Rock and Roll Pig Roast at Ethyl’s Beer and Wine Dive | Photo gallery

It's late September here, marking the arrival of that unique season in Chicago between summer highs and sub-Arctic winter chills. These are the last few weeks to get your fill of grilling, cornhole and outdoor drinking before the freeze—and there was no shortage of all three at Chicago's first annual Rock and Roll Pig Roast at Ethyl's Beer and Wine Dive this Saturday.

With a name as awesome as "Rock and Roll Pig Roast," you'd expect some enterprising Chicagoan would have thrown something like this sooner. Not that our fair city is in any dire need of more pork-based cookouts or rock shows, that is, but combining the two just seems natural. Maybe that came across in how smoothly the event rolled out.

All-you-can-eat fare from Chef Ronald Murray included pork shoulder, three full roasted pigs, fried chicken, slaw, corn on the cob, four handcrafted BBQ sauces and a full Chicago-style hot dog cart—and there was no shortage of any of it. There was no shortage to good tunes, either, with Chicago stalwarts Mannequin Men and Chicago Stone Lightning Band rocking alongside up-and-comers like Elephant Gun and psych-rockers Secret Colours. The Record Low's reverb-drenched tunes crooned while Bully in the Graveyard picked energies up with fast-paced rock with a loud frontman. Not even a small medical issue that paused their set for 20 minutes could keep their spirits down, and despite that one hiccup, the event rolled on with gusto, handled professionally by all parties.

Rock and Roll and BBQ—the combination is really just obvious. Here's to next year's, and kudos to whoever had that "Duh!" moment a few months ago, realizing the one thing our city of pork and music enthusiasts lacked.