Live Music Venues in Manchester, NH

Manchester, NH lies in the Southern part of northern New England. It calls itself a “queen city” which means it’s the most populous city in NH (like that would take a lot) but not the capital. And the capital of New Hampshire is – anyone? That’s right, Concord. Anyhow, queenly or not, Manchester has it’s fair share of live music venues. Just twenty minutes outside of Massachusetts, so northern Mass residents looking to get out for an evening of live music can join locals in partaking of the events.

The Verizon Wireless Arena (555 Elm Street 603-644-5000) is the Manchester, NH venue where nationally touring major acts come. Built in 2000, the arena seats around 10,000 people for “center stage’ concerts” and roughly 11,000 for “end stage” concerts. In the winter, live acts such as rock bands like Cold Play, Godsmack, 3 Doors Down, The Allman Brothers, The Dave Matthews Ban and specialty music performances like “Celtic Woman” swap nights with ice shows and minor league hockey. Tickets are available at the venue and through TicketMaster. Special packages offer premium seating, parking and first-refusal rights to concert tickets.

Milly’s (500 Commercial St, 603.625.4444) claims to have the “best food, hottest night club,and only brewery in Manchester.” The first two may be subjective, but you can probably verify the last part. They also claim to have “Manchester’s only jungle.” I’m not sure what that means, and I’m not sure I want to. Milly’s hosts live rock acts on the weekends, acts with names like “Graveyard Shyft” “Mongrel” and “Wretched Asylum.” Tuesdays, a classic rock cover band, Crosstown, is the regular act. The venue also hosts some regional acts. All events are 18+ for admission with a small surcharge applied to underage (under 21) patrons. Event ticket prices average between $5-7 but are determined by the band.

The Shakskeen (909 Elm St.,603-625-0246) is a new Manchester live music venue. In a pub atmosphere live bands including Irish and rock acts perform. Also on Elm St, The Uptown Tavern (1301 Elm St., 603-666-0909) hosts live local/regional rock acts like the Joe Mazarri Band and Eden’s Lie. And neighboring Skybar At Vetro (815 Elm St. 603-Martini) offers maritinis, cigars, a DJ, but also live music and sing-alongs.

The Koonz Theater (100 St. Anselm Dr. 603-641-7332 ) is located on the campus of St. Anselm’s College, a small, Catholic, liberal arts school. The venue is located in the Dana Humanities Center and occasionally hosts live music events including The Marcus Roberts Quartet (jazz), Balfa Toujours (cajun), Celtic groups, instrumental groups (Asian Percussion) and musicals. Most events are open to the public. Tickets are for sale in person at the box office or by calling the venue. Manchester is also home to a branch of UNH (University of New Hampshire) and several other local colleges such as Hesser College (3 Sundial Avenue, 603-668-6660) and New Hampshire Arts Institute and Southern New Hampshire University(2500 N. River Road, Manchester, NH, 03106, 603.668.2211) Some of these universities and colleges sponsor live music events oncampus for students. SUNH events are held in the coffehouse atmosphere of the Last Chapter Pub.