Welcome to Venue Vibes, where I rank (mostly Chicago) venues on things… not important things, like accessibility or acoustics, but purely on vibes. Like so many things in life, scores are made up and points don’t matter. 

Starting us off with one of my personal favorite venues, and one I visit frequently: Thalia Hall.

Located in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Thalia Hall has been gracing the corner of 18th & Allport since a Czech immigrant named John Dusek commissioned it as a community space in 1892. Its architecture is inspired by the Prague Opera House, which for me, frankly skyrockets its vibes score right off the bat. It has a capacity of 800, including the GA floor and a seated (and usually ticketed) balcony. 10 points for aesthetic and compact capacity.

Thalia Hall is what I like to refer to as one of the Great Cathedrals of Chicago music. High ceilings, elaborate architecture, bright marquees, and the general feeling of being in a sacred, historic building. Others in this category include Metro, The Riviera, and the grandest of all, The Chicago Theatre. More than just a gorgeous music venue, it also is connected to a bar called Punch House in the basement, and a restaurant called Mariscos San Pedro. If you’re not queuing, both are a fun way to while away the hours before a show, or you could just walk around the lovely neighborhood. The record store 606 Records is just across the street, and it is surrounded by a plethora of great eateries. 7 points for surrounding amenities.

Also relevant to the neighborhood: free parking is easy to find, always a relief for me, a foolish Chicago car owner. If you’re one of those smart people living in the city without a car, do not fear, it is close to several bus routes, as well as the pink line. 5 points for ease of transportation.

Once you’re inside and through security, the first thing you notice up the first flight of stairs is a large chalk mural. Every single show has one, created by resident chalk artist Anna-Michal Paul-Lamont. First laying eyes on the art of the night is one of my favorite things about Thalia Hall. Beautiful, ephemeral, instagrammable. 15 points for cool chalk mural, minus 2 points because everyone likes to stop and take pictures with it and hold up the line to scan tickets.

The bar has a diverse and generally affordable selection. $10 beers, $12 frozen margarita pops, and notably, $5 hot dogs as well as popcorn. Most venues of this type don’t have food for sale at the bars, so this is a big plus. There is a bar on either side of the GA floor, but only one has the hot dogs. 8 points for food and drink, minus 3 points since you cannot buy two beers for $20 including tax and tip (I am on a quest to find out if this is possible at any venue in this city).

The standing room is cozy, compact, with truly no bad place to stand. There’s even a little ledge surrounding the floor, a pleasant spot on the fringes for a casual observer to see the stage over the sea of heads. As with the exterior, the interior is a visual feast, complete with opera boxes (that are possible to rent out, for groups of either six for the large ones or two for the small ones, but they do seem to sell out near immediately when tickets for shows go on sale). 5 points for a lovely GA area and overall interior.

My only qualm with this venue is only a minor strike,  but still worth noting: merch is allocated to a tiny room off of the floor area. It is not a place you pass on your way in, rather somewhere you are likely to find thanks to the long line of people taking up space by one of the bars. It’s difficult to see inside politely without committing to standing in said line, and I just find that I typically avoid it rather than casually buying merch as I might in another venue. Again, this might be nitpicky, but I still must subtract 2 points for the merch room.

With that: on a vibes scale of Rancid to Immaculate, with a grand total of 42 vibe points, Thalia Hall ranks solidly at Exquisite. Great job, Thalia Hall! I will always be grateful when I see that a band I love is playing here for their Chicago tour date, eager to spend some time in Pilsen, have some drinks at Punch House, and see the special chalk art. And next time, I will arrive hungry for a hot dog.

Check out upcoming shows at Thalia Hall here.