It’s gonna be mad and bad, so if you are thinking of attending any of the venues listed below please do check ticket availability ahead of time as they are being snapped up faster than a croc with an eye on Roger Moore’s 007 loafers even as we speak…

In no particular order, the parties begin at Beauty Bar (West Chicago Avenue) where there’s a glitter-fest of top notch clubland boogie with disco and electro-disco brought to you through the Minneapolis sound of DJ Gigamesh (of Discotech remix fame). Definitely one for all those who like their NYE bash glitzy and glitterfied. From 8pm, $20.

Over at the Lumen (West Fulton Market) there’s the chance to see the New Year in it carnival style with the appropriately named ‘A Night In Rio’ where you can samba the night away in true party glory to the live sounds of Chicago Samba and Latin party beats of DJ Nardo whilst savoring Brazilian nibbles and an all-inclusive drinks package until the wee-wee hours. From 8pm, $125.

The party rosta at Smart Bar (North Clark Street) is certainly one that gets us shaking our booties at in mere anticipation as the night features rave-icon Danny Howells of Global Underworld and Renaissance days who brings his progressive take on funky electro to the Smart clientele tonight. Joining the one and only Danny are the equally gifted Justin Long, Nate Manic and Ari Frank. Expect nothing  less than excellence. From 10pm, $40, or $35 ahead of time with VIP packs from smartbar.com.

Those who enjoy the thrill of the cult Chi Warehouse days will no doubt be salivating at the ‘Love Supreme’ disco-house party in store at an “undisclosed location” somewhere in Bucktown featuring Rahaan, Specter and  Solson – three dudes who really know how to get everyone down and grooving until dawn. With special guest Sadar Bahar and his crate-load of rarities. From 10pm, $10, or $5 before midnight. To find out where this all-nighter kicks off check out tonedsoul@live.com.

If you’re like me and enjoy Motown retro days, Logan Square Auditorium might be the place for you to catch the great Windy City Soul Club live in action. The 6-man crew brings Northern Soul to life in true vinyl spirit recreating the heady days of Wigan Casino (70s England). Fun, sweaty, and oh-so soulful, the WCSC raves always deliver and are a fab place to dress up sharp for. From 9pm, $20. 17+.

Now, for the lovers of NYE parties where nothing less than total excess is expected and delivered then the big one is here at The Official 2012 Playboy Celebration! At the Hilton Chicago of course (South Michigan Avenue) it all starts at 9pm and comes courtesy of Global Adrenaline, Surreal Entertainment, Playboy and the Hilton. The music features club diva Eva Simons (of ‘Take Over Control’ fame) with Baby Bash, DJ Flipside, Mixin’ Marc and Dante the Don spinning out the hip-hop, mash-ups and prog house…with of course that Playboy Bunny element to get everyone glamorized. But boy – it’s not cheap! Such wildly brilliant parties come at a price so if you have $155-$215 to spare for that extra VIP treatment then good for you. All that is left to say is – enjoy! From 9pm.

Lastly, but by no means leastly, for those who enjoy something a little different from the usual NYE rave mayhem, a ‘Cats Pajamas’ burlesque night at Everleigh Social Club might be just the ticket. Here you will find a more sensual NYE party (or rather soiree) in a speakeasy pajama style with wine and bubbly to be sipped and savored in elegant chill-out fashion as Chi’s premier burlesque madam Michelle L’amour and her Naked Girls eroticize proceedings. From 9pm, $90, couples $150. Tickets from everleighsocialclub.com.

So there you have it, a party for everyone, at a great Chi venue where excellence comes as standard week in, week out, and with 2011 about to give way to 2012 on behalf of all the team here at Chicago Nightlife Guide we raise our verbal glasses to say “Happy New Year To You All, and have a cracking NYE!”

