San Francisco Voice

Venue: THE INDEPENDENT

Address: 628 Divisadero Street (between Grove and Hayes)

Neighborhood: Alamo Square

Types of bands that play here:  Numerous genres, often national acts that you know by name

How often there’s live music: 5 – 6 x / week

Points given for:  Gets bigger acts than many SF venues, regularly hosts good music, maintains local feel while being an actual music venue

Points taken away because: It’s a real venue so you’re paying real concert prices, although they generally range from $10 – $20 / ticket so it’s not so bad

Overall: Not the place I’d go to just to stop in and see who is playing but definitely one of the first calendars I’d check if I knew I wanted to go see a good show soon.

Many of the music venues that I write about here at San Fran Voice are actually bars which happen to be known for their live music.  San Francisco is a great city for this type of neighborhood approach to hearing good music from various-sized acts that are both local and national, which is great because it makes it possible to find music all throughout the different neighborhoods of the city that doesn’t cost a lot to see.  However, there are a few places in San Francisco which are actual live music venues that you go to specifically because you want to see the band that is playing there.  Sure, there’s a bar and these places are sometimes 21+ joints, but you don’t go there to go to a bar, you go there specifically to see the band.  The Independent is one of those places.

However, The Independent offers a happy medium between being a concert venue and a bar.  You go there because it’s a venue and it’s large enough to accommodate the good-sized crowd of folks who come to the often-sold-out sometimes-big-name shows that The Independent is known for hosting.  There is enough space to dance, the stage is big enough to accommodate the sets of opening acts as well as headliners, and you can coat check your items before browsing the merch tables set up by the bands. But the space isn’t TOO large, meaning that there is still that sense of intimacy at The Independent that would be lacking if the venue grew any larger.

Similarly, The Independent does a great job of balancing out some big name acts with support of local bands.  There are nights when the bigger names in the San Francisco local music scene are packing in the place with their area fan base.  And The Independent hosts certain events which can make the place seem like your comfortable neighborhood joint even though it’s a venue (events such as their Monday movie screenings and the occasional “battle of the bands” night).  On many nights, the music here could be described as “rock” but the genres that drift through the doors range from quiet folk / Americana stuff to near-hardcore metal bands.  The Independent seems more interested in hosting good music than in concerning itself with being the home to a specific type of music which is really what a good venue is all about.

The Independent keeps an updated calendar of shows on the venue website at all times and the calendar almost always has links to the MySpace or website of the bands that are playing so you can easily get more info on acts that you aren’t too familiar with.  Check San Fran Voice on Mondays for the lineup of shows happening in the city that are recommended to be seen; shows from The Independent regularly make the list.

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