The Best Places for Live Music in Tampa

Tampa, FL has a great and expanding local music scene. Just about every night of the week you can find a band playing somewhere in the city. So, where are the best places to go for live music? Well, there are a lot. There's the Orpheum, Crowbar, New World Brewery in Ybor City, then there's Janus Landing and the State Theatre in Downtown St. Petersburg.

The Orpheum has been around as long as I can remember. I've seen Modest Mouse, The Whigs, and Need New Body there, but almost every local band in Tampa plays there, as well. The Orpheum is kind of like a right of passage for Tampa rock bands. A lot of bands play their first shows there, and a lot of bands also make the Orpheum their routine venue to gig at. The Orpheum has shows almost every night of the week and usually has good drink specials.

Crowbar is probably the newest venue in Tampa. I like to think of it as the "Bizarro" Orpheum. It's located on the opposite end of Ybor City, it's about the same capacity, and a lot of the same bands play there. It's quite a bit nicer then most of the venues in Tampa, most likely because it's the newest. Crowbar books shows seven days a week, and the cover is fairly priced.

New World Brewery is a cool bar hidden away just behind the Orpheum. The New World Brewery seems to always have the best quality of bands, on any given night. You never know what to expect when you go to the Brewery, either. I've seen punk bands, indie rock bands, DJ's, and solo artists at New World. The New World Breweries specialty is beer and wine. They have hundreds of imported and domestic beers to choose from.

Jannus Landing is the place to go to see your favorite touring bands. It has a 1,000 person capacity and is an outdoor venue. It's located in a courtyard that is surrounded by bars and dwellings. When the concert starts, all of the surrounding bars open their back doors and serve drinks to the audience. I've seen The Flaming Lips, The Misfits, and Gwar at Jannus Landing.