City Of Good Neighbors: Prominent Buffalo Music Venues

Buffalo is a jewel of city located within driving distance of Syracuse, Toronto, Cleveland, Albany, Pittsburgh and Rochester. Additionally, the quaint and easy-to-navigate Buffalo Niagara International Airport can be reached in mere hours from those flying in from all points in the Northeast. “The city of good neighbors” hosts thousands of concerts and festivals each year featuring nationally touring acts and showcasing the rich and diverse musical talent in the area.

Venues in Buffalo cater to many different tastes and genres. The city has many distinct neighborhoods with spaces that host live music spread throughout. Read about the history and offerings at Buffalo’s most prominent music venues below:

The Town Ballroom

Since opening in Buffalo’s Theatre District in 2005, the Town Ballroom has operated as the premier concert venue of its size in the region.

The building itself has a rich history. Beginning in the 1940s, what was then known as the Town Casino was the go-to restaurant and nightlife spot for in-the-know Buffalonians. Legend has it that “tough guys” drank, smoked and gambled in the basement – Al Capone among them – while upstairs, the biggest names in jazz and pop of the era entertained the assembled. Sinatra hung out at the Town, and performed as well. Nat King Cole came through, as did Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Les Paul & Mary Ford – you name ‘em, and if they were hip and on tour, they played the Town Casino.

Times changed, and so did the building’s purpose, as it became home to several theatre companies and night clubs, before falling into disuse by the early 21st Century. When former Goo Goo Dolls manager Artie Kwitchoff and partner Donny Kutzbach – a maven of the Buffalo music scene through his work at the dearly missed Home of the Hits record store in the Elmwood Village – took over the property with an eye on restoring it to its former glory, the Town Ballroom we know and love today was born. Kwitchoff and Kutzbach, who operate as the concert promotion company Fun Time Presents, immediately packed the Town Ballroom’s roster with the finest indie, alternative, jam band, EDM and rock artists of the age, of both the up-and-coming and fully seasoned variety.

Since 2005, the Town Ballroom has hosted the likes of St. Vincent, the Tragically Hip, the Tea Party, Todd Rundgren, Les Claypool, Umphrey’s McGee, Peter Murphy, Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Godspeed You Black Emperor, the Crystal Method, KMFDM, Bad Religion, Clutch, TV On the Radio, Dinosaur Jr., Dark Star Orchestra, the Black Crowes, and hundreds upon hundreds more.

With the recent addition of the Oxford Pennant Stage in the front of the building, the Town Ballroom has added the opportunity for music lovers to enjoy national and regional bands and artists in a more intimate setting.

Asbury Hall @ Babeville, the 9th Ward

The striking 19th century architectural marvel that is the church at 341 Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo – the last known intact example of the work of architect John Henry Selkirk – is also known as “the house that Ani built,” a nod to Buffalo’s own indie-folk songwriter and independent music icon Ani DiFranco, who teamed with her then manager Scot Fisher to purchase the former house of worship in 1999.

DiFranco and Fisher embarked on a 5-year restoration project, and ultimately opened their doors to the public in January of 2006. DiFranco would officially inaugurate the venue in the main body of the church – now dubbed Asbury Hall – with a pair of sold-out concerts in September of 2007.

Thereafter, the entire complex – also home to DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center – would be known as Babeville, and the intimate basement stage and club known as the 9th Ward would officially open.

Legends like Bruce Cockburn, Howard Jones, Conor Oberst and Pat Metheny, up-and-comers like the Swell Season and the Beaches, underground heroes like the Sadies, Kurt Vile, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird and Iron & Wine – all have graced Babeville’s stages.

As the official Babeville website rightly points out, “DiFranco’s touch can be found in the distinctive color scheme, and in every nook and corner of the building… Every detail of Asbury Hall, both onstage and off, is informed by her experiences performing in venues around the world.”

The Sportsmen’s Tavern, Sportsmen’s Park, The Cave

In 1985, when Dwane Hall took over the humble watering hole on Amherst Street in Black Rock known as the Sportsmen’s Tavern, his vision for the future of the establishment was clear-eyed and far from grandiose. He simply wanted to remain solvent.

All these many years later, after Hall, his wife, Denise, and sons Jason, Jeff and James poured more than a million dollars into the project, the Sportsmen’s Tavern, the adjacent Sportsmen’s Park and the event center and recording studios they converted into ancillary venue The Cave speak to the full ascendancy of the Sportsmen’s complex as a live music beacon, not just within the Buffalo music scene, but across the country.

Deeply committed to roots music and Americana, the Sportsmen’s and The Cave have also broadened their horizons, offering everything from jazz and blues to rock and jam band stylings, and firmly establishing their stages as favored venues for Buffalo’s vast community of musicians.

“That’s what it’s always been about for us,” Dwane Hall told Jeff Miers for a 2019 feature published by The Buffalo News. “We weren’t trying to become big entrepreneurs or anything like that. We’re doing this because we believe in the music community here. It’s for them, and it’s because of them that it can happen. We’re taking a big chance, but we believe in them.”

Buffalo Iron Works

Now celebrating its 10th year, Buffalo Iron Works – located in the heart of the city’s Historic Cobblestone District – has become a hub for both the region’s bustling jam band scene and a mandatory tour stop for national jam bands.

A key component of the Cobblestone District’s rebirth over the past decade, Iron Works birthed its own annual music festival, Cobblestone Live, in 2018. This year’s festival hosted the likes of Andy Frasco & The U.N., Doom Flamingo, Twiddle, Andy Grammar and Little Stranger.

Other notable Buffalo music venues include the long-serving Allentown District folk and indie-rock haunt Nietzsche’s; alternative, indie, punk and local music hotspot Mohawk Place; and modern indie, alternative and hip-hop venue The Rec Room. But that’s just the start. Head to Visit Buffalo Niagara’s Live Music and Nightlife page for more information.

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[Sponsored content: Visit Buffalo Niagara is a JamBase partner.]