Boston's large music venues thrive while smaller clubs struggle post-pandemic
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Boston's live music scene looks much different than it used to. Bars with stages and smaller clubs hosting local talent used to play side by side with larger venues bringing in national touring acts.
- But these days those giant concert venues are big business, and the smaller clubs are on the way out.
Driving the news: When concerts (and everything else) shut down in 2020, two enormous Boston venues were already in the works and opened just in time last year to capitalize on a post-pandemic live music revival.
- MGM Music Hall is a monster 5,000-person facility right by Fenway Park.
- Roadrunner, a new venue from promoters Bowery Boston, holds 3,500.
- The 2,000-person Big Night Live, opened in 2019, is part of the revamped TD Garden entertainment center in the West End.
Meanwhile: Smaller locally-owned clubs like Somerville's ONCE and Thunder Road and the Great Scott in Allston all shut down before or during the pandemic.
What's happening: Live Nation, the owner of some of Boston's biggest venues including Leader Bank Pavilion, the House of Blues and MGM Music Hall Fenway, took in $5.6 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2023, up 27%.
By the numbers: Boston is one of the top live music cities in the world, according to an analysis by ticket seller SeatPick.
- We tied for eighth place with Denver.
- London got the top spot, with Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Nashville in the top five.
What they found: The Boston area has 72 music venues — more than Denver and Seattle — and had 1080 concerts planned in 2023 and 2024, according to data from Songkick.
- Austin, a town known for live music, has 99 venues and 856 shows planned.
What we're watching: The demand for smaller concerts can't rival the crowds flocking to the 2,000-plus-person spaces, but there is a market. It just isn't necessarily in Boston proper.
- 240 people can squeeze into Deep Cuts in Medford, a new brewery with a steady calendar of live music.
- Faces in Malden, another brewery, has shows all week.
- The Jungle in Union Square, Somerville, opened in 2019 and survived.
- Grace by Nia in the Seaport has live jazz, soul and R&B most nights.