This theater is a gem in the heart of the deliciously seedy Tenderloin neighborhood and has been around since 1907. Stepping into the theater is like stepping into a prohibition era nightclub soaked in contraband gin. You half expect burlesque dancers to run out on stage waving ostrich plumes while a red-lipsticked cigarette girl sells you a pack of Lucky Strikes.

Shows I’ve seen here: Of Montreal. They were awesome. Kevin Barnes – divorce Nina! Marry me!

For more, peep the GAMH Calendar of Events

This venue is historically San Francisco. In the 60s, everyone played here, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin. Nowadays, the Fillmore is owned by Live Nation, who have sinister plans of creating ‘Fillmores’ in other cities – like the Fillmore DC, Fillmore New York, Fillmore LA. Can I get a resounding “Ew?!” Come here while you still can, before Live Nation ruins it for all of us.

Shows I’ve seen here? Lupe Fiasco. He was face-of-the-sun hot!

Tickets can be bought and found on The Fillmore’s website.

Intimate intimate intimate. Bottom of the Hill is smaaaall – I think only like 200 people can be in here at one time – and shows sell out quickly. But it’s not the size that matters, it’s what you do with it – and BotH does really well for itself in that department. It has made itself THE place to go for unplugged sets or for quiet soothing indie rock. I saw Jens Lekman unplugged here and, seriously, it made me weep. Lykke Li is playing here on my birthday, yippeee! I love Swedish people!

Calendar of events – come on by.

If a good electro show isn’t playing at the Mezzanine one night, you can bet your grandma’s horses (whatever that means) that you can find one at the Mighty. Home to the Blashaus parties, The Mighty is one cool place. A lot of glitch and techno acts come through here, so if remixes are your thing, make sure you stop on by.

Shows I’ve seen here include Mstrkrft and the Micromusic Festival.

Calendar of events right here.

Fat City is like a big cube inside, which is great for dancing dancing dancing for hours! The bar is tiny so make sure you bring you booze in a flask. Or you can go to Cat Club for some prepartying. I saw Glass Candy here! The cute boy at the door let me in for free. Oh, Vice Magazine had a party here for Chromeo last Halloween and I couldn’t get in the line was too long but I heard it was hella fun.

Fat City calls itself a rock’n’roll nightclub. I like the sound of that! They also have couches, which is great for when your poor feetsies get tired.

What do you do when you’re over 18 but not 21 and you don’t have an ID and you can’t get into the Mezz or the Mighty but you really want to see some good music and you like totallyarefreakingout cuz Robyn is coming to town? Go to Popscene! These kids have been throwing a good party since your mom’s time, and they’ve had a slew of awesome acts that’ve included MIA and Bloc Party and New Young Pony Club and like EVERYONE.

I had so much fun here for Robyn, The Teenagers, The Virgins, and all the other shows I got so drunk at I’ve forgotten about.

Sure the soundsystem kind of sucks and you’ll be partying with a lot of babies with fake IDs. Whatever!

Lineup right here hollerrrr.

If you want hipster electro, this is the place to go. The Mezzanine seems to specialize in electronic music, whether your flavor is electroclash, electropop, electronica, disco, new wave, whatever, as long as you can dance to it in a Grey Goose Redbull fueled craze.

Also – this is important – The Mezz has the BEST light system in town. Seriously. You have to see it to believe it – the stage lights are amazing and the techs know exactly what they’re doing. It really brings a touch of something extra to the shows.

Shows I’ve seen here? I guess the question is what haven’t I seen here. !!!, Crystal Castles, Ladytron, Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, Lo Fi Fnk, Jusice, MIA and so so so many I can’t even remember all of them.

For more show info, hit up the calendar of events on the Mezz’s website.

Art deco is the word to describe Bimbo’s. It’s been around since 1931 and looks like it jumped out of an Edward Hopper painting. Gorgeous. Men as old as the mountains (seriously) who wear black vests – not even to be ironic – will serve you gin martinis as you slink around amongst the plush backdrop and bask in the state-of-the-art soundsystem.

I saw Jens Lekman here. Jens!! He was awesome. I was dancing my face off! It was so happy! Sigh.

Calendar right on here, come get you some tix!

I saw my first concert in San Francisco at the Independent. It was Tokyo Police Club. I got in for free too, bc it was sold out and I pretended like I had a ticket and just lost it and the doorman was nice. Ever since then, I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the Independent and everything it’s got to offer.

These kids have been KILLING it lately. I just saw The Teenagers there last night and danced like I was loco. Yelle is playing tomorrow! The Field is playing next week! Yes!

The lineup is sick in the next few months so make sure you go to some of these shows.

The Rickshaw Stop does live music every Friday for Blow Up, and many other nights of the week too, just cuz it’s nice. They don’t pull the biggest acts around, but here is where you’ll discover the coolest bands before they make it huge. I saw the Chromatics here when there were about 50 people in the audience, and now they’ve totally exploded! The booking agents here know their underground stuff. The one night of the month when a big act will come through the R-Stop is for Loaded. I saw both Jeans Team and Datarock at Loaded and it was a total blast.

There’s an indoors smoking room upstairs too, for when you’re drunk and just need a cigarette! Yay!

PS: Check out their future lineups. Pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot.

SOOOOO CUTE. This. Place. Is. So. KUTE!!

It’s like a speakeasy with long bars, lots of tall stools to sit on, and a small stage at the front that has graced some way cool acts. For some reason the lighting is always mildly red, which gives it a sort of vintagey glow that makes my heart happy. A lot of local bands stop by here and it’s a great place to brush up on your knowledge of the local scene.

It’s also in the heart of the Castro and great if you wanna go salivate after the pretty go-go boys at The Bar, afterhours.

I saw Mellowdrone and Rykarda Parasol here. They were rad. I had a great time. You will too if you come here! Check out their future lineups.