Chicago is a brutal band to copy. You need a three-piece horn section that plays like one instrument, a guitarist who can get near Terry Kath's fire on 25 or 6 to 4, and a singer who can sit way up in Peter Cetera's register for two hours without his voice giving out by the encore. Then you need the other two singers, because Chicago never had just one. Most bands that try it get the hits and lose the horns. The nine below don't.
I've spent my life on the stage side of this. I sang in a BOSTON tribute, then toured with BOSTON itself, sang lead on a #1 single, and have run ProTributeBands since 2011. So I listen to these bands like a musician. Are the horn lines actually voiced like Pankow wrote them, or just "close"? Does the high harmony on Saturday in the Park hold? And does anybody in the band dare to play the long stuff off Chicago II?
Here's how the order works. No act on our roster plays Chicago, so nobody gets a free pass at #1. I weighed four things: how much each band really tours right now, the strength of its live footage, the musicianship, and reach, meaning how far its name travels beyond its home region. Most of the video below is fan footage on purpose. It shows how a band sounds on a normal night.
#1 - Leonid & Friends
Leonid & Friends doing 25 or 6 to 4 in Norwalk, Connecticut
Leonid & Friends is the best Chicago tribute band in the world right now, and it's the strangest success story in the whole tribute business. Leonid Vorobyev, a Moscow sound engineer and multi-instrumentalist, cut a home-studio version of Brand New Love Affair in 2014 and put it on YouTube. The videos went viral, the views ran into the millions, and the project turned into a touring band.
America noticed. They played their first US tour in 2019, and that July, at a show in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Chicago's original drummer Danny Seraphine got up and played with them. That's about as good a review as a Chicago tribute can get. They've come back to the States nearly every year since, and in 2026 they're out on the Make Me Smile Tour.
The touring band runs about 11 players from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, with real trumpet, trombone and sax. The clip above was shot by a fan in Norwalk and has passed 900,000 views. Watch the horns on the opening riff. They're tight enough to sound like a record.
They've also added Earth, Wind & Fire, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Tower of Power songs to the show, so expect a night of horn rock, not just Chicago.
Home base: Moscow. Tours the US most springs and falls. Plays theaters and performing arts centers.
#2 - Brass Transit
Brass Transit with the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra
Brass Transit is the symphony pick. This eight-piece Ontario band has shared the stage with the Dayton Philharmonic, the Edmonton Symphony and the Mississauga Symphony, and that last one counted five standing ovations in one night. Dayton's arts chief called it "among the best concerts we have ever presented with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra."
The setlist goes deep. Dialogue, Questions 67 & 68, I'm a Man and Another Rainy Day in New York City sit right next to Hard to Say I'm Sorry and You're the Inspiration. A band that plays Dialogue is a band that respects the early records.
They work both sides of the border. This month they're at the Flato Markham Theatre, Centre in the Square in Kitchener and three nights at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, New York, with a Michigan date in December.
Home base: Ontario, Canada. Plays theaters, casinos and symphony pops concerts.
#3 - Beginnings: A Celebration of the Music of Chicago
Beginnings in a full live showcase
Beginnings formed in 2002 in the New York City area, which makes it one of the older acts here. It's also one of the busiest on the East Coast. In the next few weeks they're at the Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount, Virginia, the Newton Performing Arts Center in North Carolina, the Nashua Center for the Arts in New Hampshire and the JPT Film and Event Center in Newport, Rhode Island. The Suffolk Theater on Long Island follows in January.
Their full showcase video has passed 400,000 views, which is a big number for an hour-plus concert. It's a horns-first band with stacked harmonies. If you're on the East Coast, start here.
Home base: New York City metro. Plays theaters and performing arts centers from New England to Florida.
#4 - Chicago Transit
Chicago Transit's promo reel
Chicago Transit bills itself as the first and longest-running Chicago tribute band in the world. The roots go back to Powerhouse, a Hamilton, Ontario horn band formed in 1985 to play '60s horn rock, soul and Motown. Trumpet player Carlo Di Battista steered it into a full Chicago show in the early '90s.
Three horns, a deep bench of lead singers, and decades of reps. Nobody here has played Chicago longer. You can hear the years in how relaxed they are on the hard tunes. They're steady on the Florida theater circuit in winter, with stops like the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce and Fort Myers, and they played the Palace Theatre in Greensburg, Pennsylvania this September.
Home base: Hamilton, Ontario. Tours Canada and the US; strong pick for theaters and retirement communities.
