10 Best Places to See Live Music in Edmonton

On the Rocks in the heart of Edmonton's city centre core provides a pub environment with good beer, strong spirits, a full food menu, and nightly music themes. This one is open every day of the week and showcases some hidden gems from among the best local talent in a wide variety of musical genres. You'll always enjoy a party vibe here, and on off nights you can take salsa lessons, play musical bingo, and even catch a karaoke night.

One of the more popular nights here is the regular beer and taco night, which of course pairs with a local band. It's on Jasper Avenue just 10 minutes west of central city centre.

Francis Winspear Centre is a classic performing arts centre in the heart of city centre Edmonton offering a 550-seat flexible use venue with adjustable acoustics. This building offers 41,000 square feet of mixed-use cultural space offering concerts, plays, speakers, and many other options. It's named for the benefactor who offered $6 million, which is among the largest private donations for such a space in the history of the country. The performance room is called the Music Box and is the crown jewel of the space.

This venue has hosted a wide range of artists and styles from classical symphony to Hollywood musical numbers to guitar icons. It's right in central city centre.

O'Byrne's Irish Pub is a classic dark wood public house showcasing talented bands just about every night, from Celtic jams to Wing Wednesdays and beyond. If you're looking for the full band experience, stop by on Thursdays, and every Sunday from 8:30 pm they host an open mic night, one of the most popular and busy nights of the week when you can see up-and-coming unknowns that are soon to be local stars. Even better, every player gets a free pint, which really encourages participation.

O'Byrne's is the classic Irish pub showcasing lots of local talents with great beer, good food, and great times. It's about 10 minutes from central city centre Edmonton.

Jubilee Auditorium offers a place of celebration, community spirit, and cultural enrichment through live music and public service as a premier Northern Alberta event space. Here you can enjoy a vast array of world music artists who are drawn here just for the reputation of this venue. If your connection to music is the culture that it represents, Jubilee Auditorium Northern Alberta is where you'll find hidden gems of the musical community. It's the home of the Alberta Ballet company, Edmonton Opera, and the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers, among others.

This venue, in conjunction with its Southern Alberta sister venue, is a crown jewel of the cultural music scene in Western Canada. It's just 12 minutes southwest of city centre.

The Sewing Machine Factory is an 18-plus music club that offers live bands, stand-up and skit comedy, spoken word performances, and performance art in all its forms. This place is dedicated to putting a lens on local talent and offering a space for the arts that's entirely community-centered. That also means that it's among the best places in Edmonton where you can catch the hot up-and-coming local acts. You might just discover the next big international act here, years before they're famous.

What sets the Sewing Machine Factory apart from other venues is that it doesn't tie itself to a single genre. You'll experience entertainment here in a variety of styles. It's only 10 minutes south of city centre Edmonton.

Station on Jasper offers just about every kind of live music you can imagine, from soothing cabaret acts to full-on driving hard rock and beyond. The venue maintains a constant calendar so you can always check to see who's playing while you're in town. They serve up a full menu of food and drink, so you can sit and eat while you enjoy the show, and it's quite affordable to boot. Every weekend, their brunch show is accompanied by live music starting at 11 am.

Between the constant shows, good food, and casual ambiance, there's a good reason they're among the most popular live music venues in town. They're in the heart of city centre Edmonton.

Blues on Whyte is a classic blues club offering fantastic local live soul and blues bands combined with a traditional area watering hole vibe. While the band plays, you can grab a few beers and hit the pool tables to shoot some 8 ball. Fridays are the big day for live bands, but Saturday afternoons also showcase afternoon jam sessions that are informal but always lively. This venue is a big hangout for the local blues scene, both fans and local musicians alike.

Here you'll find good but inexpensive drinks, a cosy hangout, and great music. The club is located on 34th Avenue right in the heart of city centre Edmonton.

Shakers Roadhouse offers a no-frills, straightforward venue for musical acts in all genres to show their stuff, and provides the opportunity to hear some up-and-coming local acts. This is a place where one night you might hear a heart-pounding EDM band, and the next night it might be a metalcore act complete with a wild mosh pit, followed by a groove rock or folk-rock band the night after that. Their in-house cocktails are fantastic, particularly those that are invented by the bartenders, and the beer list is solid as well.

This is a place where you can get good drinks and great tunes with no bells and whistles. It's just 13 minutes northwest of city centre.

The Aviary is a local go-to spot and a staple of the local music scene, housing up to 140 people and hosting plenty of events including the hottest local bands. On occasion, you can catch an intimate show here with a national act as well, and they host a wide range of other events like art shows, private parties, live theatre performances, and even food festivals. They're one of the better-organized venues in town with great promoters and they are absolutely dedicated to pushing the importance of the local music scene.

The welcoming vibe here with a homestyle atmosphere makes this a perennial favourite with locals. It's in the heart of city centre Edmonton.

Spotlight Cabaret is a bar and music club with a rooftop patio and tonnes of opportunities for all manner of live entertainment, including some of the best local bands around. Besides music, this club lets you catch dance performances, improv sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, live theatre performances, and even drag shows. The overall vibe here is that of a speakeasy straight out of the Roaring 20s with art deco styling reminiscent of Old Hollywood or Golden Age New York.

They have a full menu with upscale food and fantastic cocktails mixed with top-shelf liquor. The rooftop patio offers spectacular views of the river and skyline. It's all just 10 minutes south of central city centre.