Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall has anchored the north side since 1963, with 2,148 seats. Two smaller Butler rooms sit alongside it: the Schrott Center for the Arts, at 475 seats, and Shelton Auditorium, which is on Butler’s South Campus rather than the main one — a separate address worth checking before you leave the house.
Looking for live music in Indianapolis? From blues at Indiana’s oldest bar to punk at a 1935 dive, jazz seven nights a week on Mass Ave to amphitheater shows on the river — this is the map.
Start Here
- Live Music This Weekend — what’s actually worth going to, updated every week.
- Best Live Music Venues in Indianapolis — the full venue guide, neighborhood by neighborhood.
- Open Mic Nights in Indianapolis — verified nights, times and sign-ups.
- Free Live Music in Indianapolis — shows that cost nothing.
The Rooms Themselves
Indy’s music splits roughly four ways. North, The Vogue anchors Broad Ripple from a converted 1938 movie house, with The Jazz Kitchen keeping SoBro swinging since 1994, The Melody Inn running punk nearly every night, and The Mousetrap holding down jam and jazz. In Fountain Square, HI-FI books tomorrow’s headliners in a 500-cap room, its outdoor Annex takes the bigger summer shows, and White Rabbit Cabaret and Square Cat Vinyl fill in around them.
Downtown and Mass Ave belong to The Slippery Noodle Inn — Indiana’s oldest bar, blues most nights on two stages — plus Chatterbox Jazz Club and the Rathskeller biergarten in summer. For the big rooms, Old National Centre has three under one roof, Everwise Amphitheater runs outdoors on the river, Hilbert Circle Theatre is home to the symphony, and Gainbridge Fieldhouse takes the arena tours.
The full venue guide covers all of them properly, with what to expect when you walk in.
By What You Want to Hear
- Jazz — the Jazz Kitchen and Chatterbox are the dedicated rooms; there are more across the state.
- Blues — the Slippery Noodle, and a Wednesday jam with a rotating host.
- Punk & Metal — the Melody Inn, State Street Pub and Black Circle Brewing.
- Country, Americana & Roots — thinner in Indy proper, better across the state.
Beyond Indy
The suburbs have their own scenes worth knowing: Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville and Greenwood. Further out, Bloomington and Fort Wayne are the two strongest music towns in Indiana after Indianapolis itself. An hour south, Brown County has a 2,000-seat concert hall and four nights of music a week in a town of a thousand people. Down on the Ohio River, southeast Indiana covers Madison, Jeffersonville and New Albany. Twenty-five minutes west, Hendricks County has a new 600-seat hall in Plainfield and free summer concerts in five towns.
And if a festival is more your thing, the festival guide runs through the year. New to the site? Start Here.
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