Subterranean
Ironic that the best place to view the stage at Subterranean is the highest point of the building’s interior, the balcony, which offers an unobstructed, rectangular cut-out view of all the evening’s festivities. As one of the few spots still willing to host all-ages punk shows, the venue is often at capacity, and the ecstasy of youth manifests itself in the battles below. Adolescents march in anger, kids front-flip from the stage, bodies pile on top of bodies like insects on a dirt mound. Bars that cater instead to jaded hipsters never seemed so old and dull.
2011 West North, (773)278-6600, subt.net
Best of Chicago 2013