Attended a great open mic night last night at the Mr troy inn. A lot of my old haunts closed though. With that being said Mr smalls in millvale always has stuff going on

Jergels, Crafthouse, and Smiling Moose have good music line ups

Super small venue, but check out Pittsburgh Winery in the Strip! They have great local acts that play and it’s a great group that runs it! Very intimate, great wine, and really talented artists.

Thunderbird in Lawrenceville for live music. Piano's n Stuff in Blawnox, Brighton Music in Ross for stores. Not sure if Pittsburgh Guitars South Side is still open?

Check out Mr Smalls theatre. Good mix of shows there.

Club Cafe is a nice venue. Good mix of local and national acts.

There's a decent amount of bars with music/smaller venues in pgh. We got spirit, cattivo, thunderbird cafe, brillobox, Mr roboto project, Mr smalls/fun house, black forge coffee house, bottle rocket social hall, the government center. there are a few others that I can't think of at the moment. Music scene is mainly rock (punk/indie). For guitar shops two I know of there's one in McKees rocks called Hollowood guitars and one in the Southside called Pittsburgh guitars.

thunderbirds venue is surprisingly awesome for small shows.

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Check here:

http://nevertellmetheodds.org/

It's not as active as it used to be, but it's where I used to go to find what was happening each weekend.

Appreciate it.

N’Stuff Music

your mom

Con Alma if you like Jazz. Spirit, Thunderbird. Millvale music fest and Deuchtown fest in the summers have a ton of local bands.

That was a great open mic. I am glad I got a chance to play! There were some really talented musicians. How often do they open mic?

Browse shows on the pittsburgh city paper’s website

Pittsburgh guitars is alive and well

This is the best list, you should be searching these venues socials/events pages. Also check out Roxian, Smiling Moose, Bridge, 222 Ormsby. Tons of local bars and breweries that book shows; many more in the suburbs, if you are able to travel. Plenty of talent in the area in my experience.

Very cool!

These are my favorite Pittsburgh bands. Some real great songs on here. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5lqz59a6TNlZW8Efx9PSOC?si=ao5C3XXrSnCr9dB15Flh1A

Awesome if you get with the right bands.

Right now the hot bands are:

Ames Harding Mourning Sounds Back Alley Sounds The Moat Rats Sierra Sellers

There are a lot more but you'll hear those regularly throughout the city.

I love Club Cafe.

Here we go, Steelers, here we go

Empire music in Lebo and nstuff music are also great

Government center, Mr smalls, Black Forge Coffee, Smiling Moose are some good venues. Mainly Punk and Indie is the majority of the scene with good amounts of rnb, jazz, rap, and metal as well

I went because my friend was hosting. But I think they do it once a month

Tons of little bars have bands playing in the corner on the weekends. Lots of genres.

I gigged around for years until covid. Trying to get back on the horse now. Gonna play a short Wednesday gig at Arsenal Lanes next month (yes, they have you set up on a bowling lane to play).

Other places we played were Double L, Arsenal Ciderhouse, Billy's Roadhouse, The Park House, The Thunderbird, Mr. Smalls, Wigle Barrelhouse. Gonna miss Nied's Hotel, Hambones, and Full Pint Wild Side; but there's new places I'm excited to check out like Whisper Nest, Rear End Gastropub, and a new location Lucky Sign Distillery just opened. A friend's band is playing a bar called Shooti's in a couple months.

Not to mention the big music festivals in the summer. Deutschtown, RANT, and Millvale has three festivals - one specifically for music but the two others have lots of bands.

As for guitar shops, my go-to's are Pianos N Stuff, Brighton Music, and Waddell's Music. I've been to Hollowood Music and Pittsburgh Guitars, but not in a long time. I thought Backstage Guitars closed, but it looks like they just switched to only repairs and lessons.

You covered all the places I was going to name!

If OP wants a musical instrument store pretty sure there’s one in McKee’s Rocks?

Collision

Where are you looking online? There is a ton of stuff on a variety of FB groups happening. The downside is using Facebook.

Want to throw a +1 out there for 222 Ormsby.
Also check out Green Beacon Gallery. It's a bit of a hike from the city, but it's also a DIY art venue as well.

Government center (bar/cafe/record store), Thunderbird, Whisper Nest, Club cafe, Collision, Brillow, Mr Smalls/funhouse, Roboto, Rock Room, Gooskis, Enclave, plus all the dope basement venues in S. Oakland, Bloomfield, and Mt Washington

Tons of bands. Good rock bands:

Natural Rat, Same, Ex Pilots, Water Trash, Silver Car Crash, Rex Tycoon, Sleeping Witch & Saturn, The Zells, Gundy, Merce Lemon, among others.

The scene is thriving at the moment. Many talented songwriters and performers dahwn here

Sweet!

Good luck getting back out there.

This is where I'm looking online. Really trying to get a better picture of the scene from people than event postings, if that makes sense.

ah yeah, that makes sense. As a guy playing in a band around Pittsburgh on occasion, it's difficult to remember to promote on Reddit too.

