Where to See Live Music in Atlanta

Stadium and arena nights

When the biggest tours come through the South, they stop downtown. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, open since 2017, seats 71,000 and can stretch to 75,000, with a retractable roof and a ring-shaped Halo video board that wraps the whole bowl. Taylor Swift brought the Eras Tour here for three nights, and Beyonce became the first act to headline four shows on a single tour at the stadium during her Cowboy Carter run in 2025.

A few blocks away, State Farm Arena opened in September 1999 as Philips Arena, with Elton John playing the first event. It holds more than 18,000 for concerts and took its current name in 2018, around a $192.5 million renovation. For a big hip hop or R&B tour, this is usually the room.

Summer under the open sky

Atlanta's amphitheaters are a warm-weather ritual. Lakewood Amphitheatre, about four miles south of downtown, opened in July 1989 and holds 18,920 people, roughly 7,000 in seats and the rest on a sloping lawn. It has carried several sponsor names over the years, most recently Cellairis, and now goes by Lakewood Amphitheatre again. Touring bands praise its sound, and a lawn ticket with a blanket is a classic Atlanta summer night.

North of the city, Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta opened on May 10, 2008, as Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre and took its current name after a 2018 naming deal. Its 12,000 capacity and sweeping steel canopy make it the go-to for suburban fans who would rather skip the downtown drive.

Historic theaters with character

The Fox Theatre on Peachtree Street opened on Christmas Day 1929 and seats 4,665 under a ceiling dotted with twinkling crystal stars. A public campaign saved it from demolition in the 1970s, and its giant Mighty Mo pipe organ still rumbles. Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead all played here, and a seat at the Fox remains one of the most memorable ways to see a show.

In Buckhead, the Buckhead Theatre dates to June 1930. It spent 1992 to 2008 as the original Coca-Cola Roxy, reopened under its first name in 2010 and now holds about 1,800. In Little Five Points, the Variety Playhouse began as a neighborhood movie house in 1940, turned to live music in 1990 and was renovated in 2016 to hold about 1,000 fans.

Mid-size rooms and clubs

Next to Truist Park at The Battery, the modern Coca-Cola Roxy opened on April 8, 2017, with room for 3,600 on a wide, flat floor and a seated upper level. In Midtown, Center Stage has been around since 1966 and now runs three rooms under one roof, the main theater plus The Loft and Vinyl, for about 2,000 people combined.

The Masquerade opened in 1989 in an old mill on North Avenue, hosting everyone from Nirvana to OutKast, and since 2016 has lived at Underground Atlanta downtown. Over in West Midtown, Terminal West opened in March 2012 inside the King Plow Arts Center, a former plow factory, and fits 625 fans close enough to see the guitar picks.

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