Country Music, BBQ & Five Wild Days: Windy City Smokeout Takes Over Chicago
For 13 years, Windy City Smokeout has found a way to combine two things that feel completely at home during a Chicago summer: live country music and barbecue. In 2026, they decided four days simply weren't enough. The 13th annual Windy City Smokeout took over the parking lots outside Chicago's United Center from July 8–12, expanding into a massive five-day festival for the first time. What followed was a marathon featuring everyone from country's fastest-rising newcomers to established radio stars and artists who have been filling arenas for decades.
All Photos By: Aaron R. Shriver PhotographyAs always, Smokeout isn't your traditional sprawling, grass-covered country festival. Thousands of fans are packed tightly onto the asphalt surrounding the United Center, and the layout comes with familiar complaints, most notably limited shade and difficult sightlines when the grounds get crowded. But there's also something about the controlled chaos that makes Smokeout feel uniquely Chicago. The smell of brisket hangs in the air. Friends meet over barbecue and cold drinks before squeezing toward the stage. By sunset, the parking lot has transformed into one enormous country party in the shadow of the United Center.
Click The Images Below For The Full Photo GalleryWEDNESDAY
STERLING ELZA
Sterling Elza had the distinction of helping launch the first Wednesday in Windy City Smokeout history. Opening a five-day festival isn't a small assignment, and Elza helped welcome the early-arriving Chicago crowd while setting the stage for everything still to come.
BRAXTON KEITH
Braxton Keith brought a dose of unapologetically traditional country music to opening night. His Texas roots and throwback sound have helped separate him from many of country's newest artists, and Smokeout felt like exactly the right environment for it.
TREATY OAK REVIVAL
Treaty Oak Revival officially put an exclamation point on Smokeout's first-ever Wednesday night.
The Texas band's blend of country, Southern rock, and alternative influences has created a passionate following, and that energy translated perfectly to Chicago. If organizers wondered whether fans would show up for a fifth night of Smokeout, Treaty Oak Revival and their crowd provided the answer.
THURSDAY
KARLEY SCOTT COLLINS
Karley Scott Collins helped get Thursday moving with her combination of country songwriting and rock-influenced attitude. She's part of a generation of artists increasingly willing to push against the traditional boundaries of country music, making her an interesting addition to an already varied lineup.
NOELINE HOFMANN
Canadian singer-songwriter Noeline Hofmann brought one of the day's more traditional and authentic approaches to country music. Her storytelling and Western influences provided a change of pace from some of the larger productions that would follow later in the evening.
GHOST HOUNDS
Ghost Hounds brought some blues and rock muscle into the Smokeout lineup. Their guitar-heavy sound offered a reminder that the festival has never been afraid to stretch beyond mainstream country radio.
SCOTTY MCCREERY
Scotty McCreery arrived in Chicago with a catalog that has grown considerably since America first met him as a teenager on American Idol. Now firmly established as one of country's most recognizable traditional voices, McCreery delivered a set filled with the kind of songs that seem made for a summer country festival. There was also a special crossover moment when Scotty McCreery joined Hootie & The Blowfish to perform McCreery's “Bottle Rockets,” connecting two generations of country and roots-influenced music on the same stage.
HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH
Thursday night belonged to a band whose songs have been part of American music for more than three decades. Hootie & The Blowfish brought a catalog filled with instantly recognizable hits to the Smokeout stage, with Darius Rucker and company providing one of the weekend's biggest doses of nostalgia.
Unfortunately, Chicago summer weather had other plans. An incoming storm forced Hootie's set to be shortened, putting an abrupt ending on a performance many fans would've gladly watched continue much longer. At an outdoor festival, sometimes Mother Nature gets the final song.
FRIDAY
CHANDLER WALTERS
Chandler Walters was part of an impressive Friday lineup filled with artists who represent country's future. Smokeout has developed a reputation for booking rising talent before they become household names, and Walters was another artist worth catching early.