Related posts:

1. It’s NYE Party Time Chicago Style!
2. Stripteasing Ghosts and Murderous Electro…It’s Halloween Time Chicago 2011!
3. Burlesque, Warehouse Parties, Blaxploitation & Dirty Disco…Chi’s Got It All Once Again!

Thursday June 9th

VLive, north Milwaukee Avenue:  ‘Sub Heat’ night at Vlive means plenty of drum ‘n’ bass and appropriately throbbing rhythms from award-winning 3-time DMC champion groovemeister DJ Craze, along with the d ‘n’ b and dubstep of Dieselboy, Dillon Francis of Mad Decent, Heroes & Villains, and DJ Nappy. From 10pm, $30, in advance $25, 18 and up.

Cole’s, north Milwaukee Avenue: A monthly treat from the Fabulous Ladies of Fitness who bring us their special blend of light rock, 80s and 90s classics, and some cordon bleu hip-hop. Tonight’s Thursday Theme is ‘Top Gun’ so that sounds like big shades and jackets rolled up to the elbows everyone! From 9pm. FREE!

Lumen, west Fulton Market: Those in the know have been making their way to the Lumen every Thursday for a while now because they know they are guaranteed a rocking party there every week – why? Because a certain home-grown star called Timbuck2 (who just happens to have been Kanye West’s tour DJ) resides here to keep Chicagoan’s well and truly raving. From 10pm. FREE.

Friday June 10th

Sound-Bar, west Ontario Street: Loopy techno, electro and a bit of B-more from the appropriately named Dutchman Bart B More. He is ably supported by fellow deckhand and Sound-Bar resident DJ Dannyboy. From 10pm, $20, free before 11pm with RSVP at sound-bar.com.

Darkroom, west Chicago Avenue:  It’s ‘Crystallize’ at darkroom tonight with one of the great Chicago clubland combo’s Duke Shin and Nate Manic. Always original and light but up-tempo and infectious with trappings of abstractness to make it unique, the Duke’s parties always have an air of friendly soul. Joining Duke and Nate ate Diskokitty from Style Matters and Weaponry. From 9pm, $6, free before 10pm.

The Shrine, south Wabash Avenue: Two great parties at the one venue, what more could anyone want? In the main room there’s Latin with DJ Protégé while in the Sinibar lounge the grand master of all things reggae-inflectioned is the great and lovable Papa G. Having two parties in one place featuring two very distinct sounds kind of gives a new meaning to hip and hop – ie: by “hopping” from one room to the other you get to swing your “hips” to something different each time! From 10pm, $20.

Saturday June 11th

The Mid, north Halsted Street: Now here’s something you don’t see everyday…and that’s because he’s never played here before…it’s the legendary Pete Tong of BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix fame celebrating 20 years in the business with a special gig here in Chicago. Always ahead of the game and indeed inventing his own game in the world of dance, Mr. Tong never gets it wrong! Rightly billed as a “titan” this is can only be described as an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch one of the truly great names in clubland live and in person. From 10pm, $20, discounts in advance with RSVP at clubtix.net.

Related posts:

1. Suave, Groovy, and Live! Everyone’s A Winner Babe In Clubland Chi This Weekend!
2. Sexy Latin to Acid House, It’s Always Varied, It’s Forever Chi!
3. Get On Down To The Hot Mix 5! It’s The Party Of The Century!

The Drake Hotel stages Chicago Scene 10th Anniversary NYE Party 4 rooms of music with DJs Dani Deahl, Jernell Geronimo and Kalendar. Local indie band Hey Champ performing live. 9pm, $165-$250, open bar and rivers of Champagne.

At Hard Rock Hotel it’s the Ciroc the New Year with Chicago rocker Pete Wentz the main attraction, with Crossfader King frontman E-Six, DJs Scotty Styles and Megan Taylor in the main room. 9pm, $175.

Berlin has its Cosmix New Year’s Eve with DJ Greg Haus’s progressive dance styles, and support from local electro lovers DAAN, who perform live. 9pm, $10.

