The Empty Bottle

The Empty Bottle is a Ukrainian Village institution in Chicago — a small bar with a back room that has been central to the city's indie and experimental scene since the 1990s.

Indie rock, punk, jazz and experimental bills, plus its long-running free Monday shows.

Send a date request through The Empty Bottle's free BANDANA booking form — it only offers nights the venue has open, so you're never asking for a date that's already gone. The request lands in the venue's BANDANA booking inbox and the venue replies to you directly. BANDANA doesn't take a cut and can't promise a yes.

The Empty Bottle is listed at about 300 capacity (100–300). Layouts change by event, so confirm exact stage, production and door details with the venue when you send a request.

Yes — The Empty Bottle currently shows 15 bookable nights in the next 60 days, counted from the nights it takes bookings minus dates already marked closed on its BANDANA calendar. You can widen the window up to six months out on the directory.

Open dates are usually set and kept current by BANDANA, based on the booking nights each venue publishes on its own site, and re-checked on a weekly pass. A venue that claims its BANDANA listing can edit its own open dates, close nights and add shows at any time.

Chicago, Illinois location, room capacity, a shot of the venue's homepage, a link to its own website, a live count of open dates and a booking form. Direct booking contact details are visible to signed-in BANDANA users only.

Yes. Browsing the listing and sending a date request through BANDANA is free for bands — no card, no trial period, no booking commission.

Browsing is open to anyone. A free BANDANA account is needed to see direct contact details, and a request only reaches The Empty Bottle once the sender is signed in — submit while signed out and you'll confirm it by clicking the link BANDANA emails you.

It goes straight into the venue's BANDANA booking inbox tied to the date you picked, and the venue replies to you directly. You can send one request per venue per week, so follow up by replying to your BANDANA booking notification rather than submitting again.

The "Venues like this one" section below lists comparable rooms by city, region and capacity, and the "Browse more Chicago venues" link opens the full Chicago page where you can compare capacity and open dates side by side.