Boston Guide to Large Venues

Guide
Written By HDN Staff

Welcome to Hump Day News guide to big music venues: Boston and Beyond Edition. Looking for medium or small venues instead? Get out there!

Have updates to suggest? Email us at info[at]humpday[dot]news.

 

The Venti Mofos

Big, bad, baller arena-type venues. Some have history and charm, others are corporate creations. For what you pay, you should be getting state of the art sounds and performances by the heavy hitters.

Big Night Live

110 Causeway St, Boston, MA 02114

Web

 

Boch Center Wang Theatre

270 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

Web

 

Fenway Park

4 Jersey St, Boston, MA 02215

Web

 

House of Blues

15 Lansdowne St, Boston, MA 02215

Web

 

Leader Bank Pavilion

290 Northern Ave, Boston, MA 02210

Web

 

MGM Music Hall

2 Lansdowne St; Boston, MA 02215

Web

 

Roadrunner

89 Guest St, Boston, MA 02135

Web

 

Royale

279 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

Web

 

Sanders Theater

45 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Web

Sanders Theater: Live Reviews
The Fabrication of Light
The Fabrication of Light
 

TD Garden

100 Legends Way, Boston, MA 02114

Web

 

The Palladium

261 Main St, Worcester, MA 01608

Web

 
Tracks
Luke Combs: “Joe”
Luke Combs: “Joe”

I picked this track because the title is short.

Jen Kearney: “Spinning”
Jen Kearney: “Spinning”

Shades of Seal’s “Kissed By a Rose” on the intro.

Madlib: “Düsseldorf”
Madlib: “Düsseldorf”

Take your pick from a bowl of two-minute long mixed nuts.

Traxman: “Wetdisk”
Traxman: “Wetdisk”

Clean and squimmish, at a human tempo made for footwork.

Antoni Maiovvi: “Semaphore”
Antoni Maiovvi: “Semaphore”

The debut release from New Haven’s Heatsync Records.

Little Hag: “Hell Yes”
Little Hag: “Hell Yes”

An energizing lyrical refrain.

Moontype: “Long Country”
Moontype: “Long Country”

A jangly, whispy pop surprise.

Enji: “Ulbar”
Enji: “Ulbar”

A piquant hybrid of jazz and Mongolian folk.

youbet: “Deny”
youbet: “Deny”

Stompboxing guitar fun.

Yuvees: “Field Mouse”
Yuvees: “Field Mouse”

A noisy, banging buffet of rock n roll brouhaha.

Sharon Van Etten: “Idiot Box”
Sharon Van Etten: “Idiot Box”

A collab joint creates an alt folk popper.

Horsegirl: “Julie”
Horsegirl: “Julie”

What’s up with this Julie?

Ultra Deluxe: “Housed In The Arctic”
Ultra Deluxe: “Housed In The Arctic”

Everyone gets to sing! Some of them scream too!

Mamalarky: “Feels So Wrong”
Mamalarky: “Feels So Wrong”

Ornate. Baroque. I’d call it “rococo” too but…

Shane Pendergast: “Music Man”
Shane Pendergast: “Music Man”

A gentle acoustic picker.

Sunday Junkie: “Fever Dream”
Sunday Junkie: “Fever Dream”

At some point you just gotta release the album, right?

Space Camp: “Inciting Incident”
Space Camp: “Inciting Incident”

Some kind of glass bottle percussion keeps this train rolling.

Albums
FACS: Wish Defense
FACS: Wish Defense

The Chicago artcore band still has work in the morning.

Really Great: Be The Light On
Really Great: Be The Light On

Melancholy is a thorny crown.

FACS: Still Life In Decay
FACS: Still Life In Decay

The Chicago artcore band has work in the morning.

Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem For Jazz
Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem For Jazz

Angel Bat Dawid versus Mozart in a steel-cage match. Who you got?

Pile: All Fiction
Pile: All Fiction

Pile’s ninth album. Better than Beethoven’s Ninth?

Eddie Japan: Pop Fiction
Eddie Japan: Pop Fiction

Eddie Japan's elegant new wave pop opera, Pop Fiction.

Nighttime: Keeper Is The Heart
Nighttime: Keeper Is The Heart

Go back to the future with Nighttime’s time-traveling wyrd folk spectacle Keeper Is The Heart.

Horse Lords: Comradely Objects
Horse Lords: Comradely Objects

“Fusion” is a genre-descriptor that is constantly on the verge of utter uselessness.

Keeley Forsyth: Limbs
Keeley Forsyth: Limbs

Can we befriend the specter of silence?

Maneka: Dark Matter
Maneka: Dark Matter

Maneka writes a new chapter in rock n roll with its latest LP.

Living Hour: Someday Is Today
Living Hour: Someday Is Today

The gazey, dreampop excursion takes us into a languid interior dimension of emotional transcendence.

Kitner: Shake The Spins
Kitner: Shake The Spins

Kitner tells the story of life lived at the tail end of a boozy buzz, with another night of debauchery on the way.

Twen: One Stop Shop
Twen: One Stop Shop

Twen charts a course across the sound waves of trans-Atlantic pop on their LP One Stop Shop.

Iceblink: Carpet Cocoon
Iceblink: Carpet Cocoon

Ambient is no longer the province of purely theoretical sound experiments. Enter Iceblink.

Mamalarky: Pocket Fantasy
Mamalarky: Pocket Fantasy

A gooey, 12-stack musical layer cake, shotgun-blasted with rainbow sprinkles by a laughing clown.

