Updated daily. Set times move, call the venue when it matters.
Two Albuquerque party crews, Lucid and Riot, are throwing a Halloween party in the middle of summer at one of Central Avenue's most reliably fun rooms. El Rey's layout rewards costume effort, with enough floor space to actually move and enough dark corners to disappear if you need to. Tickets are through Hold My Ticket,...
Three days of live tattooing, artist showcases, competitions, and music spread across the Convention Center on Central. Floor conventions like this are where you find regional artists whose waitlists you...
The NM Marimba Band brings its full percussion setup to the Old Town Gazebo for a free two-hour afternoon set on a Saturday in July. The gazebo's open-air setup means sound carries well into the plaza, so you can spread a blanket on the grass and still catch every note. Parking near Old Town fills...
Gigi Bella launches her debut collection at Launchpad with seven of the city's working poets sharing the stage: Damien Flores, Jessica Helen Lopez, Zachary Kluckman, Kristin Patton, Marcial Delgado, Katrina Kaye, and Brando Kentreles. Launchpad is a rock room first, which means the sightlines and acoustics work differently than a bookstore or library, so arriving...
RJ Perez brings his acoustic set to Sawmill Market's interior stage for a Saturday afternoon slot that runs two hours. The food hall format means you can grab a bite from any of the vendors and stay planted, which makes this a better hang than a lot of dedicated music rooms. Admission details aren't confirmed...
Dezert Penguinz bring their Albuquerque desert-rock sound to Marble's downtown taproom on a Saturday afternoon, which puts this squarely in day-drinking-with-a-soundtrack territory. The outdoor patio at this location handles heat better than you'd expect for July, though by a 3 p.m. start the sun is still fully in charge, so dress accordingly.
Two quarterfinal matches back to back, one on the theater's main screen and every other feed running across 15 screens including a four-panel video wall inside the Sports Lounge at...
Felix Y Los Gatos brings their Latin-rooted sound to the open food hall at Sawmill Market on a Saturday afternoon. The space is loud by design, all hard surfaces and open ceilings, so this works better as a wander-and-eat backdrop than a focused listening room. Admission details aren't posted yet, so check the 505 Live...
This is a live collision of choreography, interactive tech, and sound design built around the idea that movement can be computed, captured, and fed back into itself. The Arts Lab draws from UNM's interdisciplinary programs, so expect work that is genuinely in-progress and genuinely weird, which is a compliment. Tickets are on Eventbrite but the...
DeNash plays the Old Town Gazebo, one of Albuquerque's more atmospheric outdoor stages, set inside the historic plaza just off Central. The gazebo is open-air with no assigned seating, so arriving early with a chair or a blanket is the move, especially on a July evening when the light hits the adobe just right. Admission...
RJ Perez takes the stage at Tractor Brewing's Westside taproom, one of the more reliably decent acoustic setups on this stretch of Central. The crowd here tends to be neighborhood regulars who actually listen, which makes it a better room for an artist than it might look from the outside. Check the ticket link for...
Johnny and Reg bring their two-piece setup to the Tractor Nob Hill patio, one of the more reliably comfortable outdoor stages on this stretch of Central. The duo format works well in that space, where a full band can sometimes feel like too much and a solo act not quite enough. Admission is unconfirmed, so...
Three local acts share a bill at The Hall, with Violet Rising headlining a night that also features manhigh and DUNES. The 1 a.m. UTC start puts this well into Saturday night territory, so this is a late show by any measure. Check the ticket link for door time before you plan your evening around...
Happening on the Odd Months brings its monthly comedy open mic to The Box Annex, the smaller attached room next to The Box Performance Space on Central. Open mics are by nature uneven, but this one has enough of a regular crowd that the room actually responds, which makes the difference between a comedian dying...
Four local horror authors, Jeff C. Carter, Scotty Milder, TL Bodine, and Bradley Nordell, read and discuss summer slasher fiction as part of Painted Lady's ongoing Brews & Boos series. The bar at Painted Lady is genuinely small, so this reads less like a bookstore event and more like being three feet away from someone...
Chasing Adequate takes the stage at Marble's Downtown location, one of the more reliably good outdoor setups on this stretch of Central. The patio holds a crowd without feeling like a parking lot, and the bar stays manageable even on busy nights. No admission info has surfaced yet, so confirm before you go.