The Shrine features Motown crooner Chico DeBarge, live funk from Zzaje and hip-hop from the ever-brilliant Zebo. 8pm, $40, VIP drink packages available.

Debonair Social Club has two floors of music with resident DJs Ryan Paradise and Andrew Vonn, plus open bar and bubbly at midnight. 9pm, $70.

Beauty Bar features Midnight Conspiracy’s Die Tonight: Eyes Wide Shut Masquerade Ball which is a must for all lovers of hipster electro and full-on theme parties with accompanying razzmatazz. The Conspiracy crew are joined by Cobra Corps and DJs Perfect Kiss, Disco Death Threat and Heaven Malone. 7pm, $15 with free bloody make-overs from Glitter Guts.

Crescendo hosts house and progressive with Jernell Geronimo, Greg Bauer and Funk Couture, open bar until 1am and Champers at midnight. 10pm, $115.

The Mid with DJs Bad Boy Bill (high-energy electro house and trance), Nathan Scott, Inphinity, and Willy Joy. 9pm, $90.

Empty Bottle featuring Big Freedia & The Divas plus Nobunny. Hard and fast polysexual sweaty rock. 10pm, $25.

Zentra with hip-hop DJs AM PM, Genius and Reese. Old school rap to Top 40. 9pm, $40, ladies before midnight $30, all others $20 after midnight.

Vertigo Sky at the Dana Hotel with DJs Dannyboy, Billy the Kid, PDA, Mareech and Ray Revel, and hip-hop mash-ups from Kopo, Chuck B and Rob Mata in the Aja Lounge. 9pm, $150.

Butterfly Social Club Dance Syndrome featuring salsa, samba, batucada, Latin jazz, baile funk and electro variations, with Christian Vera and Caswell James of the Soulphonetics DJ crew, plus fellow world beat junkies Mwelwa, Passistas and a troupe of samba dancers. FREE. 8pm. Drink packages available.

Flat Iron is staging a grimy gangster bash entitled Dead Man’s Hand New Year’s Ball with rockabilly band Cash O’Reilly and the Downright Daddies, with Angela Eve and her burlesque troup sexing it up. 8pm, $20.

Chicago Urban Art Society has hip-hop and rap at its 11th Hour Social with Jr. Flo, Matisse and Tune a.k.a. Keys N’ Krates. Rock-rap act Loyal Divid also performs plus DJ sets from Ruby Hornet’s DJ RTC, Maker, Merk1 and Ghetto Division’s Rob Threezy, Rampage and Maddjazz. 9pm, $35. 18 and up.

Evil Olive has a wicked Wicker Park line-up featuring Zebo, Marco Morales, Popstatic and Konspet. Drink package till 1 am, gourmet buffet at the back bar, Champagne toast at midnight. 9pm-4am, $70.

Vision has Extreme New Year’s Eve and five rooms of hip-hop, house, techno, pop and retro supplied by Vision’s esteemed resident DJs. 7pm, $40, VIP packs available, with open bar for much of the time.

JBar has Eyes Wide Shut with rapper/DJ Timbuck2 who has toured with Yeezy and has deejayed parties for A listers such as Jay-Z, Common and Michael Jordan with his unique mix of hip-hop, pop and mash-ups. Masks required, it’s an Eyes Wide Shut party! And we al know what that means…9pm, $85.

Lincoln Hall has laptop house ‘n’ hip-hop from fave DJ duo Flosstradamus, live electro from Gemini Club, and opening support from Pr3-Frosh. 10pm, $35. 18 and up.

Funky Buddha Lounge gets New Year’s Evey with resident jocks. From 9pm, $30. VIP packs available.

The Underground has hip-hop, electro and Top 40 with DJ Galvan. 10pm, $20.
 
The Griffin Lounge has ‘Here’s to the Night’ with trendy DJ J-Rose who is usually to be found at The Underground spinning for the A-list crowd. There’s a premium open bar, bubbly and edibles. 9pm, $95-$150.