NNAMDÏ: Please Have A Seat
NNAMDÏ: Please Have A Seat

NNAMDÏ ghosts his songs before they ghost him. But you’ll love Please Have A Seat anyway.

Live Reviews
What Band Wrote the 2000 Classic “Teenage Dirtbag”?
What Band Wrote the 2000 Classic “Teenage Dirtbag”?

Intricate Mouse Work put on their lab coats at Midway Cafe.

Keeping It Simple
Keeping It Simple

Orla Gartland is a Shrek 2 fan at Paradise Rock Club.

Heartbreak It ‘Til You Make It
Heartbreak It ‘Til You Make It

Paul Karsen closes out a hip hop showcase at The Jungle.

Magically Gathering
Magically Gathering

Jade Dust confesses “It’s not easy being green” at Cambridge Community Center.

Just The FACS, Ma’am
Just The FACS, Ma’am

Midwestern troubadours sample the sandwiches at Deep Cuts.

Five Nights At The Tree House
Five Nights At The Tree House

Music meets mass protest in the streets of Istanbul.

Good Vibrations
Good Vibrations

Natalie Dietrich gets down with her bad self at Lilypad.

What The Fust?!
What The Fust?!

Fust uncorks the (alt) country at Deep Cuts.

Send In The Clines
Send In The Clines

Rebecca Cline Quartet doesn’t need a definite article at Mad Monkfish.

New Colossus: Sunday
New Colossus: Sunday

Peer Pleasure shares a Guinness at Baker Falls.

New Colossus: Saturday
New Colossus: Saturday

Hachiku promise to try a “chopped cheese” at Sour Mouse.

New Colossus: Friday
New Colossus: Friday

Constant Smiles collects the collective at Berlin.

New Colossus: Thursday
New Colossus: Thursday

The Croaks rock the escoffions at Nublu Classic.

New Colossus: Wednesday
New Colossus: Wednesday

Test Plan tests the waters at Berlin.

New Colossus: Tuesday
New Colossus: Tuesday

Early birds get the Abby Jeanne and the Shadowband at Pianos.

Boston Bitdown 2025
Boston Bitdown 2025

The chiptune and digital arts fest makes a splash in Somerville and beyond.

$13 ‘Gansetts Are My Copilot
$13 ‘Gansetts Are My Copilot

Copilot takes the wheel at The Rockwell.

Istanbul Is Sorta Constantinople
Istanbul Is Sorta Constantinople

“The Legacy of Istanbul in America” brings a Mehter band to Jordan Hall.

A Solid 69
A Solid 69

The Coe Street Co-op play the hits at The Jungle.

Tap Into America
Tap Into America

Subject Matter welcomes all comers at the Lilypad.

An A/V Explosion
An A/V Explosion

A night of sights and sounds at Capitol Theatre.

Give Pieces A Chance
Give Pieces A Chance

Chaiah is a soft ‘ch’ sound at Lizard Lounge.

Anti-Valentine’s
Anti-Valentine’s

Smell The Love raises a stink at Midway Cafe.

A Sloppy Kiss
A Sloppy Kiss

Tyler and The Names cap a laugher at The Rockwell.

Post-Snow America
Post-Snow America

It’s Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeef for dinner at The Rockwell.

Pre-Snow America
Pre-Snow America

Follow Thru come to the rescue at Midway Cafe.

Pin The Tail On the $5 Beer
Pin The Tail On the $5 Beer

Diane Young cuts deep at Deep Cuts.

Bill Got Fired For Insubordination
Bill Got Fired For Insubordination

Bus Crush is preferable to bus crash at Silhouette Lounge.

A Griot Gathering
A Griot Gathering

The two-day fest We Black Folk returns to Club Passim.

Four Bands, One Bill
Four Bands, One Bill

Impossible Dog achieves the possible at Deep Cuts.

The Backyard
Holiday Shores: Columbus’d the Whim
Holiday Shores: Columbus’d the Whim

Archives: Album Review // Holiday Shores’ Columbus’d The Whim.

Drug Rug: LIVE
Drug Rug: LIVE

Archives: LIVE at Middle East (8/8/2009).

Letter from the Editor
Letter from the Editor

Free Rumeysa Ozturk.

Mobius Band: LIVE
Mobius Band: LIVE

Archives: LIVE at Middle East (12/2007).

Weather Pending: And How!
Weather Pending: And How!

Archives: Album // Weather Pending: And How!

Letter from the Editor
Letter from the Editor

To everything, a season — except fascism.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

From the Archives, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Middle East (11/2007).

Middle Distance Runner: The Sun & Earth
Middle Distance Runner: The Sun & Earth

From the Archives, Middle Distance Runner : The Sun & Earth

Letter from the Editor
Letter from the Editor

Becoming Anti-Social: a Six Point “Plan.”

Drug Rug: Paint the Fence Invisible
Drug Rug: Paint the Fence Invisible

From the Archives, Drug Rug paints fences on its second album.

Drug Rug: LIVE
Drug Rug: LIVE

From the Archives, Drug Rug live at Milky Way (11/2007).

Letter from the Editor
Letter from the Editor

New Year, New Meh?

MMOSS: i
MMOSS: i

From the Archives, New Hampshire psych also rises.

Interview: Middle Distance Runner
Interview: Middle Distance Runner

A chat with Middle Distance Runner from the Archives.

Letter from the Editor
Letter from the Editor

Less is more.

Bent Shapes: Feels Weird
Bent Shapes: Feels Weird

From the Archives, Feels Weird doesn’t feel weird at all.

HDN Staff
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