New York is a melting pot for art and music. Luckily, we Long Islanders are exposed to many opportunities to see great live music. Local and national acts are easily accessible at the many venues we have at our disposal throughout the New York City area.
Listed below are the top five venues for live music in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens and in Nassau and Suffolk counties for you music junkies out there. Order yourself a martini, tequila and Coke or an ice water and happy venue-hopping. Don’t forget who the designated driver is!
We’ll start with Brooklyn, a mecca for artists and yuppies alike. From the free spirits roaming the streets of Williamsburg to the Hasidic Jews in Borough Park, Brooklyn has many sights and sounds. It also has some great music venues to check out.
1. Trash Bar gives you anything from experimental music to rock to jazz and you can see live music on any given night of the week. The bar is located in Williamsburg and has a well-deserved reputation for its music. It prides itself on having the cheapest food and drinks in the area (and they've completely redone their stage and sound system recently). A “raw” experience in viewing live music, free Tater Tots when you buy a beer and plenty of license plates and junk yard nostalgia complement Trash Bar and make it work.
2. Although South Paw has a relatively small stage, that certainly doesn’t stop it from being cool. Located in Park Slope, it has a large, 5,000 square foot capacity and hosts all types of bands and DJs. A favorite of mine, Antibalas, a Brooklyn-based Latin funk band play this place. To me, it’s a real music lover’s venue. There’s a lot of tradition here although it’s only been around since 2002 and has a well known reputation among artists and musicians in the area. Southpaw was at one point a discount store and features a second bar called Downsouth below it.
3. For the rough and tumble crowd Hank’s Saloon is the spot (in a good way, of course). One of the oldest bars in Brooklyn, this place has diversity. Hipsters, cowboys, punks, and everything else, there’s a country vibe going on here and some. Mondays they have live band country karaoke and offer music seven nights a week. Lots of dancing and BBQ go on here. Sundays they offer free admission from 9:30 until 1:00am, $2 beers and free BBQ. That ain’t too shabby in this town!
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