Live-music venues worth the trip in Atlanta, Georgia

First conceived as a headquarters for Atlanta’s Shriners, the Fox drew inspiration from structures like the Alhambra and the Temple of Karnak, and its ornate design of soaring domes, minarets, gold leaf and trompe l’oeil proved financially overwhelming for the Shriners, prompting them to lease the building to movie mogul William Fox; the theatre opened on Christmas Day 1929 and now books concerts alongside Broadway and a film series.

The Live Nation hall its own visit page places in the heart of downtown Atlanta, a historic multi-level room with a main floor, a lower level that holds the Cotton Club, and balcony seating its accessibility page says is reached only by stairs.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s own hall, whose Symphony Hall LIVE series books world-renowned musicians and entertainers across pop, rock, country, R&B, jazz and comedy, several of them joined on stage by the orchestra itself.

The Live Nation room at The Battery sits across the street from Truist Park, the venue’s own visit page says, and the venue’s accessibility page describes an accessible floor section in front of the stage and an elevator to the balcony’s Reserved Seating and EP Lounge.

The Live Nation shed its own site bills as Atlanta’s home for live music for 35 years and its venue map page calls the biggest amp in the state.

Atlanta’s room for stadium-scale tours, the Falcons and Atlanta United stadium its own pages call the country’s busiest, ringed by a halo board its A-to-Z guide calls the first display of its kind ever created.

The Atlanta Hawks arena, opened in 1999 and renamed in 2018, holds 15,590 or more for concerts, carries a center-hung 360-degree video board, and is, in its own words, the world’s first sports and entertainment venue certified TRUE Platinum for zero waste.

The Live Nation shed its operator page bills as Atlanta’s most historic outdoor music venue, splitting its season into table concerts where coolers and carry-ins come in and non-table concerts where they stay home.

The Zero Mile and AEG room in the Dairies complex in Reynoldstown, just off the Atlanta Beltline, built on a multi-tiered floorplan and topped by a rooftop with a covered performance space, bar, restaurant and open-air seating.

An Atlanta complex established in 1989 on North Avenue and now downtown, running four indoor rooms named Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Altar, which surround a large brick open-air courtyard and have capacities ranging from 250 to 1,500.

A Little Five Points building standing since 1940 that has been a movie house and a community gathering place, focused on live music since the eighties, renovated in 2016 and holding 1,100 across fixed seats, standing room and a lowered front pit.

A Live Nation room whose own FAQ says most shows feature general admission standing on the floor with reserved seating in the balcony, and that the floor may be seated for select shows.

A Midtown complex run by independent promoter Rival Entertainment, holding three rooms: the 1,050-capacity original theater built in 1966, the industrial 650-capacity Loft, and Vinyl, which the complex’s about-the-venues page calls a 300-capacity staple in Atlanta’s local music scene.

Georgia State University’s downtown hall, an 833-seat room its own page calls intimate, home to the Rialto Series of national and international jazz, world music and dance.

A Virginia-Highland room its own page calls a legendary, intimate live blues venue, operating for 40 years and celebrated as Atlanta’s premier home for traditional, Chicago-style and roots blues.

A blues dive that bills itself Home to the Blues with live music seven nights, says it was voted a top-ten American dive bar, and lists weeknight artists that include Lola’s Jam and Ronnie Bullock.

An Atlanta institution booking local, national and regional bands since 1994, which calls itself a neighborhood joint running from pool tables and darts to the Atlanta Room’s local music vibe and the world-famous Music Room upstairs.

A former iron smelting room inside the King Plow Arts Center in West Midtown, opened in March 2012 and holding 625 standing, fitted with modern production while keeping the original factory aesthetics.

The East Atlanta Restaurant and Lounge, a live-music bar and restaurant in the East Atlanta Village that is twenty-one and over at all times and serves burgers and sandwiches alongside the shows.

A club its own site tags 529 EAV, whose published safe ride home policy has staff helping arrange a taxi, Uber or Lyft for a customer who appears too inebriated to drive, and helping cover some or all of the cost when the customer cannot cover it.

A music venue, bar and restaurant in Atlanta’s Little Five Points district, whose own FAQ says its events are general admission and standing room only unless a ticket states otherwise.

A seated room inside Ponce City Market in the Old Fourth Ward, pairing live music with table service, dinner and its own wines, and counting Prince, Robert Glasper and Taj Mahal among the artists it has hosted.

A nonprofit community space for art, music, film and literature whose stated mission is supporting local and international artists as they advance the boundaries of art through exploration of contemporary art and new media, and which hosts a Monday Night Creative Music series.

A cozy room on the east side of Piedmont Park with tables and seating for over a hundred, which bills itself as “Atlanta’s premiere listening room” for Americana, bluegrass, country and western, folk, blues, jazz, roots rock and everything in between, and also hosts comedy and burlesque.