Despite the economy, new clubs are opening all the time, so we update this page on a regular basis. Apologies for the occasional typo, and the weird spacing in places - gremlins gone wild.
And a word about the subway directions here: if you’re relying on the subway to get you to a club and then home, it never hurts to check the NYC Transit website (make sure to check both the weekly travel advisory and the weekend summary), especially if you’re traveling on the weekend or after midnight. If you’re visiting New York, the weekly, $25 unlimited-ride subway card is your best buy: for the price of one cab ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn, you get unlimited rides on both the subway and bus for a full week.
9 Great Jones St. just east of Lafayette
under the excellent Acme New Orleans-style restaurant
B/D/6 to Broadway-Lafayette/Bleecker St.
Vastly underutilized downstairs space, formerly Acme Underground, no longer operated by the upstairs restaurant. Big stage with excellent sound; long, wide room with a few tables along the right side; cheap cover; small, expensive drinks (no draft beer). Musicians like playing here, but they hardly ever have good bands: it’s mostly wretched grunge/metal stuff, since the PA is powerful and the sound is loud. Every now and then they’ll have a good country music night. No Nazi factor to speak of, and if you’re hungry you can always go upstairs (brave souls should try Acme’s cajun martini: it’ll scorch your insides for hours afterward).
Ave. C and 7th St.
L to 1st Ave., walk south and east; F/J/M/Z to Delancey, walk north and east; or M14D bus which stops at 10th St. and Ave. C
This place just makes you want to laugh: their website lists events like “Jessica’s bachelorette party” (probably not open to the public – but who cares). A couple of years ago, it was one of the places where just about any band, no matter how bad or unpopular, could get a gig. And who wanted to play here, anyway: drinks were expensive (no draft beer), the sound sucked and there was always a throng of out-of-state yuppie puppies lined up at the door after the bands were finished, waiting to pay a cover to get in and listen to Eddie Money, Boston and Air Supply piped over the PA. From the looks of things, it doesn’t look like new ownership has changed things much: bands still play on the balcony facing the front door, the bar is still along the left wall, the sound is still loud and often frightfully bad, and drinks are expensive. And they really bumrush you out of there after the music is over and the yuppie puppies are lined up and panting at the door.
16 Beaver St., financial district
2/4/6/A/C/M/Z to Fulton St., walk south along either Broadway or William to Beaver
Although relatively little-known to the general public, this Arab cultural center is very popular with immigrants from every corner of the diaspora and fills up quickly: early arrival is highly recommended. They don’t have music every night, but when they do, it is outstanding, a mix of traditional sounds, jazz and even experimental stuff. They also host a wide variety of literary and dramatic events. Admission is cheap ($10 or $15, typically), considering what you get here, with a student discount available. You come off the elevator and immediately you’re in the space, which is set up like a small auditorium. Seating is not reserved. Beverages or light snacks are available in the office to the left as you walk in. The staff here are uncommonly professional and helpful. This is a great place to see groups or performers with a wide following in the Arab community who may be flying under the radar otherwise.
Orchard between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
Midsize music venue in the old Bar 11 space. You’d think that simply by default, it’d be an improvement on what used to be here, but no. High ceilings; you walk into the music room with a bar to the right and one in the front around the corner from the stage. The sound is lousy, and earsplitting: it’s by far the loudest venue in New York, as loud as the Continental used to be, maybe more. Drinks are expensive and the place is the LES’ trendoid hangout du jour. There was recently a flyer on the door advertising the owner’s twentieth anniversary of his New Jersey bar mitzvah, which pretty much says it all. The staff here are rude and obnoxious, and bands are treated with disdain. Most good acts won’t play here for obvious reasons.
Stanton between Orchard and Ludlow, south side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
There’s a small bar as you walk in, with the music room to your left and down the stairs. This place has the potential to be an excellent-sounding room but seldom is, more a fault of the sound personnel rather than their excellent system. This isn’t really a hangout (other than the adjacent bar which becomes a tourist trap on the weekends). Drinks are on the pricy side although they have shot-and-shitbeer specials, and the bartenders are nice. The Nazi factor depends on who’s working the door. They can get really nasty here. The quality of the acts who play here has taken a turn for the worse: sad, because this place had a regular rotation of solidly good New York bands when it first opened over ten years ago. Lately they’ve tried things along the lines of flip cup competitions and all-girl jello wrestling for the fratboy contingent, a good indication of how fucked up the neighborhood has become.
Artland
no website
609 Grand St. between Driggs and Roebling, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave., go down Bedford to Grand and hang a left, or J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk north on Havemeyer past the bus depot to Grand and hang a left.
This dingy little bar has occasional music, from jazz to acoustic acts to the occasional rock bands who play in the back of the club after they flip the pool table up on its side. The PA isn’t very powerful, but it’s a small space and the crowd surprisingly comes to listen, more often than not. This is a laid-back place where everything you can sit on looks like it was rescued from a dumpster. Drinks aren’t cheap (no draft beer), but the staff is nice.
Surf Ave and W 5th St., Coney Island
Any train to Stilwell Ave; the closest actual stop is W 8th on the F line. Walk away from the Cyclone, or if you’re getting off at W 8th, the aquarium
Free outdoor concerts are held here on Thursday nights in July and August, mostly nostalgia acts from the 50s to the 80s. The stage is huge and the sound projects well, so you can hang in the back and still hear ok. The place will be crawling with cops, so keep that bottle well-concealed: they have quotas to make. It’s free if you bring a blanket or stand on the lawn or along the side of the park, but they charge admission if you want to sit in the area where the chairs are. Be aware that bills that include more than one artist may give the opener or the supporting acts only a few minutes onstage, so it may not be worth coming out here if that’s who you want to see.
155 Bleecker at Thompson St.
A/B/D/C/E/F to W 4th St.
Actually not a bad place to hang out at, if you must kill time in this neighborhood. They have cheap beer and a surprisingly nice bar staff. The music is typically Bleecker St. lame, usually singer-songwriters doing covers on the stage to the right of the bar. The sound isn’t bad, but it doesn’t really make a difference, considering who’s playing.
W 3rd between MacDougal and Sullivan, downstairs
A/B/D/C/E/F to W 4th St.
This dingy Bleecker St.-style blue-collar tourist bar, formerly the Sun Mountain, closed its doors in May, 2008.
Balanza
no website
426 Lorimer St. at Ten Eyck, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L/G to Lorimer St. and walk south about 3 minutes, away from Pete’s Candy Store; J to Hewes St., walk two blocks along Broadway, left on Union, right on Ten Eyck, about a 7 minute walk.
This neighborhood Spanish bar has occasional rock bands on the small stage in the back. Drinks are surprisingly expensive (no draft beer), although the staff is nice. The sound is dodgy, but they don’t charge a cover and it’s a laid-back, old-school Williamsburg vibe.
Banjo Jim’s
Southeast corner of Ave. C and 9th St.
6/N/R to Union Square, you can catch the M14 crosstown bus if you want a shorter walk. Look for the M14D which goes down Ave. C. and stops a block north.
