too much music! I don't know where to start!

February 12, 2009 1:43 PM

Is there an efficient way to find upcoming music events in the greater Boston area? The Phoenix's website is totally retarded, and there seem to be way to many venues to make searching one at a time worthwhile. I'd also like to be able to weed out 'led zep cover band with standing gig at Irish pub' type things and look only for unique events- mostly in the alt-rock/pop genre. Thank you, Bostonians!
posted by genmonster to media & arts (10 answers total)

WZBC Concert Report
WMBR Rock Concert Report
WMBR Experimental Concert Report
Under 21 in Boston
Going.com
Last.FM Events

I would recommend Yahoo's Upcoming, but it looks like Boston has totally stopped using except for me and 2 other people, and it's really slow.
posted by mkb at 1:51 PM on February 12, 2009

I used to rely on ticketmaster.com and just browse through pages and pages of music events - time consuming, but it usually covered all the main venues.

Now I usually check out the events listing on last.fm. you can change location based on where you are, and even though it's a wiki it's usually pretty accurate. it's also great for finding smaller house shows in allston or on college campuses that you might not normally hear about. if you have an account it's also extremely useful to keep track of shows you're going to and see what's coming up.
posted by sarahj at 1:53 PM on February 12, 2009

Just use that iTunes thingy.
posted by grateful at 2:03 PM on February 12, 2009

Hello! THE NOISE!

Also, check The Noise Board. One of the best music communities in the universe, IMHO.
posted by pazazygeek at 2:06 PM on February 12, 2009

When I lived in Boston, I used Pollstar though it was sometimes too broad/mainstream.
posted by rmless at 2:13 PM on February 12, 2009

Sonic Living
posted by ocherdraco at 2:16 PM on February 12, 2009

thanks guys! if anyone needs me on march 3, I'll be seeing Fountains of Wayne at the Iron horse!
posted by genmonster at 2:18 PM on February 12, 2009

I think they're playing on March 1st (with the Everyday Visuals opening for them - they're amazing). Also, Iron Horse isn't in the Boston area; it's in Northhampton.
posted by allen.spaulding at 3:41 PM on February 12, 2009

What? You people... fssh! The Noise? Pollstar?... NO.


TourFilter & The 'Nac & BIB


I miss the ol' bean... Stupid Portland is boring...

(on preview the 'Nac is down... hopefully that's temporary... great blog all about live shows in Boston)
posted by MeatLightning at 4:54 PM on February 12, 2009

If you use iTunes or Winamp or Songbird or a handful of other MP3 softwares to listen to music, you can set it up to send what you listen to to last.fm. You can then get event recommendations (and an RSS feed of them). I've been subscribed to my own recommendations for at least the last year or so, and it's great. I tend to get notices about concerts at least a few days before tickets even go on sale, so for the popular shows I'm able to jump in and buy tickets while they're still available. And the recommendations area is pretty wide, so I get notices about Worcester/Manchester/Providence shows, too.
posted by Plutor at 8:01 AM on February 16, 2009