Jaunted

The Show:
We arrived to the concert at the Logan Square Auditorium just as the first of two opening bands was finishing their first song. Aside from us and the aforementioned opening band, the ballroom-like space was nearly empty. We stood, beerless and embarrassed, as they soldiered through their set and the rest of the audience filtered in off the dark, misty streets of Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood.

And then, when the ballroom was nearly packed, the headlining band—Monotonix, a garage rock band from Tel Aviv—set up their drum kit at the base of the stage, and proceeded to rock out surrounded by their fans. We went into this not knowing much about the three-man group made up of a drummer, a guitarist, and a vocalist, but were assured that we were in for a spectacle to be experienced and not simply watched.

The spectacle began after something like a 5-minute drum solo, which built up the crowd's energy level and heartbeats and got us primed for the main event: the thrashing rock and crowd-surfing of scantily-clad, long-locked Israeli men with chest hair to put Bigfoot to shame. The show moved with them, as the drum set was repeatedly dismantled and sent on its own crowd surf, then reassembled closer to the middle of the ballroom. At times, the singer would be attempting to climb the wall, but most of the time he settled for sitting on the hands of the crowd below him, making for some prolonged crowd-surfing.

As Monotonix got sweatier and the crowd grew more frantic with the beat, eventually almost the whole group was hoisted up on high, to perform in perpetual crowd-surf. We had removed ourselves from the moshing middle early on so as to enjoy the show without having to support their butts throughout, and from our view we could properly appreciate the apex of the show, when the singer stood atop the drum, itself being held up by the crowd. He jumped off and landed on the hands of adoring fans. It was a rock star show, without thousands in the crowd and without paying triple digits for tickets, but above all, it was a good night for live music.

The Venue:
The Logan Square Auditorium with a raging concert inside of it makes you think of a bar mitzvah gone rebel. The space is an events ballroom, located just above the locally famous Lula Cafe and only a block's walk to the El train's Logan Square stop on the blue line. It's unexpected, it's spacious, and we have reason to believe that the interior is a dusty pink, but with the stage lights, who can really tell?

Entering from the back, you'll first notice that three sides of the ballroom are punctuated with tall, thin windows because the auditorium sits on a sprawling floor of a rounded-corner building. The rear of the room is capped by a balcony and bar, and it's easy to imagine record company agents scouting from the dark recesses of the balcony.

This Monotonix show is part of a series put on by the Empty Bottle, another Chicago live music venue, but one that can't handle larger shows. At only $15 per ticket, the show is a bargain for three good bands in such a space, and the "Empty Bottle Presents" series at the Auditorium will continue on October 9 with Company of Thieves, This is Me Smiling, Big Science, and Mike Maimone; October 14 with Mumiy Troll; October 19 with Sunset Rubdown and NewVillager; and October 28 with Múm and Sin Fang Bous. Tickets are no more expensive than $20, and you can also catch other Empty Bottle Presents shows at venues like the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Lakeshore Theater.

How to Get There:
True to the Logan Square Auditorium's demographic of skinny-pants-and zip-up-hoodie-wearing hipsters, taking a car here is not recommended. There are simply no large parking lots or ready taxi stands. Instead, it's all about public transportation with the El trains's Blue Line to Logan Square. It's on the same block as the Auditorium, and the blue line easily connects with every other line in the Loop, so that you can smoothly get home, drunk on Pabst Blue Ribbon or not.

Where To Stay:
It's not crazy to think that most of the out-of-towners who come in for shows at the Logan Square Auditorium are just crashing on friend's couches, but you can't do that so easily and so we recommend sleeping at the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue, with rock paraphernalia nestled into a vintage Art Deco building, so you won't feel like too much of a sell out for a clean bed. Nightly rates start at $150, and they're pretty hip with deals on their twitter account.

Where To Eat:
If you're at the Logan Square Auditorium, then you're partying on top of the best place to eat in the neighborhood: Lula Cafe, located in the same building as the venue. It's extremely famous among locals for a killer brunch, but they're open until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, which means dinner here before a 9pm show is perfect. The best part is that however popular the spot is, they never accept reservations; they believe in just walking in for a table and not booking every seat up a month in advance. We recommend the bing cherry clafoutis with sherry, because dessert is a must.

Related Stories
· Logan Square Auditorium [Official Site]
· Waking Up Among Hollywood Headstones to the Music of Bon Iver [Jaunted]
· Live Music coverage [Jaunted]