For better or for worse, this tiny little corner bar, formerly country outpost 9C has become the place in Manhattan to see acoustic music. They’ve removed the railing that used to enclose the space where the bands play, to the left as you walk in; the bar extends along the right and in front of you, with a couple of small couches in the right corner. Booking has gotten really good here lately, with country, jazz, oldtimey and even world music in addition to a usually good crop of songwriters, many of whom have fled the Living Room in disgust. Because it’s so small, this place should sound great, but frequently does not, since the bartenders and the bands do their own sound and some of them don’t have a clue (or, worse, leave the PA a mess for the next act). As a result, bands are virtually always running behind schedule, especially since the music starts so early, 7 PM or even earlier. Drinks are priced to the suburban contingent, although they have cheap canned beer. It’s not a hangout but will become one if the owners stay on track and keep booking good talent. Despite the neighborhood, there are no little Hitlers to be found anywhere, and other than the occasional night when they have Jersey/Westchester American Idol wannabe types playing here, the tourists who clog this neighborhood on the weekends go elsewhere. Be aware that it can get oppressively hot here when it’s crowded.
444 7th Avenue
(corner of 15th Street & 7th Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave.
This small, dark, boxy bar used to be a punk rock joint, now it’s an acoustic place. They don’t have music every night. Not reviewed as/of 5/08
Bar on A
no website
170 Ave. A at 11th St.
Laid-back neighborhood bar with occasional music on the stage to the left of the U-shaped bar where they have tables and couches: go left when you enter through the working door, on the bar’s south side. The PA is pretty primitive, so when they have music - not every night - it’s usually singer-songwriters. Nice bar staff, absolutely no Nazis to be seen anywhere, drinks aren’t cheap but they aren’t super expensive either, and the tourists have yet to discover this place other than on the weekends.
Bar Tabac
the club’s website is useless
128 Smith St., corner of Dean, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
F to Bergen St.
Owned by the same people who brought you Jules, Le Singe Vert and Cafe Noir, this pricy, popular corner bistro has Belgian beer, mediocre faux-French food and occasionally jazz acts (Stephane Wrembel had a terrific run here for awhile a couple of years ago) who play in the window by the door. The staff is nice and there’s absolutely no Nazi factor, but be aware that in the summer, they frequently leave the doors open, so it can get uncomfortably hot here.
***RATED BEST BROOKLYN VENUE 2008***
corner of 6th Ave. and 9th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave. and walk downhill
Believe the hype: there is a good act playing here virtually every night, something no other New York area venue can boast. Basically, this is what Tonic used to be, relocated to Park Slope. Day in, day out, Barbes books more exciting music than any other venue in town (maybe anywhere in the world, outside of Beirut or Damascus, anyway), a diverse bunch of jazz, oldtimey, Americana, gypsy and world music acts from every corner of the globe (basically the same people that used to play Tonic, minus some of the outsider jazz guys and the trendoids with their laptops and hand-held video games). The theme here is Gallic: the place is named after Barbes-Rochechouart, a formerly seedy, rapidly gentrifying Arab neighborhood in Paris. The back room here is tiny, smaller than even Pete’s Candy Store and just a tad bigger than the Rockwood, and the bands who play here always fill it. Consequently, you have to show up early (about 15 minutes before showtime) if you want to get into the main room. Since it’s a cozy room, the sound is usually superb. They frequently pipe the music from the back room in over the bar, but it’s generally inaudible, whenever the bar is crowded (like it usually is) Like Tonic, Barbes draws a mixed crowd: jazzcats, trendoids, neighborhood folks and friends of the bands who play here. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive and as you’d expect from a place run by Frenchmen, they have a good wine list. The Nazi factor is nonexistent. Although the waitress will very strongly suggest a $10 contribution to the bands’ tip jar on nights when there is no cover charge, your donation is strictly voluntary if you’re low on cash. The house band, Chicha Libre - practitioners of chicha, an intoxicatingly danceable blend of surf, psychedelia and traditional Peruvian cumbia music - play here every Monday night around 10 and are deliriously fun.
1/2/9 to Bowling Green or 4/6/A/C/J/M/Z to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau, walk south and east about 10 minutes
There are occasionally free shows here during the summer, including an annual 4th of July show. Attend at your own risk: parts of the park are fenced off for no apparent reason other than to severely limit the amount of space for concertgoers. As a result, you have to show up ridiculously early to get in, or take your chances and wait forever in a ridiculously long line that reaches almost all the way around the park. You may not get close enough to the stage to hear much. There will be only one entrance/exit, further complicating matters when it’s time to leave. Not the funnest place you could be on the 4th.
237 West 42 St
B/D/N/R/1/2/9 to 42nd St., or walk from the A/C/E or the 6
Despite its Disneyland location – and the fact that the King of the Blues has no more to do with this than Roy Rogers had to do with all those fried chicken places - this isn’t a bad place to see bands. Booked by the same people who own the Blue Note, they surprisingly draw some good acts: soul music, metal, reggae and even hip-hop. It’s a pretty big space. The space is downstairs, a long bar to your left as you walk in, tables toward the front, and plenty of standing room between them and the bar. Drinks are predictably pricy, the food is lousy, but the staff won’t hassle you and the sound is excellent. Beware: some shows are obscenely expensive, $75 or more. They also have free blues, pretty much nightly, at the adjacent, smaller Lucille’s bar (use the door on your right).
74th and Broadway
1/2/9 to 72nd St.
Not a bad seat in the house at this excellent-sounding, big-ticket old Gilded Age theatre. If price is an issue – orchestra seating is frequently even more expensive than the peanut gallery – choose the peanut gallery. Acts who play here are mostly older national touring rock bands and singer-songwriters. Tickets are predictably expensive: advance tix, available M-F 11-5 at their box office are absolutely necessary, as this place usually sells out, sometimes fast. Don’t try to bring alcohol or other beverages in here: you will be frisked. Bootlegging, on the other hand, is possible if you are discreet about it (keep that little red light hidden). Don’t waste your money on the tiny drinks they serve in little clear plastic cups. There is only one way in or out, through the front doors; you might want to station yourself close to an exit at the end of the show to beat the crowd. Be careful not to fall onto the tracks at the 72nd St. subway station: it’s the narrowest platform in the entire system.
315 W 44th between 8th and 9th Ave.
A/C/E to 42nd St/Port Authority
Legendary, pricy restaurant row jazz club named after Charlie Parker. Swanky as you can expect: table service, expensive drinks and mediocre, overpriced food. Strangely, they only book jazz here about half the time these days; otherwise, it’s a gay cabaret club. Most of the big-name acts who play here are priced beyond the means of most working people, but they’ll sometimes have niche acts for about a $25 cover, sometimes even less. The sound is outstanding as you would expect for the prices they charge. The staff are surprisingly nice, absolutely no Nazi factor, but the Vanguard is still your best bet for marquee-caliber jazz in New York.
