NYC Music Venues
The rooms that matter, from arenas to clubs, sorted by borough. Tap any venue for its schedule, subway lines, and insider notes.
Manhattan
Madison Square Garden
~20,000 cap
"The World's Most Famous Arena," stacked above Penn Station, has hosted everyone from Ali to Elton's final bow.
BDFMRadio City Music Hall
~6,015 cap
The 1932 Art Deco cathedral of showbiz, all gold ceilings, the Great Stage, and the Mighty Wurlitzer.
ACE1Hammerstein Ballroom
~3,500 cap
A grand 1906 tiered ballroom inside the Manhattan Center by Penn Station, ornate balcony boxes stacked over a big general-admission floor.
2345The Rooftop at Pier 17
~3,400 cap
An open-air rooftup stage in the Seaport with the Brooklyn Bridge and skyline as the backdrop.
ACBDTerminal 5
~3,000 cap
A three-floor Hell's Kitchen box that's the default step between club and theater for rising acts.
123Beacon Theatre
~2,894 cap
An Upper West Side jewel box from 1929, the Allman Brothers' spiritual home and a perfect mid-size room.
ABCDApollo Theater
~1,506 cap
Harlem's world-changing 1914 landmark, home of Amateur Night and the launchpad for American music itself.
LNQRWebster Hall
~1,500 cap
An East Village institution since 1886, reopened after a full refit, part ballroom, part sweatbox.
NQRWThe Town Hall
~1,495 cap
A 1921 landmark built by suffragists, famous for its democratic "no bad seat" design.
L456Irving Plaza
~1,025 cap
A Union Square rock club since the '70s, low ceilings, balcony horseshoe, and decades of legends.
NQRWSony Hall
~1,000 cap
A plush subterranean supper club under the Paramount Hotel, reborn as a seated-and-standing music room.
ACELRacket NYC
~650 cap
A Chelsea multi-room that picked up the baton from the old Highline Ballroom.
6NRWGramercy Theatre
~650 cap
A former 1930s movie house near Gramercy Park, now a compact theater-style rock room.
JZBDBowery Ballroom
~575 cap
Widely called the best club in America, a 1920s building turned near-perfect Lower East Side room.
ACELCity Winery
~300 cap
A working winery, restaurant, and intimate concert hall on Pier 57, with seated tables and Hudson River views.
FMJZMercury Lounge
~250 cap
A tiny Houston Street back room that's been the proving ground for two generations of NYC bands.
ABCDBlue Note
~200 cap
The Greenwich Village jazz institution, tiny tables, world-class players, two sets a night.
Brooklyn
Barclays Center
~19,000 cap
Brooklyn's weathered-steel arena over the Atlantic Terminal hub, the borough's answer to the Garden.
QBKings Theatre
~3,000 cap
A 1929 Loew's Wonder Theatre in Flatbush, restored to jaw-dropping French-baroque splendor.
BQR2Brooklyn Paramount
~2,700 cap
A lavish 1928 movie palace, dark for decades inside a college gym, gorgeously reborn as a venue in 2024.
LGBrooklyn Steel
~1,800 cap
A converted steel-fabrication warehouse on the Greenpoint/Williamsburg line, Bowery Presents' big room.
GLWarsaw
~1,000 cap
A show inside the Polish National Home in Greenpoint, where the concession stand sells pierogi.
LMElsewhere
~700 cap
A multi-room Bushwick complex, Hall, Zone One, the Loft, and a rooftop, running late into the night.
LGBrooklyn Bowl
~600 cap
Bowling lanes, fried chicken, and a full concert stage under one Williamsburg roof.
LGMusic Hall of Williamsburg
~550 cap
Bowery Ballroom's Brooklyn sibling, a tight three-level room a block from the waterfront.