Austin Live Music

With the recent boom in the local music scene in Austin, live music is as easy to find as beer. When it comes to bars and clubs specializing in live music, the options are seemingly limitless. Austin has been known as the Live Music Capital and for good reason. There are a dazzling array of live music venues in this music mecca, featuring an eclectic style of bands or their own unique niche. We've put together a list of tons of live music venues and a description of each to help you on your way to finding that perfect venue you've been looking for and seeing some of the great live music in Austin.

Here are some of the best local hot spots to watch live music in Austin, Texas:

Antone's

213 W. 5th Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.474.5314
Antone's opened up in the summer of 1975 and was the first club on 6th street. It's now located on 5TH and Lavaca Street. It's known worldwide as the home of the blues. Its founder Clifford Antone, God bless his soul, made a great place to enjoy music, and now the club offers a diverse style of eclectic music including, country, rock, R & B and funk.

Barker House Concerts

1436 Circle Ridge, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.327.7618
Concerts are held in the Westlake Hills home of Paul Barker. Cocerts are held once a month on Saturdays. Seating is a scant 70 people but the quality of music along with its small crowd is magical.

Big Red Sun

1102 East Ceasar Chavez, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.480.0688
A bar with a garden holds music performances of all kinds every Wednesday and Saturdays. Big Red Sun is an outdoor venue.

Carlos 'n Charlies

5973 Hiline Road, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.266.1683
Nestled along one of the awesome great lakes surrounding Austin, this venue has country and rock and roll shows. There's two stages and and dance area plus an outdoor area in the back for concerts.

Cedar Street Courtyard

208 West 4th Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.495.9669
Cedar Street offers an open air courtyard where it hosts cover bands of all styles. From new wave 80's, to R & B, to hard rock, this club has it all 7 days a week. This place also has a great martini selection.

Central Market

4001 North Lamar, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.206.1000
Central Market has an indoor/outdoor cafe with live music. Music is going on every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on their great patio.

Club 115

115 San Jacinto, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.480.0254
Club 115 looks like a 50's upscale lounge with ecclectic music such as jazz, hip-hop and other diverse music. Don't let the looks fool you, it's very laid back and doesn't have an heir of snootyness.

Continental Club

1315 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.441.2444
This place has been an Austin institution since 1957. Want to catch a great rockabilly, blues or rock and roll show?, then this is your place. It's also a great place to see hot rods which are almost always in front of the venue.

Elephant Room

315 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.473.2279
A basement jazz bar since 1991, it offers live jazz every night of the week. It's a hidden gem with a full stocked bar and 20 different kinds of brew. This venue used to be the storage place for fossils and specimens for the University of Texas and in this room they stored some elephant bones, hence the name The Elephant Room.

Emo's

603 Red River, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.505.8541
If punk music or rock is your kind of music, this is your place. Located just off 6th Street and Red River, Emo's has 2 stages. It also sports an outdoor beergarden. Like to people watch? You'll see Austin's most ecclectic bunch.

Freddie's Place

1703 South 1st Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.445.9197
Freddie's is an awesome restaurant/bar with an outdoor stage all sitting beneath some great shaded trees. There's free Live music from Tuesday through Saturday. Hang out and play a friendly game of washers enjoying your beer while listening one of their fine shows.

Giddy Ups

12010 Manchaca Road, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.280.4732
Giddy Ups is a great friendly neighborhood bar in South Austin. You can't get more South Austin feel than this place. There's a variety of local musicians at this venue as well as national shows too.

Headhunters

720 Red River Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.236.9820
This is a great bar to see a diverse style of music. Headhunters has a great menu and sports both an inside and outside stage. The outside stage allows smoking while the inside stage does not. If you're in a band and thinking about playing here, this club has a full time sound engineer and PA for both stages.

La Zona Rosa

612 W. 4th St., Austin, TX; Tel. 512.472.2293
Austin's most electric venue hosts a plethora of local and national acts on its two stages. Expect to find everything from rock and singer/songwriters, Latin and world music to blues and jazz on most nights of the week.

Maggie Mae's

323 East 6th St., Austin, TX; Tel. 512.478.8541
Maggie Mae's has been one of the most popular clubs on 6th Street for many years. Catch famous original Austin musicians here as well as great rock cover bands and enjoy their vast selection of beers!"

Momo's

618 West 6th Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.479.8848
This bar is an Austin staple for live musica and has live bands 7 nights a week. The bar is a combo inside and outside venue with the patio spilling out onto the roof of Katzes Deli.

Red Eyed Fly

715 Red River Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.474.1084
Another fine place to catch Texas punk and rock shows, it's located along the cool Red River strand of nightclubs north of Sixth Street. It's a great place to catch an outdoor show or stroll in their cozy bar for a little more subdued atmosphere.

Stubbs

715 Red River Street, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.474.1084
Stubbs has been consistently named the best music venue in Austin and best spot for ACL Festival. It also has legendary BBQ and well known acts. It now has two stages, a quaint indoor stage great while enjoying some food and also an awesome outdoor stage able to hold a large group for national acts.

The Ghost Room

304 W 4th St,, Austin, TX; Tel. 512.742.2336
The relatively new venue has a anything from local obscure musicians to legendary shows. Although in it's early beginnings, The Ghost Room has a loyal fan base and is growing day by day.

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Austin Bars

Austin has a great diversity in bars and has a theme, location, and atmosphere to suit any taste. From laid back quiet nooks, to blasting dance music, Austin has it all. We've put together a huge list of the most popular watering holes complete with a description of each bar to help you find that perfect spot to have a cold one and let your freak flag fly.

Top 10 Local Austin Bands

We have put together a listing of what believe are the Top 10 Local Austin bands. As you are planning your next night out, be sure and check to see if one of these Hot Austin area favorites are playing and be sure to check them out!