Bleecker between LaGuardia and Thompson
A/C/E/B/D/F to West 4th St., take the exit on the south side
The stage is to your right as you enter, with tables in front of it and then beyond it all the way to the back of the club. Being on the Bleecker St. strip, this place books mostly out-of-town suburban acts lost in the 70s: lots of James Taylor and Foreigner wannabes. Which is a shame, because the sound has the potential to be excellent (it isn’t often, though, perhaps because the stage monitors aren’t positioned properly, and they feed back). There’s a cover: people don’t just come here to drink and hang out. The staff here are surprisingly nonchalant: if you aren’t an obvious NYU student with fake ID, you won’t have any trouble getting in. Not that you’d want to, considering the kind of acts who play here. Drinks are predictably Bleecker St. expensive. Once in a blue moon they’ll have a good New York songwriter or rock act.
Southeast corner of Metropolitan and Havemeyer, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, across the street from Luna Lounge. L/G to Lorimer, walk alongside the BQE slightly downhill past the pizza place and under the overpass, the club is on the left about 5 blocks from the subway.
It’s a Middle Eastern restaurant with good if somewhat pricy food in front, a bar and music room off to the side. The sound isn’t all that great and kind of loud for a pretty small room with just the bar, a couch and a few tables, but it isn’t really a music venue. Rev. Vince Anderson (a New York institution whom you should see at least once in your life) plays here on Mondays, and there’s sometimes music on Tuesdays but not on the weekends. This is a trendoid hangout, so drinks are on the pricy side: it’s not a place you’d want to make your local. Although the waitstaff and bartenders are nice. As you’d expect at a Brooklyn place, there’s no Nazi factor. Other than Rev. Vince on Monday nights and the occasional band, they don’t have much music here anymore.
38th St. just west of 5th Ave, next door to where Cedars of Lebanon used to be
N/R/B/D/F to 34th. or 6 to 33rd.
Midtown Irish pub/restaurant basically just like the others in this local chain…except that this one has live music on the weekends. Go figure: it’s not set up to be a venue (although there is a high stage in the back) and the sound is loud and awful. And shows run way behind schedule here, as much as a couple of hours. And the promoters don’t have a clue: they’ll put a Boston heavy metal band on for a whole hour, while a New York band’s crowd is waiting patiently for their friends to go on. And then the New York band will get barely a half hour onstage, sometime after midnight. The staff here is uniformly nice, the food is ok, but drinks are midtown expensive and there are innumerable other venues that don’t come with all the geographical and logistical hassles that are seemingly built into this one.
W 3rd just east of Sixth Ave.
A/C/E/B/D/F to W 4th, take the southside exit
The sign over the entrance should be in Japanese, since that’s the crowd that comes here these days. This place was a great jazz club, most likely before you were born, and vestiges of that remain: the sound is superb. But the prices are beyond the reach of the average New Yorker: cover, dinner and drinks will set you back over $100 apiece, and the food is lousy. Even “bar seating” – which means that you’ll be on your feet for the duration of the show, and will have to crane your neck to see much of anything – will probably set you back at least $50 if you include the two-drink minimum. And the booking here is a mixed bag, with Pan-American or European performers and the occasional jazz legend interspersed among Lite FM-style elevator jazz acts. Occasionally they’ll have a rock act. On Friday and Saturdays nights, after the main acts are done, they have funk and fusion at reduced prices. Surprisingly, there’s no Nazi factor: the harried waitstaff has a hard enough time squeezing through the crowds of tourists to make sure everybody gets their check.
Delancey St. just east of Bowery
J/M/Z to Bowery or F to 2n d Ave., walk south and west
Sonically it used to be the standard for NYC, but this big, cavernous former vaudeville theatre with balconies in the back and a spacious floor for standing room has become hit-and-miss lately. Like Luna Lounge, after the bands are done the downstairs bar is open to the public: it’s a great place to be away from all the tourists in the wee hours. National touring acts and the most popular New York bands play here, so the crowd depends on who you’ve come out to see. Drinks except for beer are pricy. The door people and staff look imposing but are actually nice. If you have to choose between seeing a band here and a similar-sized venue like Irving Plaza or Webster Hall, go to the Bowery Ballroom show. Note that this place frequently sells out: advance tickets are a must, available at the Mercury Lounge before 7 PM.
30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn Heights
The closest train is actually the G to Fulton St.; BAM is only half a block away. Otherwise take any train to Atlantic Ave.
Ironically, BAM has mostly movies these days although they frequently have free concerts upstairs in the spacious, high-ceilinged BAM Cafe. The performers are usually first-rate, drinks are expensive, Nazis conspicuous in their absence, and the PA is underpowered: find yourself a spot in the alcoves along the left wall, where nobody will hassle you as long as you don’t stand in front of the metal grates between them. The big, main space has tiered seating; the excellent sound and high ticket prices (advance tix from the BAM box office are a must) are comparable to the Beacon Theatre.
Brooklyn Lyceum
The club’s website is useless
Right at the Union St. R train stop (exit at the front of the train if you are coming from Manhattan), otherwise take the F to 4th Ave. and walk back toward Brooklyn Heights about 9 blocks, past the UHaul place.
There’s a small music room upstairs with tables, a big downstairs room without them. The sound is ok both upstairs and downstairs. The crowd is friends of the bands: it’s not a bar or a hangout. They sell wine in small plastic cups at the door, but it’s lousy and overpriced. There’s no Nazi factor: this place is so disorganized you could probably sneak in if you put your mind to it. The quality of the acts here isn’t overwhelmingly good. The upstairs room is booked by a woman who always plays a set of her own music before the scheduled acts. Because she wants to play to a full room, she never specifies what the order of the acts on the bill will be, which makes it difficult to time your arrival. For that reason you might want to think twice before shlepping all the way out here to see your favorite singer/songwriter . The downstairs room occasionally has someone worth seeing, and they have a schedule which they adhere to.
228 W Broadway at White St.
A/C/E to Canal St.
Every now and then this shi-shi Tribeca champagne bar has live music, usually jazz or some variant thereof. Bands play to the right of the door as you walk in. The PA is primitive, so the sound can be iffy: it’s not really a music venue. There are magnums and magnums of champagne everywhere, even up in the rafters (how do they keep it from going bad in the heat?). Since the vibe is totally swankazoid, you might want to stick to beer: they have a surprising number of bottled European brands. You might also want to take a table toward the front of the bar if you’re there for the band. There’s no Nazi factor, and a surprisingly nice bar staff.
433 7th Ave. at 14th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave.
An “Austrian comfort food” restaurant catering to the Park Slope monster-stroller crowd. Ten years ago this place would have priced itself out of the neighborhood in six months. Alas, no more. It’s cramped, noisy, and the occasional screaming rugrat does nothing to enhance your experience. Music is usually Sundays and Wednesdays, mostly jazz and old-timey acts with the occasional country performer. As you may have surmised, it’s also an afterthought; nobody listens, the PA doesn’t have the juice to drown out the crowd and besides, nobody comes here for the music anyway.
115 MacDougal St. between Bleecker and W 3rd St.
Talk about living off your reputation: Hendrix played here frequently, fifty years ago. Apparently the owners also own the building, because the place is still here. Not that it needs to be: this stuffy little tourist bar caters strictly to an out-of-town crowd, and late at night and on the weekends, an unsophisticated black clientele for whom rap apparently never happened. Expensive drinks, overzealous door crew, clueless bar staff, overly loud, generic funk and cover bands phoning it on the little stage. Ugh.
