Chicago’s Lakeside Buskers Bring Free Summer Sounds to the City

When you wander down to the AIDS Garden in Lakeview on a warm August day, you might expect to see sculptures, community art, or a quiet spot to read. Instead, you’ll often hear the crackle of an amp, a guitar riff that feels both familiar and fresh, and the murmurs of a crowd gathering on the stone steps. That’s the scene Tanner Dane and his band Hollyy have been crafting all summer.

Back in the early 2000s, Dane’s teenage self, a lanky kid from Elgin, spent countless hours in a sweltering attic with his best‑friend‑turned‑bandmate, jamming until the neighbors knocked on the window. They started with covers—Motown classics, blues B‑sides, the kind of vinyl that your parents might have hidden away—but soon a unique blend of alt‑rock, soul, and gritty blues emerged. “We were just having a blast,” Dane laughs now, recalling the heat and the lack of air‑conditioning that never seemed to slow them down.

Those attic rehearsals led to a very DIY first record when Dane was only fourteen. The band, then called The Reverends, won free studio time in a battle‑of‑the‑bands contest, recorded a handful of tracks, and handed out CDs with hand‑written Sharpie labels to anyone who’d take one. It wasn’t a marketing campaign, but it was a statement: they loved playing, period.

Fast‑forward twenty‑something years, and the same love of playing drives Dane’s current venture. For the past 18 months, Hollyy—now a tighter, more seasoned lineup that still includes a few of those Elgin friends—has been setting up impromptu shows at the AIDS Garden. The gigs are announced just a day or two ahead on Instagram and TikTok, turning them into modern pop‑up concerts that feel both spontaneous and inevitable.

Each performance draws a surprisingly diverse crowd. Parents with toddlers, college students on summer break, even commuters who’ve hopped off a train from Indiana or Wisconsin linger to soak up the music. One recent evening, the stone steps were lined with picnic blankets that stretched the length of a city block, creating a patchwork of colors under the setting sun.

“I love Chicago,” 25‑year‑old Jade Hart shouted over the last chorus, grinning at the sea of faces around her. “I love the community.” It’s a sentiment that captures why these free shows feel so essential to the city’s summer rhythm.

Music runs in Dane’s blood. His older sister picked up drums when she was thirteen, and their mother, a piano‑playing vocalist, taught the siblings the basics before they could even read a sheet. Even Dane’s aunt, Jean Bednar, grew up in a household where a plumber‑father built a custom sound system for his favorite classical pieces and a radio‑loving mother sang on local airwaves. That lineage of home‑grown performance trickles down to the lakefront, where the band’s sound—still a mixture of bluesy grit and soulful melody—echoes the eclectic playlists that shaped them.

What started as a simple, “We’re literally just busking,” comment in an interview has blossomed into a beloved summer tradition. While the band isn’t chasing massive festival slots or record‑label contracts (yet), they’re reminded daily that the pure joy of playing for anyone who stops to listen is its own kind of success.

So, if you’re strolling through Lakeview this summer, keep an eye on the stone steps at the AIDS Garden. You might just catch Hollyy turning a quiet afternoon into a soundtrack of summer, reminding us all that sometimes the best concerts are the ones you didn’t plan to attend.