Zydeco on Central is a rarer thing than it should be, and Kiko & Le Zydeco Hot are the real article, built around accordion and a rubboard rhythm section that tends to get people moving whether they planned on it or not. Thirsty Eye is a mid-sized brewpub room with decent acoustics for a live...
LOADED brings a rock covers set to Tractor's Wells Park taproom, one of the more reliably good outdoor-to-indoor live music setups on the corridor. The Wells Park location runs a little grittier and more neighborhood-local than Tractor's other spots, which tends to make for a crowd that's actually there to listen. Admission isn't confirmed yet,...
Three bailaoras, a cantaor, and a guitarist perform live flamenco during dinner service at the tablao inside Hotel Albuquerque, one of the few purpose-built flamenco venues on the corridor. The room is small and the stage sits low, so the percussion of footwork registers in your chest in a way that a larger theater never...
Six acts on one night at Launchpad means you're getting a real cross-section of whatever is currently interesting in the local scene, from Hannett Beach headlining down to No Diving closing the bill with Chei Tea and Tina. Launchpad's room is long and narrow, so rail space goes fast on packed multi-act nights and the...
Grupo Super Verza plays live cumbia at Juno, with DJ Tony holding the floor between sets and after the band wraps. Juno is a small room, which means the dance floor fills fast and the sound hits you directly, not from across a warehouse. This one starts late, so arriving by 9 p.m. local is...
Disko Rumba is the cumbia night that has kept Downtown Albuquerque moving for long enough that people plan their weekends around it. Sister Bar's layout rewards actual dancing, with enough floor space that you're not just swaying in place between strangers. This one runs until the early hours, so factor that in before you commit...
Toni Morgan brings together a lineup of women vocalists for this jazz and blues evening in the museum's outdoor amphitheater, part of a summer series that has been anchoring Saturday nights in Old Town for 35 years. The grounds hold several hundred people comfortably and the acoustics are better than you'd expect from an open-air...
A rock opera built around Kevin McDonald, the Kids in the Hall member, staged for a single performance on the Box's mainstage. The Box is an intimate black-box space, so even the back row is close enough to catch every facial expression, which matters a lot in a show this concept-driven. Grab tickets ahead of...
AJ Mathews takes the headliner slot for this stand-up night produced by local comedy promoter AJ DeLeon, whose shows tend to run with a full supporting lineup before the closer. Two Cranes keeps the room intimate enough that there is no bad seat, which matters more than people expect for comedy. Tickets are through Hold...
A full-night Madonna dance party at one of Nob Hill's most reliably fun LGBTQ+ bars, running from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday. The Social Club keeps its floor small and its crowd warm, which means this will feel like a house party with a good sound system rather than a club night....
DJ Brad Cole takes over Moonlight Lounge for Strange Mix, a late-night DJ set that runs from 9 PM to midnight on a Saturday in Downtown Albuquerque. The name is doing real work here: Cole's sets tend to move across genres without announcing the transitions, which either clicks for you immediately or it doesn't. Tickets...
The official afterparty for one of Albuquerque's longest-running tattoo conventions lands at Insideout with Speed One on the decks, running until 6 a.m. The crowd will be heavily tattooed, pleasantly wired, and not going home early, so if you are sensitive to either ink or late hours, recalibrate accordingly. Tickets are through Hold My Ticket,...
Glasses Malone, the Long Beach rapper who built a following through mixtape hustle and a handful of genuine radio moments, headlines this late-night set at Rhythm Room with Wing It Up handling the production. The show starts at 9 PM local time, which means the room won't find its footing until well past midnight, so...
A hip-hop birthday celebration for Unique, with Long Beach rapper Glasses Malone (known for collaborations with Lil Wayne and The Game) coming in as the special guest. The Rythm Room lives mostly in blues and soul territory, so this is a departure for the room, but the PA handles low end and the floor opens...
Mr. AfterHours Presents brings DJ Jenna Shaw to Effex for a late-night set that runs from 10 p.m. Saturday well into Sunday morning. Effex has one of the better sound systems on this stretch of Central, and the 360° format means the booth is centered in the room, so there is no bad spot on...
Local independent improv teams get the stage to themselves for a night of short-form and long-form sets at The Box, one of the more serious comedy rooms on Central. The...