32 Jones St. off Bleecker (west of 6th Ave)
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
This singer-songwriter joint has upped the ante with jazz and world music lately. Not reviewed as/of 4/08.
Ludlow between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street, next to the Living Room
F/V to 2nd Ave.
You could live here. There’s a bakery/coffee shop as you walk in, used record store in back and venue downstairs. The sound is consistently good and often excellent. Somehow they make this bodega basement work. The crowd depends on the band: there’s a cover charge. It’s a very gay-friendly space. Drinks are cheap and they always have some kind of special, and if you buy a drink and an album you get another drink free. Good album prices, too. They’ve managed to avoid the Nazi factor entirely, pretty impressive for a Manhattan venue, particularly in this neighborhood: nobody will give you a hard time here. The quality of the acts here has sadly seen a decline lately: occasionally they’ll have a good garage or punk rock night. Be aware they’ll sometimes start blasting the disco music over the PA right after the bands are done, which will reliably drive the crowd out of the club.
285 W Broadway, corner of Canal
A/C/E to Canal St. or 6/N/R/J/M/Z to Canal St. and walk west
Formerly known as Shine, this swanky room generally serves as a hip-hop disco, the type of place where they try to induce women to come in via reduced admission at the door. Occasionally they will have corporate singer-songwriters or Hot 97 style corporate black pop acts. Not reviewed as/of 4/08.
On the water along the middle edge of Battery Park
1/9/2 to Bowling Green or A/C/E/4/6/J/M/Z to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau and walk south and east about a dozen blocks.
At 5 PM during the summer on show days, park personnel will distribute two free tickets per person to everyone on the line which forms along the benches leading to the old stone fort, meaning that you need to sneak out of work to get here no later than 4:30 PM and a half-hour earlier than that for more popular acts. The show will probably start at around 6:30 or 7. Since it’s outdoors, don’t expect great sound. Overpriced canned beer is available inside. Be aware that your bag will be searched as you enter (although lately they’ve been pretty cursory, and it’s been possible to bring beverages in). Also be aware that they will throw away any beverages they catch you with. You have to show up early to get a seat, although there’s always ample standing room in back behind the rows of plastic chairs. Since the music plays while the sun is setting over the river, wear a hat and shades. The acts here vary: NPR folk and country stuff with the occasional indie band.
Central Park, 72nd St. entrance, closer to the east side
6 to 66th St.
There’s invariably an interminably long line of people waiting to get inside the ever-shrinking music area. Various areas inside will be roped off for no particular reason. The seats next to the stage and the bleachers along the rear perimeter are reserved for corporate sponsors and therefore off-limits to the public. The sound isn’t bad for an outdoor arena; the crowd is strictly tourists who don’t mind standing in line for two hours before getting frisked and finally allowed inside. Although there are several tents serving beer and food, this isn’t a place you’d want to drink because you can’t leave to use the public bathrooms at the skating rink down the hill: if you do, you’ll never be able to get back in. There are a couple of porta-potties but they’re always occupied or out of service. Don’t try to bring in water or other drinkables because they will be confiscated.These people take the Nazi concept to a new level. Even if you show up at 2:45 PM when they open the gates (shows typically start around 3), you may be forced to wait in a ridiculously long line, possibly for hours. Even after waiting, you still may not be allowed inside. Security may also pack you and hundreds of other people into a wire-fence holding pen. If you in fact make it through the security gauntlet, expect to be bellowed at on your way in by yuppie puppy interns with bullhorns begging you for a donation. Don’t expect to see the act you came for. And don’t expect to be able to sit outside and still be able to hear the band: the entire perimeter has been fenced off to keep parkgoers at such a distance that it’s no longer possible to set down a blanket and listen to the music.
The quality of acts isn’t what it used to be, and most of the good shows here are ticketed and ridiculously overpriced (even though they’re subsidized with your taxpayer money). If you must see any of the acts who play here, you will assuredly get the chance to see them elsewhere for less money and undoubtedly less hassle. This is without a doubt the worst music venue and worst music experience in New York.
on the boardwalk at Coney Island close to Stilwell Ave.
Take any train to Stilwell Ave., walk to the boardwalk and take a left
Grimy, old school Coney Island bar with a clientele who look like they were all extras in the French Connection, 35 years ago. Surprisingly, they have good bands here during the summer, an adventurous mix of punk, ska, country and indie rock. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive, and if you’re drunk enough and don’t mind the seediness, it’s big enough – lots of tables in the back – that you could actually hang out here and enjoy yourself. The sound is iffy and LOUD: if you really felt like it, you could camp out on the boardwalk a block away and not miss much. Nathan’s is next door if you get hungry.
Corner of Bedford Ave. and N 7th, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave.
The bar – Williamsburg’s first music venue - has reopened and has been remodeled. Reputedly the sound is better than the muddy mess it was during the bar’s first incarnation. Not reviewed as of 4/08.
numerous locations; the branch where they have live music is 121 W 45th St. between 6th Ave. and Broadway
N/R to Times Square or any train to 42nd St., walk east or west as necessary.
This local chain of Irish bars no longer has music at their location on 46th St. between Park and 5th Ave. Cover is not cheap, usually around $20 for the Irish bands who play here frequently on weekends. Black 47 do a lot of dates here and pack the place. The staff at both of the east side locations is professional and cordial, the prices are predictably midtown expensive although the food is good as was the sound upstairs on East 46th St. If this is any indication, you can expect the same at the westside branch. Not reviewed as/of 4/08.
29 Cornelia St. north of Bleecker
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
The music room is downstairs from the restaurant, which is pricy as you would expect from the location, but actually pretty good. The sound is excellent here, rows of chairs in a somewhat long, rectangular room with the stage up front. Mostly jazz here, with the occasional poetry reading, cabaret show or singer/songwriter night. There’s a cover, albeit a cheap one, so it’s not a hangout spot. Very mellow waitstaff, expensive drinks, absolutely no Nazi factor: this place generally draws an older crowd.
Bowery just north of Delancey, east side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
The poor New York sister of a popular LA venue. Like its vastly more popular California sibling, it’s a spacious, somewhat swanky walk-down space with tables and couches that usually books hip-hop events. The sound is loud and lousy. There’s a cover charge, so people don’t come to hang out here. Drinks are expensive. The Nazi factor is fairly low: there’s a doorman but they’re not obnoxious. Make sure you don’t accidentally pay admission to the adjacent tourist trap, whose entrance is only a few feet south. They don’t book much good music here, mostly metal cover bands from the suburbs and the like: the club relegates live music to late weekday nights, so most bands who play here do so once only and then go elsewhere.