Lumen has a Vegas-themed party ‘Luck Be A Lady Tonight’ with casino gambling, Sinatra style jazz trio, show girls and hip-hop from DJ Lil Mikey. Tickets going fast. 8pm, $115, open bar until 1am. VIP packs.

Neo stages an industrial, electro-house ‘Naughty New Year’ with resident DJs Lolly Gagger, Eddie Riot, Peter Propaganda, Mr Automatic, Jeff Moyer and Michael Serafini. 10pm, $5. 

Crimson Lounge features Chicago rapping MC Mr. Robotic with DJs Sadie Woods and Ben Castenada in the booth. 9pm, $85. Includes 5 hour open bar, bubbly and eats.
 
Germania Place has a New Year’s Eve Time Traveler party courtesy of local clothing emporium Akira with top DJs Dark Wave Disco, Skyler, Mardid, and Just One Duran. New wave band Streets On Fire play live. 9pm, $150-$250. Open bar and free food all night!

Empire Liquors has Hiroki dropping dance floor rippers in hip-hop, house and rock. 10pm, FREE at this ‘No Cover New Year’s Eve’ party. 

Victor Hotel stages a Prohibition-era speakeasy party its calling‘On the Boardwalk: A Prohibition New Year’s Eve’ with party promoters Switch! taking over both floors of the swanky Victor featuring gangsters and floozie flappers (so dressing up is a must!) DJs Maurizio and Flash supply merengue, bachata, salsa, house and tropical sounds, with DJV, Scream and Eddie V dropping hip-hop, Top 40 and dancehall in room 2. 9pm, $50. VIP packs available.

Smart Bar has an all-star DJ line-up for a megablast party with Orchard Lounge, Nate Manic, Major Taylor, and Kid Color. In other words – need we say more? 10pm, $30. VIP packs from $80-$400.  

Enclave goes Avatar when it transforms its club into the planet from James Cameron’s epic 3D blockbuster. Features glowing foliage backdrops and alien cocktail servers! Wicked! 10pm, $115.

Darkroom have DJs Pogo and Arturo spin Britpop, new wave, and 90s alternative, with DJ Misa adding her funk, soul, rock and disco into the mix. 9pm, $15.

Chicago Hilton and Towers goes large tonight with promoters Global Adrenaline, Surreal Entertainment, and Playboy staging one of the biggest parties in town. Hip-hop crooner T-Pain headlines with DJs Rafa-L the Saint, B96’s DJ Flipside, Mixin Marc, Dante the Don and Gus Karas supplying hip-hop to mash-ups to progressive house. Then of course there’s the Playboy angle, if you’re flush, with VIP access to the bunny lounge and its ten playmates to keep you distracted while you gamble and drink the night away in style. 9pm, $175-$225. VIP packs if desired.

VLive has DJs Gordo, Catrachoman, Lenny and Lara keeping it electro, hip-hop, Latin and clubby. 10pm, $30.

Hearts has two of its most popular DJs – De La Chappelle and Horacio Pann – behind the decks tonight for its first ever NYE Party spinning heavy house. Bubbly is endless, with open bar until 1am. 9pm, $125.

Rodan ‘Yours Truly New Year’s Eve’ features Aay Preston-Myint (from Chances Dances), with Joe Proulx (of Danny’s Smiths Night) and Alex Valentine for a night of rock and dance under the collective tag Yours Truly. 9.30pm, FREE.

Red Dog has Just Joey of Boom Boom Room plus some of the city’s biggest house talent for DJ sets including Paul Johnson, Gene Farris, Psycho Bitch, Teri Bristol and Lego. 9pm, $25.

Subterranean stages Reggae Uprising with DJ Papa G spinning dancehall, roots, reggae and bhangra. 9pm, $10, before midnight $5. 

