When I say Park West, I mean the best place to see a concert in Chicago…maybe anywhere. When I started going to a lot of shows around 1994, this place had all the great hip hop acts. I’ve seen Pharcyde, Roots, Fugees, Goodie Mob, Latyrx and others at the Park West. There is a dance floor right in front of the stage. Around the dance floor are a bunch of black colored booths. It almost looks like a tiny coliseum. Behind all of the booths was a walkway and bar area. The best part about the Park West was the low stage. We used to get to these shows early enough so that we could stand right by the stage and be a part of the stage. The best show I saw at the Park West was the Fugees, Roots, and Goodie Mob. This show took place right as the Fugees were making their meteoric rise to stardom. Amazing. There is just something about this place that makes it different from the other venues in Chicago…maybe it truly holds a lot of nostalgia for me. After they built the House of Blues in 1996, all of the hip hop acts started going there and now the Park West gets acts that I’ve never heard of. Just give me one reason to go, and I’ll go again.
I went there once to see Matthew Sweet (yep they have non hip-hop shows) and it was awesome! I agree that it is a great place to see shows.