About a year and a half ago, clubs including Beat Kitchen, Reggie’s Rock Club and Subterranean adjusted their policies to allow 17-year-olds to check out live music. But not Chicago’s own Jam Productions, despite remaining a national frontrunner of independent concert promotions and facing off against corporate behemoths. Jam’s concerts at institutions like the Vic Theatre, Park West and Riviera Theatre are often open to all ages or 18 and older, but never 17 and up. TOC put the same question to the House of Blues in a May 2008 feature and, as a result, 17-and-up gigs are now commonplace there. Jam, however, declined to comment when asked to explain the policy.
In the meantime Savvy 17-year-olds will continue to employ the time-honored (if illegal) tradition of crafting fake IDs for Jam shows, or hit up the many 17-and-older venues.