MACKENZIE CARPENTER
Mackenzie Carpenter brought clever songwriting and personality to Friday's festivities. Her ability to blend humor, honesty and modern country made her an easy fit for a Smokeout crowd ready to spend an entire day singing along.
VINCENT MASON
Vincent Mason continued his rapid rise with a Friday appearance in Chicago. His relatable songwriting and modern-country sound connected with a crowd that clearly included plenty of fans already familiar with what he's been building.
HUDSON WESTBROOK
Few young country artists have generated momentum as quickly as Hudson Westbrook. His Smokeout performance felt like another step in that climb, with a growing audience showing that the Texas singer isn't going to be playing early festival slots forever.
LAINEY WILSON
Then Lainey Wilson walked out in front of a massive Friday night crowd and showed why she's become one of country music's defining stars. Wilson's rise has been incredible to watch, but at this point, she's no longer the next big thing. She's simply one of the biggest things in country music.
The combination of her unmistakable Louisiana personality, powerhouse voice, and increasingly deep catalog made her Friday headlining performance feel like an event. Thousands packed themselves into the United Center parking lot to see an artist who has gone from grinding through years of Nashville uncertainty to commanding some of the largest crowds in the genre. Friday night belonged to Lainey.
SATURDAY
ALEXIS WILKINS
Alexis Wilkins kicked off Saturday at Windy City Smokeout, bringing her traditional-country sound to the early Chicago crowd. She set the tone for another packed day of music and gave fans a reason to arrive early.
BLAKE WHITEN
Blake Whiten kicked another stacked day into gear and represented the developing talent that makes arriving early at Smokeout worthwhile. Festivals like this can provide young artists with thousands of potential new fans in a single afternoon, and Whiten made the most of that opportunity.
TYLER HUBBARD
Tyler Hubbard brought one of modern country's most recognizable collections of songs to Chicago.
His years as one-half of Florida Georgia Line helped define an entire era of country radio, but Hubbard has successfully established his own identity as a solo artist. His Smokeout appearance gave fans the best of both worlds, a chance to celebrate the past while seeing where his career is headed next.
RUSSELL DICKERSON
Russell Dickerson knows how to work a festival crowd. His seemingly endless energy and collection of radio hits made his Saturday set feel like a party from beginning to end. Dickerson doesn't simply stand onstage and sing his songs; he makes it his mission to ensure everyone in front of him is involved.
AD/HD — JESSE FRASURE & ASHLEY GORLEY
One of Saturday's most interesting performances didn't come from a traditional band at all. Nashville hitmakers Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley have joined forces behind the decks as AD/HD, billed as country's only hit-songwriter DJ duo. Collectively, the pair have been responsible for writing more than 100 No. 1 country songs, an almost absurd résumé when you stop and think about it.
Their DJ set essentially became a live tour through the biggest songs in modern country radio. There's something surreal about watching thousands of fans dance to hit after hit while knowing the guys controlling the party actually helped write many of them. In a festival filled with traditional live performances, AD/HD provided something genuinely different.
JORDAN DAVIS
Jordan Davis stepped into Saturday's headlining position as an artist whose career has steadily grown from country-radio newcomer to legitimate arena-level star.
Davis has built his success around songs that connect with everyday life—relationships, family, growing older and appreciating what matters. Under the Chicago night sky, those songs turned into massive singalongs as another packed Smokeout crowd closed out Saturday. Four days down. Somehow, there was still another one to go.
SUNDAY
TYLER NANCE
By Sunday afternoon, surviving Windy City Smokeout had become an endurance sport, but Tyler Nance helped get Day Five moving. His appearance offered another chance to see a developing country artist on a festival filled with some of the genre's biggest names.
CARTER FAITH
Carter Faith brought her distinctive voice and thoughtful songwriting to the final day. Her blend of traditional influences and modern perspective made for one of Sunday's more understated performances before the evening's bigger productions arrived.
GEORGE BIRGE
George Birge brought a combination of songwriting experience and his own growing collection of hits to Smokeout. After spending years working behind the scenes and writing for other artists, Birge's emergence as a successful performer himself has made his career particularly interesting to follow.