Hard Rock Café has house with DJ sets from Mixin Marc, Alex Peace, DJ Torio, LD and Daniel J, with Boom Boom Room drummer extraordinaire Bam Bam Buddha providing his exciting live percussion. 9pm, $40.

Phew, what a selection!

Happy New Year from Everyone at Chicago Nightlife Guide and we sincerely hope you all have a dancefloor-banging, bubbly time!

Related posts:

1. Chicago Parties For All On NYE 2011!
2. Glow Paint, Nu Jazz, Dirty Dutch & Psychotic Explorations…You Guessed It, It’s Party Time Chicago Style Once More!
3. It’s Halloween Hell Chicago Style!

Thursday, August 12th

It’s Crème de la Femme at The Shrine, with a new weekly “ladies free all night” Thursday special. Starts at 10pm, with DJ Fathom mixing up the beats with neo soul, hip-hop, and sassy grooves. $5 will get the gents in to the south Wasbah Avenue venue.
http://www.theshrinechicago.com

Thursday night fever continues at Berlin with Stardust, courtesy of Scott Cramer and his clubland buddies of the now, and not so now. The Stardust team are joined at the decks by Acid Kidz (an electro/techno trio from Germany), and Broken Disco 1980 providing the opening salvo of sound. This is another new weekly venture, and for $5 to enter, sounds like another good reason to go out on Thursdays! Starts 10pm, west Belmont Avenue. http://www.berlinchicago.com/

Friday, August 13th

Two giants of clubland are on the same bill at Spy Bar tonight – Damian Lazarus, and Martin Landsky. Lazarus, from the UK, is known for his innovative techno, while Landsky keeps the pulse steady between house and tech. The two together equates to nothing except the best dance you can buy. $20 gets you into north Franklin Street, or $10 in advance from clubtix.net. 10pm start. http://www.spybarchicago.com

Over at Darkroom from 9pm they’re celebrating three years of existence with the Rude One who hosts The Goodness, a rap ‘n’ decks combo featuring the best of the new wave of high-end hip-hop with J-Zone, RTC of Rubyhornet.com, Pumpin’ Pete and Rude himself. $5 entry in west Chicago Avenue. http://www.darkroombar.com

If you like it “hard”, you need to be over at the HARD Summer Music Festival as festie fever continues at Congress Theater with a long-nighter featuring electro punk duo Crystal Castles. HARD celebrates all things electro, techno, heavy house, and dubstep with masses of bass, and a lively mix of bands and DJs. Also on the bill is Rusko, Sinden, the Twelves, Alex Zelenka, and festival promoter Gary Richards as Destructo. Congress Theater is in north Milwaukee Avenue. Tickets are $30, and you can be 17 and still get in. http://www.congresschicago.com/HomeComing.asp

A new Friday club event is kicking off tonight at Smart Bar courtesy of Kid Color. Palette is its name (in honor of the said Kid), and will be showcasing the latest trends in leftfield dance sounds. In Flagranti headline with their duo-based disco, dub, cosmic, and prog rock. Matt Roan is also doing his disco stuff, with Sparkletone and Kid Color providing their own swathes of audio colour. $12, or $10 before midnight, north Clark Street. From 10pm.  http://www.smartbarchicago.com/

Saturday, August 14th

The lovely Dani Deahl, Chicago’s very own electro babe, follows up her Lollapalooza appearance with this night of exotic Asian sultriness at Lumen. Decked appropriately with paper lanterns, Lumen’s waitresses will be playing Geisha-girls, while a Chinese dragon adds a touch of eastern glam in what sounds like an intimate, and sensual evening. But it won’t be the sounds of Asia filling the air with Deahl and Matt Roan behind the decks keeping the pulses racing with their electro-house. E-Six of the Crossfader Kings joins in the medley. 10pm start. The Lumen is at west Fulton Market. $20 on the door, or free all night with RSVP from dani@danideahl.com. http://www.lumen-chicago.com/

From Asia to Jamaica in Asia. Eh?

