Closing the Blank Club in February, the owner did so with the commitment to opening up The Ritz, a new venue to the nightlife scene of the SoFa District. Livening up the corner of San Salvador and First Streets, The Ritz has weekly rocking performances and dance parties including Blank Club staples Atomic Dance Party and 80s vs. 90s.

As one of the few restaurants in town to offer authentic New Orleans cuisine, the Poor House Bistro also is unique in that it has live music seven nights a week. Sometime it’s just a casual open mic for locals having fun and other times it’s a more established performer, generally in the genre of jazz, blues, funk or Americana. It’s always a good spot to grab a shrimp po’ boy and listen to some good roots music.

Located in the building that once housed downtown San Jose’s famous white cloth restaurant Eulipia, Café Stritch is a casual, modern café, bar and coffee shop that shifts into one of the city’ most vibrant small-capacity live music spots once the sun goes down. Built to Spill, Jonathan Richman and the Lemonheads have all played the Café—and there isn’t even a stage to speak of. There is jazz and rock shows several nights a week and most shows are free.

The 3,000-person capacity City National Civic is a hotspot for bigger touring acts like Styx, the Pixies, Wilco, Tower of Power and popular DJs. The venue has a long history in San Jose with iconic acts in the 60s and 70s performing here, including the Who, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra.

Shoreline Amphitheatre is summer destination for music fans throughout the Bay Area and a major touring hub for world famous acts. The venue features a large open-seating grassy area (the cheap seats) with assigned seating closer to the stage. Several festivals are held throughout the summer with side stages and there are plenty of concessions and amenities circling the performance area. Peggy and Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit is an annual favorite that usually closes the concert season in October.

Every spring, the Mountain Winery opens its doors to music fans with a lineup of concerts that lasts until fall. It’s a small outdoor amphitheater with excellent sound, fine wine and dinner is also available. The ambiance is superb and performers include classic acts of yesteryear (Doobie Brothers and the B-52s) as well as more contemporary acts. The sound is excellent and the views of San Jose are spectacular.

In the hills of the Saratoga Mountains lies the Montalvo Arts Center, which hosts a variety of live rock and folk shows (like Blondie and Richard Thompson), as well as full-scale theatric productions. Montalvo actually has been around for a good number of years as an art residency facility, bringing artists from all over the world to stay on their grounds and hone their craft. Both sides of Montalvo operate separately, but are side by side.

Formerly known as the HP Pavilion, and locally referred to as the “Shark Tank,” the SAP Center is the place to go to catch the biggest touring acts that come through the Bay Area, including Prince, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Kanye West and Jay-Z. It's also home the San Jose Sharks hockey team and special events, including Disney on Ice, Barnum and Baily’s circus and the Motorcross events.

On the campus of San Jose State, the San Jose Event Center hosts everything from big names in electronic music to hip-hop, k-pop and rock shows. The venue is also home to university sporting events, theatrical productions, big named comedians and lectures.

Located just a couple blocks from the San Jose State University, Johnny V’s is a popular no-frills drinking establishment for college students, and older diehard music fans. There’s always something happening at Johnny V’s, whether it’s live punk rock or metal or one of their many dance parties with house, electro or hip-hop. There are two rooms at Johnny V’s: the main room and Paddy’s Pub. There’s music usually in both rooms at the same time, so people can pick and choose what they want to listen to.

Caravan Lounge is the stereotypical dive bar with live music. It has been the local watering hole for downtown drinkers for years and there is no fancy ambiance whatsoever. They is live music a couple nights a week, and it’s always free. Bands typically fall within the realm of metal, punk or indie, but there are occasionally the left field bookings. Hip-hop pioneer, Blowfly played there once.

By day, the San Jose Rock Shop is a music store, complete with a vast selection of musical instruments, sheet music, repairs and music lessons, by night it’s one of San Jose’s only all-ages venues. The live music happens in a separate room in the back with a nice sized stage and a good sound system.

It’s nice when a music venue offers food and drinks, but Homestead Bowl and the X Bar goes one step further—they offer bowling! Ok so technically it is a bowling alley that has live music on the weekends in their lounge area, but still there is bowling going on during the shows, so one can take a break from the music and play a couple rounds. Plus they do offer drinks and have food at the snack bar. The shows are all ages. Live music is usually indie-rock and punk.

In downtown Mountain View, the Dana Street Roasting Company is quietly one of the coolest place locally for underground live music. Its normal business operates as a cozy coffee shop—a good one at that, but when they decide to do live music, they go all-out and things get crazy. Bands from all genres share the stage at a single show. Noise-core, rap, doom metal, math rock. It’s a fun time.

Twice a week, Red Rock Coffee hosts live performers from all over the Bay Area and beyond. The shows are intimate and the focus is on singer-songwriters as well the occasional country singer and jazz group. They have an open mic every Monday and also hold various community event and children’s story time twice a week.

The venue, which opened in 2013, sought to bring live music back to the SoFA District. With a focuses on live bands and artists from rock and reggae to metal and new wave, Back Bar provides an intimate setting with enough room to party.