WARREN ZEIDERS
Warren Zeiders turned the intensity up as Sunday moved toward its finale.
His gritty voice and combination of country and rock have helped him build a massive audience in a relatively short amount of time. The raw edge of his music worked particularly well in a festival environment, setting the table for one final Smokeout headliner.
BLAKE SHELTON
Five days of music came down to Blake Shelton. There aren't many artists better equipped to close a country festival. Shelton arrived with more than two decades of hits, an instantly recognizable voice, and the kind of personality that has made him one of country music's most recognizable figures far beyond Nashville.
By Sunday night, fans had endured five days of Chicago summer weather, asphalt, barbecue smoke, crowded walkways, and hours upon hours of live music. Yet when Shelton took the stage, the festival found one more burst of energy. His catalog provided something for nearly every generation of country fan in attendance. Older songs reminded longtime listeners just how deep Shelton's career goes, while years of radio success gave the crowd one singalong after another.
It was exactly what a festival-closing performance should be. Blake Shelton didn't just close Sunday night. He put the finishing touches on the biggest Windy City Smokeout yet.
THE OTHER HEADLINER: BARBECUE
You could remove every musical act from Windy City Smokeout and still have a pretty impressive food festival. That's what continues to separate Smokeout from almost every other country festival. The 2026 event brought together a huge collection of elite pitmasters and barbecue joints from across the country alongside local craft breweries. More than 20 featured pitmasters and nearly 30 barbecue participants, when counting the broader lineup, turned the United Center parking lots into a tour of American barbecue without ever leaving Chicago.
Brisket, ribs, and other championship-caliber smoked meats came from regional favorites, competition winners, Texas pitmasters, Midwest standouts, and Chicago's own barbecue scene, and Smokeout continued expanding what its food program could be. The festival debuted its Beyond the Pit dinner series, giving barbecue an even bigger spotlight beyond traditional festival service. A Friday happy hour and Sunday's bottomless BBQ brunch provided even more ways to experience the culinary side of the weekend. At most music festivals, food is something you grab because you're hungry. At Windy City Smokeout, people arrive with a list of pitmasters they want to try. That's an important distinction.
FIVE DAYS, ONE MASSIVE CHICAGO COUNTRY PARTY
Windy City Smokeout has grown tremendously over its 13 years, and expanding to five days represented another major step. Was it perfect? No. Packing that many people onto the asphalt surrounding the United Center continues to present challenges. Shade can be difficult to find during the hottest parts of the day, and sightlines become increasingly challenging as the larger evening crowds fill the grounds.
Those are legitimate issues that shouldn't be ignored as the festival continues to grow, but Windy City Smokeout also has something that is difficult to manufacture: an identity. This isn't just another country festival where the same touring lineup rolls into a giant field. It feels like Chicago. It's loud. It's crowded. It's hot. There's smoke hanging in the air, skyscrapers in the distance, and the United Center looming over the grounds. You're eating barbecue from some of the best pitmasters in America while a future country star is playing a stage a few hundred feet away.
Then the sun disappears, the crowd gets tighter, and someone like Lainey Wilson, Jordan Davis, or Blake Shelton walks onto the stage. Over five days, Smokeout gave Chicago everything from Sterling Elza and Tyler Nance to Hootie & The Blowfish and Blake Shelton. It gave rising artists like Hudson Westbrook, Vincent Mason and Carter Faith an opportunity to share the weekend with established stars. It even let two of Nashville's most successful songwriters turn more than 100 No. 1 hits into a giant DJ party.
There was also one thing nobody could control: Chicago weather. Hootie & The Blowfish unfortunately learned that lesson when an approaching storm shortened Thursday's performance, but even that became part of the story of Windy City Smokeout 2026. Five days. Dozens of artists. Some of the best barbecue in America, and thousands of country fans packed into one parking lot in Chicago. Thirteen years in, Windy City Smokeout isn't just surviving; it keeps finding ways to get bigger, and after its first five-day edition, the question becomes: How much bigger can this thing get?
