In a college town with one of the top music schools in the nation, there is bound to be local music talent. Throw in a variety of bars and live music venues, and almost every day of the week offers a new musical opportunity.
Is Bloomington a bluegrass town? