Behind the Showcase: How We Booked Our First Amplified Chicago Show
Photo by Meriah Fearon
Meriah: Since I started Amplified Chicago in 2021, I have dreamed of promoting and hosting live shows. Playing shows in my own band over the years gave me the perspective as an artist of how difficult it can be to book and promote gigs. My longtime goal has been to create an Amplified Chicago promotional series where I can help support bands that I believe in. I put together a DIY show for our first issue magazine release party in 2024, but this year I wanted to book something bigger.
Molly: I have admired Meriah’s work with Amplified Chicago for a while now and was very excited when she approached me about her idea for the showcase. Seeing as though I have been working at Sleeping Village for about two years, I suggested that we try to book it there. I am currently one of their venue managers and have occasionally helped the lead talent buyer book local shows. I pitched Meriah’s idea to him and was happy to hear that he’d be down to work with us.
Meriah: We scheduled a meeting with Eric Henry, the venue talent buyer, to discuss my showcase idea and originally had a lineup set back in January of 2026. It had taken a while to find three bands with both a cohesive sound and availability to book the same day, so getting this solidified after weeks of back and forth of coordination was a huge relief.
Molly: I think what a lot of people don’t understand about the talent buying process is just how long and tedious it can be. There are so many outside factors that all have to align in order to make everyone happy. Not only do the bands have to fit together sonically, but their numbers have to be high enough to ensure a potential draw. Their schedules have to work with each other as well as the venue’s radius clause. Putting together a lineup is the fun part, but securing a date, coordinating schedules, & negotiating a deal that works for everyone is where things can start to get stressful. Being able to officially confirm a date has become one of the most relieving feelings. That’s how Meriah and I felt for about two weeks.
Meriah: As we got closer to the show and were ready to start making plans for promotion, our headliner had to drop out because of a last minute scheduling conflict. Our other scheduled acts were not able to make a new date work, so I had to start from scratch.
Molly: Shows get scratched or cancelled fairly often. It’s uncommon that an original lineup and desired date actually follow through on the first try. While there’s a bit of comfort in knowing that, it didn’t change the fact that we still felt a bit discouraged.
Meriah: At this point I was ready to give up and move on, but I decided to try again. I reached out to the bands Runner and Bobby, J.Y.N., and Rain Garden, all local acts who I am personally a fan of. After another round of back and forth communication for scheduling, we had secured a fully new lineup and new date with the venue. Once this was set, Molly and I met up for coffee to create a marketing plan for the months leading up to the show. We scheduled dates to film content, merch prep, postering plans and more. While we put a lot of effort into promotion, I was still scared of the possibility that we would have a small turnout.
Molly: While we knew the bands were promoting the show on their own social media accounts to their followers, Meriah and I wanted to try reaching out to a potential new audience. It took us a while to come up with enough original content ideas that would not only capture people's attention, but also give them an idea of what these artists sounded like. Meriah edited some clips that the bands provided us with, and we set aside days to film videos of our own. We even recruited a few of our friends to help us, which we were very grateful for. I had a lot of fun filming with them because everyone was able to pitch in with their own ideas and add their own humor. I think it’s clear to see how much fun we were having in these videos, which in my opinion, made them more entertaining. We put flyers up around the city, and shot merch photos on my digital camera. I was honestly impressed by our ability to curate multiple posts a week that spanned over the course of about two months. I think it’s safe to say our efforts paid off.
Meriah: Ticket sales were pretty slow at first. I'd text Molly every week asking for updates just to find that we sold one or two new tickets. Putting so much effort into booking and promotional work can be really nerve wracking, because you never really know how things will turn out until the night of the show. Thankfully our work did not go unnoticed, and we ended up selling over 200 tickets by the end.
Molly: I was scheduled as the venue manager at Sleeping Village for this showcase, and I can confidently say that this was one of my favorite lineups I have worked with. It’s refreshing to meet artists who are so grateful for the opportunity to share their music. I had a lot of fun with these bands and it made me happy to see their excitement when they realized how full the room was.
Meriah: The lineup of artists were so genuinely cool and kind. Getting to see them perform to a full room of people felt really fulfilling.
Molly: My favorite part about booking shows is the rewarding feeling I get when I see a room full of people having fun together. I believe that live music provides a unique sense of community that cannot be achieved any other way. I was so proud of myself and Meriah for being able to bring that many people together for something that was so important to us.
Meriah: I learned so much from this whole process and can not wait to book more in the future. If you are interested in playing an Amplified showcase send us your band info here!
Photos by Will Mclaughlin