Mike Dunn opens Halloween weekend at Le Nocturne with the Chosen Few

The Chicago house veteran joins Wayne Williams and Alan King for a 10-to-4 Friday in Uptown, months after a fresh record on Nu Groove.

Some Chicago house nights are booked to sell drinks. Others are booked like a family reunion. Friday at Le Nocturne is the second kind: Mike Dunn plays the opening night of the Chosen Few DJs' Halloween weekend in Uptown, with a $1,000 costume contest on the line.

The particulars come from the event's own Eventbrite page. Friday, October 30, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., at Le Nocturne, 4810 N. Broadway. The lineup is Wayne Williams, Alan King, and Mike Dunn with Duke Shin. The promoters run it as two events. Saturday, October 31, is a separate day party led by Terry Hunter and Alan King, with its own costume prize, and Dunn isn't on it. If you want Dunn, Friday is your night. Resident Advisor's page for Le Nocturne lists the same Friday with Williams, Dunn and Shin.

None of this is new ground for Dunn. Resident Advisor's archive shows him on Le Nocturne's Halloween weekend in 2021, on "A Very House Music Halloween" bill with the Chosen Few DJs. RA also lists a free "House Music Is Love" day party at the club built around an extended Dunn set with Diz. He plays this room the way some people go back to the same corner barbershop: often, and on familiar terms.

What's kept him in the conversation this year is the records. Retailer listings put Dunn back on the New York label Nu Groove with a four-track 12-inch. The title cut, "Git'cha House On, Baby," is a late-'80s freestyle throwback, and "Don't Pay Me No Mind" rides a piano groove. That's a fitting home for an artist whose name is all over the original house era. Before that, DJ Mag reported that Dunn was relaunching Dance Mutha, the influential label he ran decades ago, with new tracks of his own on the slate.

He hasn't been sitting at home between releases, either. His 2026 calendar has taken him out of town under the "Chicago house music legend" banner. Seattle's Kremwerk booked him on July 3 for a Rabba's House night. Friday is the homecoming in the plainest sense: the hometown crowd, a club he knows, and a bill of peers who've been doing this as long as he has.

If you want Dunn, Friday is your night. Saturday belongs to Terry Hunter.

Le Nocturne has become a regular stop for that crowd, and RA's history for the club is a run of Chosen Few dates going back years. That includes a 2022 "Haus of Love" night and that 2021 Halloween edition. It's a late-night Friday club, so pace yourself: a 10-to-4 bill rewards anyone who arrives early for the warm-up and sticks around for the last hour, when the records get older and the room gets louder.

On Halloween weekend, the dress code is the costume. With a thousand dollars riding on it, expect some people to show up having clearly spent more on the outfit than the ticket. The rest of us can just show up for the music.

Get there before midnight, let the first DJs warm the floor, and save something for the last record. With this lineup, the last record is usually the one people talk about on the way home.

Sources: A Chosen Few DJs Halloween. 2 House Music Events w $1,000 Costume Contests - Eventbrite (eventbrite.com); Le Nocturne, Chicago - Upcoming Events (Resident Advisor) (ra.co); A Very House Music Halloween w Chosen Few DJs at Le Nocturne (2021) - RA (ra.co); A House Music is Love Day Party: Mike Dunn Extended DJ Set, Diz - RA (ra.co); HAUS of LOVE with the Chosen Few DJs at Le Nocturne (2022) - RA (ra.co); Mike Dunn - Git'cha House On, Baby (Global Groove) (globalgroove.co.uk); Mike Dunn - deejay.de (deejay.de); Mike Dunn relaunches influential Dance Mutha label after three decades - DJ Mag (djmag.com); Rabba's House: Mike Dunn - Kremwerk (kremwerk.com); Mike Dunn (musician) - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)