Live music & bookstore lurking

Nora Kline

@latecheckoutnora

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Okay so this is technically a working document — the one I text myself at 11pm after a show and then forget to update for three weeks. These are the Boston-area rooms I keep coming back to, for the sound, the sightlines, or the bartender who remembers I don't drink gin. Revised opinions included, because I contain multitudes and also changed my mind about one of these after a second visit.

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The list

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Live music & bookstore lurking — 4 items
Name	Address	City	Best for	My take
1Club Passim	47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA 02138	Cambridge	Folk, singer-songwriters, basement intimacy	Tiny, hushed, and the kind of place where the audience actually shuts up. I cried a little at a Tracy Grammer show and I'm not sorry.
2The Sinclair	52 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138	Cambridge	Mid-size indie and rock shows	Great sound, balcony is clutch for short people like me. The upstairs restaurant pre-show is a trap though — you will linger and miss openers.
3Middle East (Downstairs)	472-480 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139	Cambridge	Punk, hardcore, loud discovery nights	Sticky floor, zero pretension, the kind of room where you find your new favorite band by accident. Bring earplugs, be an adult about it.
4Brighton Music Hall	158 Brighton Avenue, Allston, MA 02134	Boston	Touring indie acts, Allston chaos	First visit I thought it was just a glorified bar room. Second visit, better sightline, better crowd — I take back every snide thing I said.