Twin Peaks with NE-HI & 4 More Chicago Plans This Week

Your daily guide to what's popping in Chicago — Twin Peaks coming home to Thalia Hall, Mayfest taking over Lincoln Park, Sepultura saying goodbye at the Ramova, and one very strange way to play Wrigley Field.

By Raj Singh · Published May 14, 2026.

Cool overcast day in Chicago — 59F, no rain, the kind of weather that lets you commit to evening plans without checking the radar five times. By tomorrow we'll be in the 70s with a damp weekend coming in, so today and Friday are the windows. Five picks below: a Pilsen homecoming, the most ridiculous way to set foot on Wrigley Field, a Loop musical run, a neighborhood festival, and the final Sepultura show you'll get in this town.

THURSDAY, MAY 14

Twin Peaks with NE-HI @ Thalia Hall

Two homegrown Chicago indie bands sharing a stage in Pilsen — Twin Peaks playing the first of a two-night Thalia Hall run, with NE-HI opening. This is the kind of hometown bill that goes from sold-out concert to neighborhood reunion the moment the lights drop. Twin Peaks have been writing rowdy garage-rock for a Chicago basement crowd since they were teenagers — when they play this room, it's not a stop on a tour, it's a homecoming.

Thalia Hall's plaster ceiling and ornate balcony turn even loud shows into something cinematic — it's one of the few venues in town where the room itself is part of the experience. Walk a block east to Pilsen's stretch of 18th Street for tacos at Carnitas Uruapan (cash only, get the pastor). The neighborhood after 9pm has a slow hum you don't get north of the river.

Doors and 8PM showtime. Tonight is selling but not gone — Friday is also selling, different opener (Lifeguard, if you want both nights). 59F and overcast, no rain — light jacket walking back to the Pink Line at 18th.

Les Misérables @ Cadillac Palace Theatre

Cameron Mackintosh's restaged Les Misérables is back at the Cadillac Palace — the same Broadway in Chicago run that draws people from all over the Midwest. Whether you're seeing it for the first time or the fifth, this production trades the original revolving stage for projected backdrops based on Victor Hugo's own paintings, which fundamentally changes how the barricade scenes hit.

The Cadillac Palace is a gilded 1926 Loop landmark — get there early to actually look at the lobby, it's worth the extra fifteen minutes. Pair the show with dinner at Petterino's across the street (old-school theater district institution, the steak Diane is the move), or a quieter post-show drink at Cindy's rooftop in the Chicago Athletic Association, eight blocks east with a Millennium Park view that's never not worth it.

Curtain 7:30PM. Tickets vary widely by night and section. Transit-friendly — Lake and Randolph stops put you a block away. Indoor, so weather doesn't matter, but the walk from the L is short either way.

Upper Deck Golf @ Wrigley Field

Hit golf balls off the upper deck of Wrigley Field into the outfield. Yes, really. This is one of those events that sounds gimmicky until you're standing on the cement above home plate with a 9-iron in your hand, looking at the ivy from a vantage point reserved for ballplayers and the catwalk crew.

Sessions run morning through evening, and it's surprisingly walk-up friendly midweek if you didn't book ahead. Pair it with a slow lunch — skip the Wrigleyville bar crawl and walk south to Gather (broken-yolk breakfast pizza, neighborhood favorite), or head to Lakeview Pizzeria for tavern-cut squares. The neighborhood pre-3PM has a totally different texture than after the bars open.

9AM tee times onward. 59F and overcast — perfect golf weather, though the breeze off the lake makes the upper deck a few degrees cooler than the forecast suggests. Layer a hoodie. Red Line Addison drops you at the gate.

FRIDAY, MAY 15

Lincoln Park Mayfest @ Armitage & Sheffield

Lincoln Park Mayfest takes over Armitage between Sheffield and Halsted with three days of bands, beer tents, and the kind of neighborhood-festival sprawl Chicago is so good at. Friday's lineup leans into the after-work crowd — local acts on two stages, a beer garden, food vendors pulled from the DePaul-area kitchens. Mayfest has been running long enough to feel like a tradition without feeling commercialized.

The geography matters: you're a block from the Armitage Brown Line, three blocks from Oz Park, and walking distance to some of the best restaurants in the city. Eat at Summer House Santa Monica before (the cookies alone), or grab tacos from Big Star at the end of the night (cash for the walk-up window). Lincoln Park on a Friday evening is one of the easier nights to walk around in Chicago.

4PM start Friday, suggested donation at the gate. 76F and overcast, 17% chance of rain — bring a layer for sunset, you won't need an umbrella but Saturday will be a wash, so plan accordingly if you want to come back.

Sepultura — Final North American Tour @ Ramova Theatre

Sepultura is on their last North American tour, 40 years after they started in Belo Horizonte. If you have any history with thrash or Brazilian metal, this is not a show you wait to catch in another city — it's the last time. The room will know exactly what it's witnessing.

The fact that they're playing the Ramova adds a second layer: the 1929 Bridgeport movie palace sat dark for nearly forty years before reopening in 2023, and watching a band say goodbye in a venue that just got its second act is the kind of full-circle Chicago programming you can't fake. Bridgeport rewards the walk — eat at Pleasant House Pub for British pies and Indian curries (same kitchen, somehow it works), or do tacos and a beer at Maria's Packaged Goods on Morgan.

Doors 6:30PM. Halsted and 35th — Halsted bus runs late, Sox-35th Red Line is a 10-minute walk. 76F at doors, light rain possible — Ramova has covered queuing, you'll be fine.

More tomorrow. Stay outside while the weather still cooperates.