24th just west of Broadway, north side of the street
N/R to 23rd St., or take the F or 6 to 23rd and walk
This place is has-been central: many of the aging folkies and 70s rock types who used to play the Bottom Line have gravitated here. It’s a swanky joint co-owned by an actor who was on Sex and the City. An older, out-of-town yuppie crowd hollers at each other at the bar out front. The music room with tables is in the back. Drinks are as expensive as you would imagine, although they do have beer on tap. To their credit, the sound here has improved immensely: it’s not a bad-sounding room. Too bad that the roar from the outer bar drowns out the music during quieter moments. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor. It’s the kind of place where you could sneak into the music room when nobody’s paying attention at the door: organization is not their forte. Late Saturday nights it turns into a strip club.
out back of Lincoln Center
1/9 to 66th St., or just take the A/C/B to Columbus Circle and walk north
This is the park where the the annual Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival’s main events are held are held every August. These days this is by far the best summer concert series in town. Also throughout August there are daily concerts scattered around the Lincoln Center plaza, a mixed bag of A-list Americana artists, jazz and world music, including some good New York performers. Pharaoh Sanders’ concerts here in the late 90s are the stuff of legend. To get a seat in the rows of white plastic chairs, get there at least 15 minutes before showtime. Nazi factor: absolute zero, although you’re not supposed to smoke. The park is somehow situated so that there’s no sonic competition with the screeching alarms on the city buses running up and down the adjacent avenues.
141 S. 5th St. #1E, South Williamsburg
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave. or L to Bedford Ave. and walk all the way down to the southside
Loft space with the occasional indie rock show, mostly trendoid crap. Not reviewed as/of 5/08
49 S. 2nd St., Williamsburg
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk up Havemeyer past the bus depot, go under the BQE to S 2nd.
This lo-fi space hosts mostly boring, conformist indie rock.
It’s on that little service road that runs parallel to Delancey St. on its north side, just east of Clinton.
F/J/M/Z to Delancey or B/D to Grand St. and walk north and east.
There’s a bodega basement for music downstairs and a multi-level bar upstairs that you should avoid at all costs. They used to have a free barbeque upstairs on Tuesday nights, but no more. The sound in the basement is ok to good, not bad for a long, rectangular space that hasn’t been treated for sound. The crowd depends on where you are. Downstairs has a cover charge, so it’s not a hangout. Upstairs is the multi-level tourist bar - which also charges a cover for admission - and is a New Jersey/Westchester nightmare. Drinks are pricier than you’d think although sometimes they have beer specials downstairs. The Nazi factor depends on when you go. The downstairs room is pretty mellow, but tourists line up around the block to get into the bar (not the music room) on weekend nights and as a result the door people can get surly . The quality of the acts here is low. Once in awhile they’ll book two or three good bands back-to-back. They seemed to be phasing out live music for awhile; now it looks like it’s back. The Delancey shares ownership with that horrid trendoid trashpit on Banker St. in Greenpoint.
433 Park Ave. S., Murray Hill
6 to 28th St.
Irish bar/greasepit restaurant that’s been there for decades with regularly scheduled live music in the back room where there are tables to sit. Drinks are predictably midtown expensive. The place has a pretty college vibe, unsurprisingly since Baruch is just a few blocks away. The sound is pretty bad; it’s not really set up to be a music venue, and nobody comes to listen, it seems. They don’t seem to pull many New York bands, or bands with a New York audience. Although their Irish staff are predictably pleasant and professional, the door crew are clearly sick of chasing off underage yuppie puppies and may take out their hostilies on you.
Spring St. at Washington
C/E to Spring St.
Straight outa the Dirty Jerz comes Don Hill’s. You’d think you were on a Sopranos set. Knucklehead, musclebound bouncers outside and expensive cover, especially for the no-names who play here. Inside it’s a blue-collar Jersey crowd: everybody drives, nobody takes the train here. There’s a long bar along the right side as you walk in; the stage is to the left, with booths, couches and another bar in back. Drinks are small and expensive. The sound is frightfully bad, and LOUD: the best place in the house, sonically speaking, is in the bathroom. The acts who play here are straight out of Jersey as well, awful metal and grunge cover bands along with the occasional aging punk act still playing 10 years after their Coney Island High days. Why anyone would ever want to see a show here is a mystery.
90 Manhattan Ave., South Williamsburg, Brooklyn
J/M/Z to Lorimer St. or L to Montrose Ave.
A relatively new Williamsburg indie rock venue situated in the back room of a latin restaurant. Not reviewed as/of 5/08.
85 Ave. A between 5th and 6th Sts.
F to 2nd Ave. or J/M/Z to Delancey, walk north.
Manhattan’s best new venue, even with its cold, sterile, lowlit nouveau-riche Eastern bloc vibe. The new Russian owners have sunk a ton of money into this basement-level spot that formerly housed a frat bar and before that, back in the late 90s, a jazz club, opening up considerable space in the back where the big, spacious stage is. You enter through a foyer; down the hall is a long bar to your right, with the stage and plenty of standing room to your left. There are also rows of booths, and a row of tables along the left wall. The sound is excellent. Drinks are as expensive as you can imagine (no draft beer). There’s a cover charge, usually under $20, and advance tickets at the club’s box office highly recommended for more popular acts. From day one, booking here has been outstanding: basically, it’s the same mix of pan-global stuff you can see at Barbes for free. While no world music club in New York has ever been able to make it, this place seems to have a built-in crowd of sharply dressed sons and daughters of the oligarchy who hang out at places like this in the old country. While it’s doubtful they’re here for the music, they also don’t annoy. No Nazi factor, either: treating customers like cattle seems to be a wholly American concept.
The Ear Inn
no website
Spring St. just east of the highway
C/E to Spring St.
This is the place with the butcher paper and the crayons, where everybody draws on the tables. You’ve been there. Everyone has. It’s a NYC rite of passage, and it’s straight out of 1975, a little oasis of normalcy way over on the west side far from SoHo Eurotrash hell. Beer is fairly cheap, they have decent bar food and live music that starts late (midnight-ish) and goes much later, even during the week. Country, blues, jazz mostly. They don’t have a website nor do they advertise a calendar so you either have to know who’s performing there or just happen to be there on a good night. The music is on a tiny stage to the right of the door as you walk in. The PA system is pretty primitive, so the sound is iffy, but this is the kind of place where if you’re still there in the wee hours, pretty much anything starts to sound good. The Sunday, 7:30 PM hot jazz show hosted by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (usually) guitarist Matt Munisteri is reliably bracing.
510 E 11th St. between Ave. A and B
L to 1st Ave.., or take the M14A bus which goes south on A.
Popular Midtown-style Irish bar in a strange location, a back street in the East Village. Drinks aren’t cheap, as you can expect, although the staff is nice. Absolutely no Nazi factor. Singer-songwriters occasionally play through the tiny PA system in the back where there are tables: the closer you are to the music, the better you’ll hear it. Occasionally this place will surprise you with some very good acts: Mary Lee’s Corvette played a brief residency here a couple of years ago.
98 Meserole Avenue at Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G to Nassau St. or L to Bedford Ave., walk to Manhattan Ave. and go left, it’s about a 10 minute stroll.
This big, beautiful bi-level Polish nightclub has frequent rock shows on the second floor. The big stage faces rows of tables, with ample space on the dance floor for standing room. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive, the staff is shockingly friendly and laid-back and the sound is good. It’s a ticketed venue, so the only people who hang out here are neighborhood Polish kids who seemingly come here no matter who’s playing, and they’re pretty laid-back as well.
112 Rivington St. between Ludlow and Essex
F to Delancey St.
Word on the street is that bands don’t like to play this split-level venue. Not reviewed as of 4/08.
