Big Friday Night Shows For Rialto, Forge

JOLIET, IL — Thousands of people will be crossing the Des Plaines River on Friday night because Joliet's downtown will be the hotbed for live entertainment. First, the Rialto begins its 2020 run with famous magician/illusionist/prankster Michael Carbonaro. The Carbonaro show will be a sellout or near sellout.

"A trickster at heart, Michael performs inventive tricks on unsuspecting members of the public who are unaware that he is a magician. Jaws drop when he causes a car to disappear from under a security guard’s nose or makes alien crabs transform into kittens in a science lab," Rialto's marketing release states.

As of Monday,the Rialto had already sold more than 1,800 tickets heading into this week. Maximum seating capacity is 1,960. Rialto's executive director Val Devine told Patch that "The Carbonaro Effect" has a huge social media following, and she was thrilled to book a popular star to kick off the Rialto's 2020 campaign.

The Carbonaro Effect begins at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10.

Then, about two blocks away from the Rialto, The Forge will have close to a thousand people entering its indoor music venue at 22 W. Cass St. Downtown Joliet's busy night-time music venue landed Sleeping With Sirens, an alternative rock band with more than 3 million Facebook fans.

Joliet Patch wrote about The Forge's booking of Sleeping With Sirens in December. The band's 21-date North American tour just began and its concert at The Forge marks its second performance of the 2020 tour. Friday night's Forge show is already sold out.

If you have tickets for Sleeping With Sirens, The Forge will open at 6:30 p.m. and the all-ages show starts at 7 p.m.

One more thing: if you are still looking for an elegant place for dinner for Friday night's Rialto show, downtown Joliet's CUT 158 Chophouse announced Thursday on social media that it still has some open dinner tables available. Reservations would be good thing.

Last month, CUT 158 had to turn away more than 100 walk-up customers coming from the two Larry The Cable Guy shows at the Rialto.

CUT 158 Chophouse is located at 158 N. Chicago St. It's a block up the street from the Rialto.

(Joliet Patch article continues below.)

Oh, and another thing: Last month, Joliet Patch brought you an exclusive story about how the city of Joliet's new downtown parking lot directly across from the Rialto on North Chicago Street was becoming a mess. It was paved in 2019 on the heels of an incredibly wet summer causing the asphalt to bubble in several spots. However, city of Joliet public works crews recently made repairs to the asphalt, and the parking lot is now in much better condition.