Teen Gothic

i'd really love to get into the scene in person! what are some good places around here to check out a goth show or event?

Hi friends! Me, my partner, and two friends are planning to visit Chicago in April and I'd love for us to go clubbing one night of our trip!

We're planning to be there from Thursday night to Monday morning, so anything that's hosted on a Friday or a Saturday would be ideal.

My partner and I have been to two goth clubbing events in the past, so we have a tiny bit of experience in the scene. But the friends we're going with are virgins, albeit excited and open to anything!

So, what goth clubs still exist in Chicago? What would be your advice?

i really want to meet other goths but all these hangout spots i search for are either closed or 21+.
i hate being gen z, where so many cultures like goth and scene (ESPECIALLY SCENE) arent nearly as thriving because of tiktok imo, along with other reasons.
i remember a minor on pinterest saying "i wanna be goth sm but honestly i dont really like the music, can yall tell me how to be goth without liking the music plzz" i replied with
"if you dont like goth music, maybe you should find music you DO like. being goth isnt a fad, its not like changing your hair so you can sit with the other cool kids who put up their hair a certain way.. all subcultures are about being yourself. goth is who i truly am inside, if you dont feel the same, you sould search for something that makes you feel like your true self!
.. i just got called a "gatekeeper" and "invalid"

and,, i think that experience is everything wrong today. everyone is so obesessed with labels and trend chasing. they see a group of cool looking people and base their lives around it, even if its not their true selves. this is also why i feel goth to kids has been dumbed down to "white women wearing $ 100 fancy black dress and $ 86 shoes = goth, anything else is emo or punk" 🙁
and scene has it worse, because of the whole "scenecore" nonsense which- this subreddit probably isnt the place for me to rant about that..
but ya. why does it feel so hard on goth gen z? what are your thoughts about goth culture (and by extent emo and scene culture) in todays social media?

Whenever I go on a website like Omegle or discord or something like that and I try to talk to other goth dudes, 99% of the time their not goth but their always in the goth tags and stuff like that (and I’m not just assuming their not goth the’ll explicitly say their not ) I get like 1 or 2 ppl but why so many? Also why is it always dudes?