Next Saturday night, the 17th there's rock/metal events happening at Green Beacon in Greensburgh, and Black Forge in McKees rocks. Both are stellar lineups, making the decision pretty tough!

Metal madness returns to pummel the Green Beacon Gallery with a turbulently assorted lineup:

Prime 8

Skull splittin' silverback pounding heavy rock

https://www.facebook.com/Prime8Music

Úzkost

Blackened and doomed death metal

https://uzkost-band.bandcamp.com/

Bag of Humans

"Avant-garde Extreme/Atmospheric Metal from Baltimore" - Encyclopedia Metallum

http://bagofhumans.com/

Nullum

Heavy. And heavy again.

https://nullumnullum.bandcamp.com/

Neostem

Grungy alt rock from pgh

https://neostem.bandcamp.com/

Not My Farm

Solo electronics performed by Mr. Nick Perney of Grybus

The winner of the ugliest christmas sweater will be announced prior to the final set of the night!

Doors 6pm // Show 6:45pm

Suggested $15 donation cover at the door (or pay what you can)

All ages // BYOB 21+

Free parking at the Albright parking lot behind the gallery (GPS to "Offut St. Greensburg PA"). Please enter through front entrance on Pittsburgh St.

All gallery artwork will be available for browsing and purchase during the show.

This event will take place between stages on two floors. Schedule for bands is forthcoming, check the event page discussion for updates.

DON'T MISS THIS BLOWOUT OF A SHOW!

Tentative schedule subject to change:

6:45 Not My Farm (downstairs)

7:50 Nullum (downstairs)

8:20 Uzkost (upstairs)

9:00 Bag of Humans (upstairs)

9:50 Prime 8 (upstairs)

10:25 Neostem (downstaris)

Event by Black Forge Coffee, Some Die Nameless and 3 others

Black Forge Coffee

Tickets

www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/1501319

Public · Anyone on or off Facebook

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/1501319

Some Die Nameless Year End Bash 2022

December 17, 2022 - 6:30pm - ALL AGES

$12.50 advance / $15.00 at the door

The Renfields - Arkham, Massachusetts

with

Johnny and the Razorblades, Rocky Dennis Face, The Danzas, Diechotomy

Lineup Subject To Change

What type of music are you into? Pittsburgh has a pretty good hardcore/metal/punk/indie scene.

I see everyone already suggested a lot of places to check out but you should make sure to check out Preserving Underground in New Kensington. They do a lot of shows there and also one of the best record stores you can find.

I saw a few mention good shops too. Backstage is the best place to go for repairs, hands down.

Yeah. From the internet alone I would have had no idea that the scene was this lively.

I like it all. I suppose I enjoy creative blues more than anything, but I do enjoy most music.

Skimmed through -- things that slipped through the cracks:

• Pittsburgh Modular is based here, which is cool. There are some overlaps with the electronic/improvised music scenes. Also, overlap with the contemporary dance scene like PearlArts. Along those lines The Space Upstairs hosts monthly collaborations with musicians (mainly jazz or jazz adjacent) and the in-house dance company.
• Whisper Nest is a cool bar venue. It's comfortable.
• Journalism and preview-writing about local music has nose-dived pretty badly. Surely a national trend (Bookforum is closing up?!?!), but the lack of reviews of shows and albums, I think, hurts any momentum that the various local scenes could have. It also creates an archival void.
• Did anyone mention the vinyl pressing plant that is forthcoming? That's exciting.
• Fungus Books is also great for more rare (I suppose?) vinyl and books. Awesome spot!
• Pittsburgh has a lot of waves regarding music scenes. I feel like the creative jazz scene is perking up since a few organizers and players moved to town a few years ago.
• Recording studios: Just did a session at Audible Images. Sounded great and was painless. Had good experiences at Mr. Smalls (doing a small chamber trio collection of pieces) and The Church Recording Studio (rock and cont. classical/improv stuff)
• And the contemporary classical scene is anchored by strong programs at Pitt, CMU, and Duquesne. There are a few musician-run ensembles doing great work here: Kamraton and NAT 28, come to mind. I think Alia Musica is on hiatus. This also goes in waves with whoever is graduating and sticking around town.

Thank you!

It's terrible. Bars/clubs do a horrific job putting forth actual talent with good new music. Lots of power punk garage crap and below average cover bands working for pennies. It's mostly pay-to-play garbage

As far as guitar stores, there's also backstage guitars in Lawrenceville, empire music in Mt. Lebanon, NStuff music in blawnox, and guitar centers in Monroeville and Robinson.

Sadly, the music scene in terms of venues has definitely retracted in recent years, in part due to the pandemic (or asshole neighbors for James Street). There doesn't seem to be a very well-connected or cohesive music scene of any sort here but there are some great artists/bands around.

Speaking of which, there's also vinoski winery, though it's a bit of a drive. Interesting venue with some good acts, but a very non-traditional and non-ideal setup for music.

There's also Jergel's rhythm grill a bit north of the city that has some decent old national acts, some of which used to fills stadiums in the 70s and 80s. Kinda shitty crowd/vibe but some shows are great.

Thanks for asking this! I might be moving to Pittsburg this spring and love seeing local music! Following this thread!

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