Live-music venues worth the trip in St. Paul, Minnesota

The downtown arena formerly known as Xcel Energy Center, now Grand Casino Arena, is home ice for the Minnesota Wild and runs a full touring-concert slate alongside hockey.

Its own site calls it the Midwest’s premier concert and ballroom destination, minutes from both downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis, booking rock, country, hip hop, electronica and indie with state-of-the-art sound and lights, a luxury lounge, three private suites and seven bars.

Its own page describes a century-old downtown St. Paul vaudeville house from 1916 that sat shut from 1984 until a $15 million renovation reopened it in 2017 for contemporary music and events. The theatre is owned by the City of St. Paul and co-operated by First Avenue and JAM Productions.

Its operator’s site calls it historic and legendary, built in 1932 and host to a myriad of musical performances and events of all types, and now home of the Minnesota Roller Derby and countless community events at Saint Paul RiverCentre.

Its own page describes St. Paul’s oldest surviving theater space, built in 1910 as the Sam S. Shubert Theater, later home to A Prairie Home Companion and renamed for F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1994. First Avenue bought it in 2019 and books it primarily with touring concerts and comedy.

Its own page calls it a historic Midway landmark opened in 1945 as a supper club and dancehall that now hosts live music nearly every night, both a neighborhood hang and a destination for touring artists. It is a 350-cap room with a stage and bar upstairs and the Clown Lounge basement bar and stage below, owned and operated by First Avenue.

Its own site describes a staple of downtown St. Paul nightlife for nearly 15 years, with the largest variety of gin in the area and a safe place to see live music of all kinds. It runs ticketed shows almost daily, split between half-room and full-room configurations.

Its own site says it aims to provide an authentic venue for premier blues acts while offering the same stage to local and regional favorites. It hosts the Greatest Jam on Earth on a big dance floor every Tuesday, line dancing every Wednesday and shows on Fridays.

Minnesota Music Cafe is a Payne Avenue bar on St. Paul’s East Side that runs live bands nearly every night of the week.

Its own site presents a West Seventh neighborhood bar with signature cocktails and local craft beer that runs a live music calendar several nights a week.