Stages

Stages was a large club that played a punk shows in the early 80s. The space still exists, now known as The Metro, and is one of the most famed music clubs in the country. Located at 3730 N. Clark, just north of Addison, at one point the building had three performance spaces. Stages (the upstairs area) played larger national acts, while the basement (called Waves) played more local stuff. Smart Bar was originally established on the fourth floor of the building in the late summer of 1982, as a performance space for visual arts and live music.

Waves closed at some point in late 1981 or early 1982--Coolest Retard #14 said in their June 1981 issue that Waves just closed down, yet there are a bunch of shows past that. Waves became a reggae club called Cool Runnings for a while, but Smart Bar was moved there by late 1982. In July 1982 Stages morphed into The Metro.

Address

 * 3730 N. Clark

Notable Shows

 * March 29-30, 1981 - Joan Jett (Waves)
 * May 9, 1981 - Subhumans
 * December 7, 1981 - Oingo Boingo
 * December 9, 1981 - Strike Under (Waves)
 * December 10, 1981 - Mission From Burma (Waves)
 * December 11, 1981 - U.S., Da (Waves)
 * December 12, 1981 - Black Flag, The Effigies
 * March 19, 1982 - UK Subs, Anti-Nowhere League, Effigies
 * June 4, 1982 - Circle Jerks
 * June 5, 1982 - Angelic Upstarts
 * June 22, 1982 - The Cramps