At the always heaving Rodan it’s Wayne Montana, and he’ll be laying down some reggae-dub at this Asian-themed venue (inspired by the Japanese cult movie sci-fi monster!) It’s a little bit different from your other choices in clubland – but no less fun and rewarding. It’s free too, and an earlier start from 8pm, north Milwaukee Avenue. http://www.rodan.ws

And then, to round off the weekend, it’s that foam paaaarty! we mentioned earlier.

Sunday, August 15th

Things start getting soapy at the Green Dolphin Street club from 3pm when a combination of 10 DJs and walls of foam six feet high will make this fun-filled event a welcome return of the foam bash to Chicago’s clubland itinerary. At this particular Car Wash are DJ Funk, Na Palm, Psycho Bitch, Dino G, Uncle Milty, Just Joey, and John Curley among others, spinning B-More, juke, house, techno and electro. So, if you’re heading to north Ashland Avenue you know what not to wear! You have been advised.
http://jazzitup.com/

Related posts:

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3. Mash-Up Mayhem & Downtempo Dream States: It’s Dance Music To Mesmerize In Chi

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 10:00pm

This Tuesday Lumen presents a 3rd Annual Lingerie Party. This is the party where all the ladies can feel free to wear their sexiest lingerie. If you are up for a party or would like to be around beautiful people and hang out, this is the place to go. Two great DJ’s – Jordan V & Kalendar will be playing along with DJ Chris B & DJ K.O.. Lumen is very unique lounge, it stands out for its urban contemporaty interior design, which attracts hip and urban crowd.

Lumen

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Friday, May 1, 2009

Lumen presents DJ MegaMan who is all the way from the Las Vegas. This 13 year veteran DJ, whom is also a song writer and producer has the talent to please the pickiest crowds of Vegas. In 2008 he was on his tour which is called ” Rock The World Tour 2008″, where he was very succesful and visited 15 cities in United States. Lumen is a well known contemporary nightlife venue, which has state of the art music and lighting blending. So come down to Lumen and enjoy the great music and the great crowd this Friday.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Lumen presents yet another very successful Industry Tuesday event. This Tuesday two special guest DJ’s John Curley and Greg Bauer will be performing along with Lumen resident Just Joey. These three locals will know how to please their hometown crowds. Lumen is a well known contemporary nightlife venue, which has state of the art music and lighting blending. Cap-off your Tuesday night at Lumen !

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Friday, April 3, 2009

Lumen presents  DJ Enferno a very talented and succesful DJ and remix producer. He recently finished the Sticky Sweet Tour with Madonna. During the tour he assisted in remix productions for her shows and helped make the Sticky and Sweet Tour the highest-grossing tour of the year. In 2003 Enferno advanced to 3  national DJ championships in which he had done the impossible, win in New York City, something that no other DC-area DJ has done before. Lumen is a well known contemporary nightlife venue, which has state of the art music and lighting blending. So come down to Lumen and enjoy the great music and the great crowd.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Lumen presents yet another  kick off of the spring season with a brand new Wednesday addition called Burn Out Wednesdays. This Wednesday two special guests are going to be spinning live at Lumen, and they are Willy Joy and Team Bayside High. Willy Joy puts up a show every time, his mad skills with the effects are very distinctive. Lumen is a well known contemporary nightlife venue, which has state of the art music and lighting blending. So come down to Lumen and enjoy the great music and the great crowd.

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Tuesday, March 30, 2009

Lumen presents a kick off of the spring season with a new addition called Industry Tuesdays. This is their second week doing this and so far it was a success. This Tuesday two special guest Uncle Milty and Mark Grant will be performing at Lumen. These two locals will know how to please their hometown crowds. Lumen is a well known contemporary nightlife venue, which has state of the art music and lighting blending. Cap-off your Tuesday night at Lumen !

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