75 Christopher at 7th Ave. S.
The sister club to Small’s.
55 Christopher St. between 6th and 7th Ave.
1/9 to Christopher St. or A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St. and walk west
Small, cramped, low-ceilinged basement space where Jack Kerouac used to hold court fifty years ago. It hasn’t changed much since then. There isn’t much room at the tables with their tiny stools. The sound is iffy. It draws a mostly older crowd that comes for nightly jazz here. Cover is cheap, if in fact there is one, although drinks aren’t. No Nazi factor. Plan on getting here early if you’re thinking of seeing a show.
Eldridge St. between Grand and Delancey, Chinatown
B/D to Grand St, J/M/Z to Bowery or F to 2nd Ave., walk south and a block east.
Like the Delancey, there are two completely separate crowds here: the tourists who hang at the big, spacious bar upstairs, and the crowd that pays the cover for the downstairs space to see their friends play. Booking here is hit-and-miss, although they sometimes have good bands: sometimes there’ll be several good acts all on the same bill. Drinks are expensive, whether upstairs or downstairs; the sound is pretty good, considering that the music is in the basement of an old police station. The Nazi factor is pretty much the same as the Ludlow Street strip: you will be carded.
B/Q/W/N/R to DeKalb Ave. and walk up the hill
During the summer, there are numerous free shows at the bandstand tucked just over the hill, mostly black and latin music. The place is crawling with cops, so keep that drink well concealed and don’t think of smoking anything other than tobacco. The food vendors here are several cuts above the usual fare, with Jamaican and Dominican munchies, rice and peas, etc. The sound system here is actually pretty powerful so you don’t have to be on top of the stage to hear what’s happening.
Pier 63, west of the highway between 23rd and 24th St.
C/E to 23rd St. or M23 bus to the end of the line, going west
This is an old Coast Guard lightship tied up at one of the Chelsea Piers, where they have live music occasionally. Bands typically play on the stage at the stern of the ship; singer-songwriters play in a small room below decks further aft. The sound is iffy as you would expect. Drinks are expensive, there’s a cover charge and they serve food, but don’t bother. On the other hand, there’s absolutely no Nazi factor, the views are marvelous, and so is the breeze off the river in the warmer months. This is a great place to take a date.
485 Dean St., sort of Prospect Heights area, Brooklyn
Any train to Atlantic Ave. Walk on Flatbush away from Brooklyn Heights to Pacific St. Left on Pacific, then take your first right, go past the police station and the club is right on the corner.
This legendary neighborhood dive has a corner bar upstairs and the music room downstairs. The sound is so-so in the fairly small, low-ceilinged basement room with benches and tables. The crowd is totally oldschool Brooklyn: it’s a friendly place. Drinks are cheap and the waitstaff is nice. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor here. The quality of the acts here is above average; booking here, like at most of the other well-established venues has seen a visible decline, as musicians are being priced out of the neighborhood and the city in general. But Freddy’s seems to be winning their seemingly endless court battle with megalomaniac developer Bruce Ratner, whose plans to bring the New Jersey Nets (why didn’t somebody consult Dr. J beforehand?!?), and destroy the neighborhood’s remaining middleclass housing so he can build a plastic-and-sheetrock luxury housing complex, have hit a major snag. In the meantime, if you’re in the area, this is one establishment that deserves your support.
North 6th St. between Wythe and Kent, south side of the street, soon moving to Dumbo
L to Bedford Ave.
There’s a bar in front, music room off to the side. You will have to negotiate a murky, ominous-looking moat as you enter. For a fairly small establishment, they sure have a lot of people working here, and they are annoying. The sound is lousy in the back room and terrible in the front. When there’s no music - which there hardly ever is anymore - it’s an obnoxious trendoid scene. Drinks are expensive: beer is served in flutes, not pints or mugs a la Joe’s Pub. Hardly anyone good ever plays here: Galapagos claims to be an “art space,” which means strippers, the kind of pretentious pseudo-musicians who would occasionally pop up at Tonic or the Knitting Factory, and hip-hop dj nights. When the club leaves the neighborhood in 2008 and moves to Dumbo, they won’t be missed.
Gaslight
400 W 14th St. at 9th Ave.
the bar’s website is useless
All the iconic 60s folkies: Dylan, Joan Baez, etc. played here over 40 years ago. There’s still a stage to the left as you walk in, the bar in front of you. The sound is actually not bad, even loud sometimes: how times change. Drinks are West Village expensive (as opposed to Meatpacking District unaffordable), although the bar staff is nice and there were no Nazis here last time we stopped by. But nobody of note plays here anymore anyway, and in case you were wondering – not that you were – the trannie hookers on the corner have been replaced by wealthy Jersey and Connnecticut tourists.
289 Kent Ave, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave., walk south and west or J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk up Havemeyer past the bus depot, go north and west.
Big, cavernous gallery which used to host the occasional fashion show. It’s now a venue. The sound is predictably atrocious, to match the crowd: even more than Zebulon, this is trendoid central. You’ll never meet anyone here who works for a living (or will admit to it, anyway), including the wealthy teenagers from New Jersey who have just discovered Williamsburg and plan to make this their post-prom destination. This place is chaotic and disorganized to the point where any attempt at Nazification would be pointless, but it’s also impossibly hot and crowded. There are less painful experiences awaiting you should you wish to see your favorite Pavement wannabes elsewhere.
1087 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn
J/M/Z to Kosciusko St., the venue is a block away from the subway rear exit
Junk shop posing as venue. They’re the only caucasian-owned business on this otherwise decayed ghetto block, ostensibly a descendant of the legendary West Village punk rock hangout the Scrap Bar. Everything in the place is for sale but nothing has a pricetag: caveat emptor. There isn’t much of a sound system although on what serves as a stage in the back, there is a piano (for sale, but in tune? Anybody’s guess). Both bands and singer-songwriters play here, to a captive audience: this place draws a trendoid crowd that’s too fearful to brave the surrounding nonwhite establishments. They have fairly cheap beer and wine. Be aware that bands play very short sets here: unless you’re a rabid fan and you don’t mind shlepping all the way out to Bushwick for a half-hour or less of your favorite trendoids, it might not be worth your while.
23rd just west of Lexington Ave.
6 to 23rd St.
The Irving Plaza people opened this place to compete with Bowery Ballroom, booking mostly indie poser bands-du-jour: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, ad infinitum. It’s about the same size as Bowery; this former movie theatre still has tiered seating in the back, and the floor for standing rooms slopes down to the stage for something of an amphitheatre effect. Sightlines are good and so is the sound. Advance tickets are required and available at the Irving Plaza box office. As at Irving Plaza, the bathrooms are nasty. Overpriced beer and drinks are available. No Nazi factor to speak of.
Groove
no website
W 3rd St. and Thompson St.
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
Homeless guys thrusting flyers in your face try to lure tourists into this Israeli-owned bar with a stage in the back that caters mainly to an aging black crowd. Cover bands and the occasional funk act play on the stage at the back. Drinks aren’t cheap and although there’s no Nazi factor, the sound is lousy and loud. It’s hard to think of a reason why you’d ever want to go here.
corner of 3rd Ave. and Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Take any train to Atlantic Ave./Pacific St., get out via the 4th Ave. exit, the venue is a block away, past the falafel joint and the Arab grocery, across the street from the YWCA.
