After COVID-19 stomped on the sandcastles of the entire live music industry, the nation's clubs, bars, arenas, and concert halls saw their businesses decimated and left vulnerable in its wake. Many of those venues are finding themselves rudderless, desperately picking up the pieces as their local governments navigate the painful process of reopening.
In order to drum up business during these unprecedented and uncertain times, Chicago venue Whiskey Business is thinking outside the box.
In collaboration with renowned laser artist Will Kent and his company Coherent Designs, the Wicker Park bar has installed a rig on its rooftop to host dazzling laser shows as Illinois powers through its fourth phase of reopening. Kent, who has designed mind-bending laser shows for Porter Robinson, Illenium, and Aerosmith, was initially kicking the tires on erecting his gear in parking lots throughout Chicago and hosting pop-up laser shows, but pivoted after a serendipitous introduction to the owners of Whiskey Business.
According to a report in Time Out Chicago, Coherent Designs mounted eight laser projectors, which is the equivalent of 27,600 conventional laser pointers, to the front of Whiskey Business's rooftop. Chicago's EDM fans will be thrilled to hear that Kent has synced the lasers to music by Kaskade and Zeds Dead, and he also plans on programming the lasers live to a curated soundtrack of tropical house music.
Whiskey Business is flaunting the laser show as the de facto main event of its new "Neon Reef Nights" party, which will take place on its rooftop on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. You can check out a preview of the show below and reserve a table at Whiskey Business here.