Top 10 music venues
With hundreds of places to find live music it’s more than likely you’ll find something exactly your vibe.
Start by checking out the last tour your favorite artist did & the venues they played. You can also start with this list of top 10 (for me at least) venues. Or, use this map, carefully curated over almost 8 years by this music lover to see what’s close to you !
1. Mercury Lounge (East Village / LES)
Capacity: ~250
Vibe: Low ceilings, sweat, beer, and early-2000s indie mythology. In a post-CBGB New York this is its beating heart. Just don’t expect to know many of the acts playing there (yet)
Best Bit: The history, the grubbiness and the realness. Read or watch Meet Me in the Bathroom and you’ll get it.
Top Tip: Don’t overthink who’s playing - pick a random gig and go. Odds are the band will be at the bar doing shots with you after their set.
2. Music Hall of Williamsburg (Williamsburg)
Capacity: ~650
Vibe: Small, intimate and fun. You’ll feel like one big family. Big artists love playing shows for their mates here.
Best Bit: Immaculate acoustics + a surprisingly massive downstairs bar you won’t need to queue for. Plus the big acts who play small shows here for the love of it.
Top Tip: Don’t rush upstairs, you can hang in the bar until the last minute and still get a great view with minimal pushing.
3. Under the K Bridge (Greenpoint)
Capacity: ~2,000+
Vibe: It’ll feel like a rave under a bridge, which it basically is. CBGB chose it as the place to resurrect their legendary name for a new festival, so you know it’s good. Where a lot of big local bands/acts are choosing to play.
Best Bit: Feels like an underground rave but with all the mod-cons of an excellent live music venue. Incredible sound and some of the best food/drink setups of any NYC venue. Make sure to catch Four Tet’s annual mini-festival here.
Top Tip: Get there early and hang out - the bars and food are great and there’s great places to chill. The merch here is always great too.
4. Bowery Ballroom (Lower East Side)
Capacity: ~575
Vibe: Maybe the best layout of any on this list and great sound system. Pretty big indie acts will play here.
Best Bit: The best sound system in NYC at this size + the perfect upstairs/downstairs flow.
Top Tip: If you want to be right at the front, go upstairs early; the stairs drop you directly beside the pit.
5. Brooklyn Steel (East Williamsburg)
Capacity: ~1,800
Vibe: Most people I know would probably put this #1. They’re wrong (the layout isn’t the best unless you’re willing to get there early and stick around close to the stage for ages, and the vibe can be a bit wanky at times), but it’s a very cool place and the hit ratio of good gigs is probably the highest of any NY venue.
Best Bit: Industrial warehouse energy with impeccable sound and an intimate feel. You’ll see bands you love up close without having to try too hard to find tickets.
Top Tip: Go left when you enter. Work your way around from the bar at the back round the left side. And don’t - under any circumstances - get yourself stuck behind the mixer at the back.
6. Elsewhere (Bushwick)
Capacity: ~1,000 across several rooms
Vibe: Loads of different rooms but the rooftop is best. A place you can come for a gig then stay till 4am with whoever’s DJing in the other rooms.
Best Bit: A multi-room utopia of indie/electronic crossover shows
Top Tip: You won’t get a gig with better views than the rooftop
7. Knockdown Center (Maspeth)
Capacity: 3,000+ depending on configuration. Most gigs it’s smaller, feels a bit smaller than Brooklyn Steel.
Vibe: Equally suitable for big dance nights and indie icons, you’ll find anything here.
Best Bit: Monumental industrial architecture + immersive, experimental bookings. Great for heavy electronica, art-leaning rock, and full-festival builds.
Top Tip: It’s a long narrow room that can be hard to find a good spot in. There’s a big bar hidden on the far side of the main room, so get through the crowd and park yourself around there.
8. Brooklyn Paramount (Downtown Brooklyn)
Capacity: ~2,700
Vibe: Honestly I haven’t been here yet (it’s pretty new), but gets a lot of great bands and friends say it’s great.
Best Bit: A newly restored, utterly beautiful old movie palace that has suddenly become a hotspot for top-tier bookings.
Top Tip: It can be a bit of a trek to get there — plan your route, especially late-night.
9. Forest Hills Stadium (Queens)
Capacity: ~13,000
Vibe: OK this one’s controversial. Many would have it in top spot and in the summer it’ll have most of the best gigs. Personally I find it hard to find a good spot in, and the sound is underwhelming due to a long-running dispute with the locals, plus it’s in the middle of nowhere. But it’ll be one of the coolest places you ever watch live music.
Best Bit: One of the most beautiful open-air venues in the world, with Beatles/Rolling Stones history and great modern bookings.
Top Tip: If GA grants full bowl access, get there early - the floor is first come first served and fills quickly (you’ll get a wristband to go in and out for food/drink). And avoid the central plaza: drink lines are far shorter round the right-hand side of the stadium bowl.
10. Madison Square Garden (Midtown)
Capacity: ~20,000
Vibe: Ok a bit less indie than everything else here and the venue itself is pretty forgettable, but you obviously need to go to the Garden while you’re here.
Best Bit: The energy of a classic “I’m playing the Garden” performance. New York artists in particular raise their game here.
Top Tip: You can actually get a decent view / sounds from the 300s section (which overhangs the 200s) so no need to blow your paycheck on floor seats.
Honourable Mentions
Check the listings here for some great new music!
Terminal 5 — great venue, should be on the top 10 really. LHS bannister has best view
Racket — small and fun
Webster Hall — old school and iconic
Irving Plaza — I always mix up this and Webster Hall, they may be the same place.
Barclays Center — big arena, like MSG but less history. It’s fine.
Rough Trade — gets some pretty big acts in their backroom
Warsaw — Punk music in a Polish community hall. Bring cash and try the pierogis
Baby’s All Right - tiny but great fun and good bar too
Radio City Music Hall — very cool place to watch music if you’re ok to sit down the whole time
Citi Field — home of the Mets, awesome place to see a bigger act
MetLife Stadium — it’s actually a pretty great venue once you’re in but a nightmare to get to and don’t even try to get an Uber home, you’ll be there until the next time the Jets/Giants lose there.
Kings Theatre - really cool venue just quite hard to get to. Try to get in the pit part
Sonny’s bar - not a music venue per se, but the best bar in NY and always seems to have a strange local playing the flute / bells / glass rubbing or something
Brooklyn Monarch — basically the only place to see Drum n Bass in the city so had to include it
Looking for something else?
Here are a few more picks from different genres worth a mention!
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You can’t go too far wrong with places like Mirage, Navy Yard, Storehouse, Elsewhere, Basement (if they let you in), Good Room, KDC, 99 Scott, House of Yes, K Bridge, Nowadays, Silo, Lot Radio
But go to r/avesNYC on Reddit they’ll have way better picks than me
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Village Vanguard — the most famous small jazz room in the world
Blue Note — some big names, great (but tiny) room
Birdland — classic Jazz club
Dizzy’s
Smoke Jazz Club
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honestly I won’t even try. Look up where your fav artist last played and start there.
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Lincoln Center has most of the good stuff across a few venues. Plus Carnegie Hall. If you’re not an aficionado just go to the Nutcracker in December, the Christmas tree alone is worth it.
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