center stage at the World Music Festival, which has featured more than 650 acts from better than 80 countries since its inaugural edition in 1999. The cosmopolitan concerts take place at multiple venues over the festival’s generous run, including Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center.

Enjoy Chicago’s Free Summer Music Festivals With Autograph Collection Accommodations in River North

Whether it’s blues, jazz, or that woefully vague category of “world music,” come enjoy amazing artists doing their thing on free stages in the Windy City this summer with a luxury room or suite at Hotel Chicago!

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