Finding a band on a given night
Live music around the northeast metro runs on a different rhythm than it does downtown. Rather than dedicated venues with a booked calendar months out, it's mostly bars and taprooms that host a few shows a month — which means the information lives scattered across individual Facebook pages, chalkboards and word of mouth. There's no single place that lists it, and by the time a show is announced it's often days away.
The listings below are what venues have told us they're running. It's the same data that drives the main site, filtered down to music.
What to expect
- Start times run late. A show listed at 8 often means the first set closer to 8:30. Worth knowing if you're planning dinner around it.
- Cover charges are usually modest or nothing at all at neighborhood bars, though a bigger touring act will sometimes carry a door price.
- Taprooms tend to run earlier than bars, sometimes wrapping up by nine, since many close earlier than a full bar would.
- Acoustic and duo sets are common on weeknights; full bands cluster on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Patios change everything in summer. A lot of venues move music outside from June through September, which usually means earlier start times and a hard stop for noise ordinances.