Looking at this dingy Falafel Hill old man bar from the outside, you’d never suspect it would be one of New York’s best music venues. The sound is consistently excellent and so are the acts who play here. Too bad the owner’s put the place up for sale as a “development site.” Sunday nights they have a free barbecue, with good country music from Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers. Mondays they have live band country karaoke, as hilarious as you would think it would be: you get a free shot if you sing. Jazz night is Wednesday. On the weekend they have a mix of indie rock, country, blues and goth bands. Drinks are cheap – they have Schaefer on draft, if that means anything to you – the staff are nice and there’s never a cover. Absolutely no Nazi factor here: people hang out after the bands til closing time.
431 W 16th St
A/C/E to 14th St.
The owners should forget the allusion in the name and just call it Pot Place: they’re going after an affluent stoner and druggie crowd. It’s a big midsize venue with some tables. They’re trying to make this the Supper Club (they serve food), and drink prices are what you would expect, so resist the urge. The sound is good. It’s a ticketed venue, so people don’t hang out here. The Nazi factor is what you would expect: there is a doorman and you will be frisked as at Irving Plaza. They don’t have much good music here, mostly touring stoner acts with the occasional decent indie band.
30 W 26th St.
F to 23rd St.
Relatively new barbecue restaurant with nightly music, mostly country or blues. No cover. Lots of good bands play here. Not reviewed as/of 5/08.
located in the Maritime Hotel, 363 W 16th betw 8th and 9th Ave.
A/C/E/L to 14th St.
This is an actual hotel ballroom, a ritzy, midsize, high-ceilinged space with dodgy sound: it wasn’t built with rock music in mind. Live bands are only an occasional thing here, strictly national touring acts. Otherwise it’s a hellacious tourist trap, strictly for the New Jersey/Connecticut/Westchester Humvee stretch limo crowd. Drinks are as pricy as you would expect. The staff are surly, but you’d be too if you had to deal with so many assholes: for obvious reasons, New Yorkers don’t go here. Nor should you.
Hope St. south of Bedford Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave.
Hidden away on a side street off the Bedford Ave. strip is this somewhat swanky, pricy, Jersey-style yuppie bar awaiting the Wall Street crowd soon to move into the surrounding luxury condos and clog the sidewalks with their Humvee-size strollers. Til then, it’ll be a trendoid hangout. Once in awhile - they rarely have music here - there’ll be a band in the adjacent garden that used to be a parking lot, or on the miniscule stage to the right of the door as you walk in. Whether outdoors or in, the sound is iffy as you would expect.
Iridium
Broadway between 50th and 51st St.
F/B/D to Rockefeller Ctr.
This is the latest space they’ve occupied after two previous incarnations further uptown. Not reviewed as/of 9/07 because we boycott them. These people set a new low in the nickel-and-dime competition: they charge tax on your cover charge (wanna bet if the state or city ever see a penny of that?). Meaning that after you’ve overpaid for one of their little tables and a couple of their predictably expensive drinks, they’ll try to scam you for what you’d be leaving as the tip if you were really generous. If big-ticket jazz is your thing, the Vanguard is your place; even the Blue Note, pricy as it is, is a bargain by comparison to this place, and they have better sound than either of the previous two spaces that Iridium occupied.
Irving Place (which runs parallel to the avenues, between Lexington and 3rd Ave.) and 16th St.
4/6/N/R/L to 14th St.
Funny how things have turned out: Irving Plaza books mostly touring corporate acts, the Gramercy Theatre most of the touring indie poser acts, with Bowery Ballroom somewhere in between. This is a big, high-ceilinged, ticketed venue which sells out frequently: the box office is only open til 6 PM, and not on the day of the show, meaning that advance tix are a must. You will be frisked when entering, so don’t try to bring drinks inside. However, the door crew will not lie to you about what time the act you want to see is playing (headliners usually hit around 11 PM here). Don’t waste your money on their overpriced drinks; expect the sound to be a little loud, but not overwhelmingly so: lately the sonics here have been pretty good.
Issue Project Room
the website is useless
232 3rd St. 3rd Fl, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
F to 4th Ave. or R to Union St.
This space occasionally has indie rock acts or outsider jazz. Not reviewed as/of 10/07
315 Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
B61 bus to the end of the line (the Red Hook-bound B61 runs down Driggs Ave. in Brooklyn, stopping in Brooklyn Heights on Atlantic Ave. north of Court St.).
They frequently have jazz, oldtimey music and sometimes singer-songwriters here. Not reviewed as/of 4/08.
290 Hudson St. between Dominick and Spring
C/E to Spring St.; 1/9 to Houston St. or B/D/F to W 4th, walk south and west
A narrow, seated venue that sells out frequently: get there early if you’re going. They typically book more adventurous jazz acts including many that used to play Tonic. It’s an old-school, early 80s style village place; nobody cares if you bring in a drink or have a smoke outside. It’s not overwhelmingly expensive and the sound is predictably excellent.
116 E 27th St. east of Park Ave.
6 to 28th St.
Downstairs from the laughably reviled Blue Smoke barbecue restaurant, with whom they share ownership. This excellent-sounding club is giving the Vanguard a run for their money: the sound is just as good, drinks are a little bigger (but not much) and cover is comparable. And it’s a lot more spacious: you walk downstairs to find the bar to your left and straight ahead. Separated from the bar area by a barrier are rows of tables. This isn’t a place to eat or drink but it is a great place to listen. Booking has lately been a mix of A-list former Blue Note touring artists and more esoteric styles; big bands, Latin jazz, free jazz even. The staff are surprisingly laid-back.
Lafayette St. just south of St. Mark’s Place, next to the Public Theatre (of which it is a part)
B/D/F to Broadway/Lafayette or 6 to Astor Place
It’s a high, poorly designed room with tables in the main area by the stage and a small bar area with more tables separated from the front tables by a balcony and wide columns that block your view of the stage. The sound is remarkably lousy, especially for such a swanky room. It’s a ticketed venue, so people don’t hang out here. Food and drinks are expensive: beer is served in flutes rather than pint glasses. The Nazi factor is pretty nonexistent, although the door staff frequently doesn’t have a clue who’s playing or when.This venue frequently sells out: if you’re planning to see a popular act here, make sure you get tix at the box office which is open in the early evening before shows. They don’t have many good acts here anymore, although they’ll surprise you sometimes.
Bleecker between Sullivan and Thompson, north side of the street
A/C/E/B/D/F to West 4th St., take the exit on the south side
Too bad this place books mostly Pearl Jam and Janis Joplin wannabes from Long Island and Jersey, because the sound is consistently good and it’s pretty laid-back: as you leave, the door staff will thank you for coming, no joke. Beer is fairly cheap although drinks aren’t. The tables in the back in front of the stage have waitress service. It can get pretty loud here, so you might want to think about taking a seat at the front bar or standing along the rail to your right. Sundays they have free live band karaoke with several members of Plastic Beef, which is either wickedly fun or sheer hell, depending on how you perceive it.
