About the scene
The A.
Atlanta's reputation as a hip-hop capital is well-earned, but the city's live music ecosystem stretches far beyond that — every neighborhood maintains its own scene with the venues to match. Little Five Points and East Atlanta Village are where the indie, punk, and funk lifeblood is, with rooms like Variety Playhouse, The EARL, and the Star Bar booking everything from singer-songwriter rounds to noise sets to soul revues to garage rock.
West Midtown's Terminal West handles touring indie, alt, and dance. The Tabernacle keeps mid-major touring acts in a converted church downtown. The Masquerade — split into Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory rooms — is the city's everyone-passes-through stop for metal, electronic, and emo. Aisle 5, Smith's Olde Bar, and Eddie's Attic round out the small and medium club tier, and State Farm Arena plus Mercedes-Benz Stadium handle the arena tier when the acts are big enough.
Atlanta's musical identity is fundamentally Southern — funk and gospel underpin most of the local artist scenes, even when the surface genre is indie or punk — and the city is a major waypoint for touring acts between the Southeast and Northeast circuits. Friday and Saturday nights have unusually deep show menus; weeknight shows tend to be where the smaller local bills and tribute acts land. The Atlanta feed on Rager covers all of it.
This week in Atlanta
Upcoming shows
Tonight
Tomorrow
40 Watt Club · Athens, GA
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Smith's Olde Bar · Midtown
Fri, Jul 17
Smith's Olde Bar · Midtown
The Tabernacle · Centennial Park
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