#5 - Chicago Rewired
Chicago Rewired doing 25 or 6 to 4
Chicago Rewired is an eight-piece out of Charlotte, North Carolina, playing since 2015. Drummer Mike Graci founded it after a five-year run playing percussion for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. He's averaged more than 100 shows a year for most of his adult life, and the band is built the way a working drummer would build it. Tight. Loud. On time.
Kerry Craig and David Miller share lead vocals, Miller on keys too. They work theaters, casinos, festivals and corporate events nationwide. The 25 or 6 to 4 clip above is the one to watch for the guitar solo. Kath's solo is the test for every band that plays this song, and plenty of them fail it.
Home base: Charlotte, North Carolina. Takes corporate and private events.
#6 - Chi-Town Transit Authority
Chi-Town Transit Authority doing Just You 'N' Me
Atlanta's Chi-Town Transit Authority is an eight-piece formed in 2017. It's the Southeast's go-to Chicago band. They carry four singers and three of them trade lead. That's the right call for this catalog, because Chicago itself split the lead between Lamm, Cetera and Kath.
Just You 'N' Me is a smart one to film. It's a ballad that falls apart without a real sax solo in the middle, and a fan filmed this one just a few months ago. One venue said drummer Tom Davis played "the best solo EVER in our building." They play performing arts centers across Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama and Florida.
Home base: Atlanta. Plays performing arts centers and theaters across the Southeast.
#7 - Transit Authority
Transit Authority live
Transit Authority is the Upper Midwest's Chicago band, an eight-man group out of St. Paul, Minnesota, playing since 2004. Drummer Tim Ellis started it because he wanted to put together a horn band, which is the most honest origin story on this list.
What sets them apart is the setlist. They lean hard on the first four records, the jazz-rock years, plus all the big hits. If your crowd knows the difference between Chicago Transit Authority and Chicago 17, this is your band. They're regulars at places like the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and small-city theaters across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Don't mix them up with the Duluth Transit Authority, a separate band.
Home base: St. Paul, Minnesota. Era: the early records first, the hits too.
#8 - Chicago Tribute Authority Texas
Chicago Tribute Authority Texas playing Make Me Smile
Chicago Tribute Authority Texas is the Dallas-Fort Worth band. It goes after the material most tributes skip. Their show includes Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon, the 13-minute suite from Chicago II that Make Me Smile and Colour My World came out of. Pulling that off live takes real horn charts and a band that rehearses.
Rod Hawkins and Benny Pendergrass split lead vocals and guitar, Bill Owens is on keys, and they carry a three-piece horn section. They play the Waco Hippodrome, Granbury Live and Main Street Crossing in Tomball, where they've got two shows on November 14.
Home base: Dallas-Fort Worth. Plays theaters, wineries and music halls across Texas.
#9 - Chicago Tribute Anthology
Chicago Tribute Anthology doing Beginnings, October 2025
It'd be wrong to rank Chicago tribute bands and leave out the city itself. Chicago Tribute Anthology is a group of Chicagoland players with backgrounds in concert bands, jazz ensembles and theater pits, and it shows in how clean the horn section reads.
They're a hometown festival staple: Rockin' in the Park in Rosemont this June and the Taste of Polonia tribute stage at the Copernicus Center over Labor Day weekend. The fan clip of Beginnings above was filmed just last fall.
Home base: Chicago area. Strong pick for festivals and Chicagoland events.
Tribute to Chicago, or a Band From Chicago?
People type "Chicago tribute band" two ways. Some want a band that plays Chicago's songs. Others want a tribute band that happens to be based in Chicago, playing anybody from the Eagles to the Grateful Dead. This page is the first kind. If you're after the second, every act on our roster travels, and Chicago is an easy flight.
There's a second choice worth making early: early Chicago or the hits. The first four records are horn rock with long jams and politics in the lyrics. The '80s run is power ballads. Transit Authority and Chicago Tribute Authority Texas lean early. Most of the others build the night around the hits and save 25 or 6 to 4 for the end.
Booking a Chicago Tribute for Your Event
Chicago's catalog is about as safe a bet as live music gets. The wedding crowd knows You're the Inspiration, the boomers know Saturday in the Park, and everyone knows 25 or 6 to 4. Just budget for the horns. An eight-piece band with three horn players costs more than a four-piece rock act, and it's worth it.
If you're hiring, start with our guide to how much tribute bands cost, then read how to choose the right tribute band for your event. Planning a company night? A horn band is a strong corporate event band, because nothing fills a dance floor like a brass section. Want horns with a different flavor? Our own Legacy and Groove plays Earth, Wind & Fire, and Major Dudes plays Steely Dan. Get in touch and we'll help you sort it out.
More horn-and-harmony reading: the best Earth, Wind & Fire tribute bands, the best Steely Dan tribute bands and the best classic rock tribute bands.