58 Leonard St., Tribeca
6/N/R/Q/W/J/M/Z to Canal and walk 5 blocks south on Broadway, take a right on Leonard.
Disabuse yourself of any notion that this is a remotely cool place. It’s now an all-ages venue, and they REALLY like wristbands: one to show you’ve paid admission, another if you want to drink (they’ll card you even if you’re in in the band!), and probably another for your pee-pee if you want to use the bathroom. The big main room upstairs is where the touring indie rock bands (and, to the club’s credit, hip-hop acts) play; there is also music in the tap bar one flight down and the “old office” on the third level down. The sound in the main room is ok to good. It’s hit-and-miss in the tap bar and on the lower level. As with the Mercury, nobody hangs out here anymore: the only people who come here to drink are tourists. Sometimes they have beer specials, but otherwise it’s expensive. There’s also a Nazi factor: because of encroaching luxury housing, smokers outside are kept behind a velvet rope outside and barked at by the door staff. Officious interns with walkie-talkies wander around, sometimes outnumbering the customers. The quality of the acts here has declined as well, although sometimes they’ll have a good punk or ska night. Be aware that a lot of New York bands won’t play here because of how badly the bands on the Knitting Factory’s label were treated when the new ownership took over.
Laila Lounge
N 7th between Berry and Wythe, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave.
the club’s website is useless
Trendoid bar posing as acoustic music venue. When the downstairs room was open, they had some good bands. Now they put singer-songwriters in the window to your left as you walk in. The PA is a little Fisher-Price thing, so it’s impossible to hear the music unless you’re right on top of the stage, considering the din of the trust fund kids yakking and posing for each other at the bar in back. Drinks are expensive. No cover, no Nazi factor but no real reason to come here either unless your friend is playing and begs you to come out.
***RATED BEST MANHATTAN VENUE 2007***
92 Ave. B just north of 10th St., around the corner from Life Cafe
L to 1st Ave or 4/6/N/R/L to Union Square, you can catch the M14 crosstown bus if you want a shorter walk. Look for the M14B which goes down Ave. B.
There’s the bar in front, music room with tables in the back to the right. The sound is consistently excellent: it’s a cozy room. The crowd is what’s left of the old East Village, neighborhood people and an uncommonly nice bar staff. They have 2 for 1 happy hour til 8 and the drinks are cheap and strong. Their jukebox of obscure old R&B and garage music is legendary. And every New York band has at one time or another used their vintage photo booth (which still works fine) for band shots. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor. Their weekend doorman does a good job keeping the underage tourists out. The music is generally retro: country, garage, surf, bar bands, reliably listenable and frequently first-rate. With the decline of the East Village, Lakeside has become a prestige venue in addition to being a great hangout bar: bands love to play here because it’s such an oasis of decency in the midst of what’s becoming a suburban hell.
288 Lenox Ave. (124/125)
Any Westside train to 125th St.
Long-running Harlem jazz club with their own vintage Hammond B3 organ onstage. Not reviewed as/of 5/08
93 2nd Ave between 5th and 6th Sts.
F/V to 2nd Ave., 6 to Astor Place or R to 8th St.
The prototypical loud bodega basement room, high frequencies bouncing all over the place. Bands play downstairs in the long, narrow stone cellar, a little stage up front, small bar in the back. Not a Nazi place, nice enough people running it. The bands are hit and miss: this place seems to have picked up some of the spillover from when the Continental and Sin-e closed, i.e. the louder trendoid bands along with what’s left of the Brooklyn/Queens punk contingent. Drinks are kind of pricy. This isn’t a bad place but it doesn’t have really have anything to recommend it either. The upstairs bar gets mobbed with tourists and NYU kids.
Ludlow between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
What the Bleecker Street strip was to the 90s, the Living Room is to the zeros, a place for singer-songwriters with big dreams of stardom but nothing in the way of talent or originality to play to their unsophisticated friends who have taken the train in from Long Island or Westchester to see them. There’s a bar in front as you walk in, the main music room in back behind a heavy curtain, with a smaller music room upstairs. The sound downstairs is mediocre, bordering on really bad: the room has a good PA system, but nobody seems to be able to make it work. The upstairs room is smaller and the sound is equally iffy. The downstairs becomes a mobscene of cluelessly loud, affluent Connecticut and Westchester kids on the weekends. Drinks are weak and expensive: upon entering the music room, you will be accosted within seconds by a surly waitperson. Have a soda or a cup of tea. Other than Central Park Summerstage, this is the most Nazi place in town. Carry your guitar or ukelele or something that looks like an instrument and tell the door guy you’re playing, or bring a passport for ID because even if you’re in your sixties, they’ll want to scan your license with their ID scanner (the scanner doesn’t work on passports). What the door guy does with your Social Security number and personal information is unknown. The staff here is uncommonly rude, from the door people to the waitstaff to the management. The Living Room validates Mike Dukakis’ old comment about a fish rotting from the head down.
Greenpoint Ave. & Franklin St, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G to Greenpoint Ave. or just walk from the Bedford Ave. L, it’s about 20 minutes on foot. Neighborhood bar with frequent indie rock bands and the occasional songwriter. Not reviewed as of 4/08.
237 W 42nd St. between 7/8th Ave.
To the right of the big main downstairs room, B.B. King’s, is the more recent of New York’s two blues bars (long-running Terra Blues on Bleecker is the other). It’s pretty much what you would expect for this neighborhood, a swankily appointed, dimlit tourist bar with overpriced pub grub. But the staff are nice! And they don’t charge a cover for the occasionally superb performers who play here, both national touring artists and local acts, who generally play two sets starting at 8. Drinks are pricy; the crowd is a mix of tourists who just wandered in and people who actually came for the music, and listen. The sound is excellent, just as good as it is in the larger room. Absolutely no Nazi factor, either. This is a real nice place to see music.
245 Grand St. between Driggs and Roebling, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave. or J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk along Havemeyer past the bus depot to Grand and hang a left
Straddling the line between coffeeshop and bar, this somewhat claustrophobic, poorly ventilated space has a small stage to the right as you walk into the back where bands sometimes play. They don’t have music every night; when they do, it tends to be jazz or hip-hop. Usually, there’s no cover. Food and drinks aren’t cheap and you may have to wait awhile to get served; the staff is easily distracted here. No Nazi factor, though. Former Psychedelic Fur Joe McGinty plays piano for karaoke on Monday nights at 10, which can be a hoot, or it can be really good: McGinty knows a lot of obscure art-rock songs as well as the Furs catalog, so he’s several cuts above most people who do this. Be aware that in the summer it may not be airconditioned and therefore absolutely sweltering here.
***RATED BEST BROOKLYN VENUE 2007***
Corner of Metropolitan and Havemeyer, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, across the street from Black Betty
L/G to Lorimer, walk alongside the BQE slightly downhill past the pizz place and under the overpass, the club is about 5 blocks from the subway.
You walk into a big, hangar-like room like Bowery Ballroom without the balconies and the first thing you notice is how well the place has been tricked out for sound. The second thing you notice is the sonics: this is Brooklyn’s best-sounding venue, hands down. There’s a long bar to your right, tables on your left. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expens