That will be shut down probably by the time you’re reading this. But that’s a whole other band and a whole different all ages venue. After all these years of going to show I can honestly say that I have only seen one better show than that. The band did an encore and I knew that I had just seen the best show in my life. I didn’t even think that was possible and too this day I haven’t experience that again. My friend yelled out to me “it’s so hot in here my eye lids are sweating.” I realized that mine were too. I don’t know how my body was surviving all the heat. The guitar player ripped down a tile from the ceiling with his pointy guitar head. The band just kept tearing through song after song. He turned to me and said, “this is the best night of my life!” wow, it felt so good to be alive. The guitar player was swinging his guitar around so much that he sliced a kids face open. They put danger back into Rock n’ Roll that night (which is missing a lot these days but to me is a main part of rock). The kids went fucking crazy! I had never seen anything like it. They hit the stage and opened with Panasonic Youth, a new song. They finished and I made my way up to the front to see who I came to see, The Dillinger Escape Plan. Fucking awesome! The rest of the set was totally amazing. He wondered “what the fuck are you doing in the dirty ass Fireside Bowl bathroom when there are hundreds of bbq’s going down outside.” He then dedicated the next song to the fly. After one of the songs the singer talked about taking a piss and seeing a fly in the bathroom. The kids went wild! Everyone was dancing and going nuts. The next band was The Bronx, who totally fucking slayed everyone’s faces off. It was sold out and everywhere I looked someone was smoking a cigarette. It had to have been 100 degrees in there. What a fucking dickhead! By then the heat was starting to get to me. A kid right behind me was waving a big piece around until a bouncer came and kicked him out. They threw the broken pieces into the audience, who started smashing them even more.
At the end of their set they picked up two laptops, smashed them and talked about how technology was destroying music. Next up was Decahedron, who was so much better. Great name but what a shitty band! A pit had already started. SWEET! We got in and soon Planes Mistaken For Stars hit the stage. My friends’ mom let us borrow her credit card to get tickets online so we didn’t have to worry about it selling out. We arrived to the show and there was already a huge line. No booze or dope for the night but I didn’t even care, I was just happy to get the hell out of work. My two best friends picked me up and we headed straight for the Fireside. It was a long day of picking up dog and cat shit at the shelter. Several music artists have also released videos featuring footage from Fireside shows.April 15th, originally uploaded by rebecca ann rakstad. More famously, the 2006 movie The Break Up, with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, has several bowling scenes that were shot at the Fireside. The Fireside has experienced the silver screen, as several movies feature the alley, including Rapid Fire from 1992. This lead to a huge renovation in 2004, which resulted in a lot more modern amenities at the alley. The alley never closed, but it had to agree to a renewed commitment to putting bowling in a more central role. There were still a few nights of league and open bowling, but Fireside was thought of primarily as a venue to catch a show.Īround 2000, rumors swirled that it would have to be shut down as a result of various City of Chicago initiatives. Eventually, the bowling became less and less of a focus, and the music became the main feature. It was an extremely popular Chicago bowling destination until the 1990s when it began to feature live music. The building was actually an ice factory in its earliest days, and in the 1940s it was turned into a bowling alley by then owner Hank Sophie. It has been serving the Chicago bowling public for over 60 years, although it has gone through some significant changes during that time. This Chicago bowling center advertises itself as “An Original Chicago” alley, and there is plenty of truth to the claim.