Rookies Sports Bar & Grill (Elgin)

My girlfriend and I decided to come out on Sunday to come support one of her former colleagues, Ian Leith and his band. We drove over an hour and a half to get there and even took the courtesy of emailing him ahead of time to let him know that we were coming to support him. Yes, Ian does technically owe us money over a business manner that is unrelated to his gig at this establishment, but our intention was not to show up and hound him for money. We were simply coming out to support him, and I made myself very clear of my intentions when I emailed him. Not only did he not let us know that he was not coming, but he even blew off the RESTAURANT completely by being a no-call/no show. Our best guess is that he assumed that we were going to make him pay us what he owes on the spot since he will be getting handed a check at the end, and figured that he would probably lose more money than he profits if he runs into us at his gig.

Despite what this band did to us, the management was more than kind and supportive, and even ended up comping our ENTIRE TAB--something they did not have to do, but did to apologize for the inconvenience, since we had driven all the way from Chicago to attend this show.

Ian is now going on social media and is announcing that he may end up blowing off his next gig at Rookie's other location in Huntley as well, while using "bad weather" as an excuse. I did not know that being a musician also qualified you as a meteorologist! Strange how he just assumes it is going to "rain" again next Sunday? And that out of all of the gigs he is playing at several other venues this month, that somehow this is the only one where it is "projected to rain" ?

I usually do not do this, but due to the awful experience myself and many others have had with this fellow, I honestly suggest that anyone reading this steer clear--his main loyalty is with Scratch Kitchen anyways--he is a full time performer and booker there where he has established a residency. I personally feel as if any restaurant owner/booker should perceive booking someone like him, who has established such a residency with a potential rival (another restaurant/venue), as a conflict of interest. There are plenty of agencies in Chicago such as ours, V's Integrations, United Talent, etc that will help serve as a liaison between the venue and the talent for this very reason. Hire an agency to handle your live music bookings always! Otherwise, unfortunately you will continue to run into this issue...