Maybe a modern alt-weekly?
January 27, 2020 10:41 AM Subscribe
What are the best ways to learn about local live performances nowadays?
We want to get out of the house more often to see more live music and theater. We are often stymied by this because I don't really want to wade through dozens of venue and performer websites looking for show dates. We have The Boston Calendar around here, but it casts too wide a net (both geographically and thematically) to be easily browsed.
How does the modern internet-connected person keep tabs on what's going on and what shows to go see? My ideal version of this would let me get a weekly digest of upcoming shows at a handful of venues that I can select (and maybe add touring artists that I'm interested in because they're going to hit larger venues that I don't care about as much). Does something like that exist?
We want to get out of the house more often to see more live music and theater. We are often stymied by this because I don't really want to wade through dozens of venue and performer websites looking for show dates. We have The Boston Calendar around here, but it casts too wide a net (both geographically and thematically) to be easily browsed.
How does the modern internet-connected person keep tabs on what's going on and what shows to go see? My ideal version of this would let me get a weekly digest of upcoming shows at a handful of venues that I can select (and maybe add touring artists that I'm interested in because they're going to hit larger venues that I don't care about as much). Does something like that exist?
Are you interested in specific types of music? In DC, I tend to find out about the majority of shows via a handful of email lists and through Facebook events posted by venues + the people putting them together.
posted by ryanshepard at 11:40 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ryanshepard at 11:40 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is not exactly what you're looking for since it is artist-based rather than venue-based, but I use an app called Bandsintown to keep up with concert dates. It requires you to plug in the artists you're interested in following, and you get alerted when one of them is playing a show near you. It will try to notify you about "related" artists, but you can opt out of that if you like. It's also possible to browse your tracked artists, or all artists in town, which is awesome for finding your new favorite band through the power of serendipity on a random free Tuesday night.
As for tracking shows by venue, one imperfect solution for receiving digests of upcoming shows, (and one you might be doing anyway,) is just to sign up to the mailing list when you buy tickets online at your favorite spots.
On the blog front, check out Boston Hassle for your indie/underground music (and art and film) needs!
posted by prewar lemonade at 12:26 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
As for tracking shows by venue, one imperfect solution for receiving digests of upcoming shows, (and one you might be doing anyway,) is just to sign up to the mailing list when you buy tickets online at your favorite spots.
On the blog front, check out Boston Hassle for your indie/underground music (and art and film) needs!
posted by prewar lemonade at 12:26 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Pollstar.com is a good resource -- search your city in the search bar at the top.
posted by Clustercuss at 12:46 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Clustercuss at 12:46 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Instagram is good for this. The venues in my area are pretty good about keeping their gram up to date.
posted by dudemanlives at 12:49 PM on January 27, 2020
posted by dudemanlives at 12:49 PM on January 27, 2020
Similar to prewar lemonade, I use an app/online tool called Songkick and track specific artists I am interested in and it emails me (or could give me a notification on my phone if I had it enabled) when they are coming to the cities I have identified interest in. The nice thing about Songkick is that you can also just take a look at all events listed in the city you'd like to look at (I use this a lot before travelling) and see everything that is going on. You can also just look at a venue to see all scheduled upcoming shows and it has links to where you can buy tickets. The only downside I have found is that occasionally they are a little slow on notifying me when a concert has been schedule and only send it after tickets have already gone on sale, which is less useful for popular events that may sell out.
Joining the mailing lists for the venues is also a good way to stay on top of things, especially if you are interested in less well known bands or artists without a web presence.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:51 PM on January 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
Joining the mailing lists for the venues is also a good way to stay on top of things, especially if you are interested in less well known bands or artists without a web presence.
posted by urbanlenny at 12:51 PM on January 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
My husband and I get out a fair bit, and so have gotten this question from a lot of friends. We've heard rumors of good local calendars, but have never found any that are a good local digest of all kinds of things we'd want to see. For plays and orchestral performances we've bought enough season tix that we now get mailers for the upcoming seasons, and that's a good way to get a sense for all the upcoming shows at once - but each only covers one production group, usually. We've also used Bandisintown, but otherwise we mostly pick through the livenation, ticketmaster, wilbur, sinclair, and other weekly emails once every few weeks. There's enough repeat that you don't need to do it each week (and you can save them all to one email folder). Also, as you see more shows, some of the big ticket sellers get to know who you've seen before and better target the acts you see, at least. But I'm watching this thread to see if anyone recommends a magical Phoenix-like resource we haven't seen yet!
posted by ldthomps at 1:33 PM on January 27, 2020
posted by ldthomps at 1:33 PM on January 27, 2020
For cities (Seattle, Chicago, NYC, Raleigh, Portland, Austin, Grand Rapids) that I’ve personally experienced a robust online presence, FB and local alt-weeklies are my goto for goings on about town. Having recently moved to Boston—I’ve been nothing but infuriated/baffled by the lack of online around here. (For instance: 2nd month here there was a fundraising 10K that blocked off my street, complete with spectators and cheering drum circles. No mention in any of the neighborhood/community/city Facebook pages, event calendars, nor twitter accounts. Just light pole flyers.)
tl;dr: Boston seems particularly bad about online promotion, so I’m eagerly following along.
posted by curoi at 2:08 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
tl;dr: Boston seems particularly bad about online promotion, so I’m eagerly following along.
posted by curoi at 2:08 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:52 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]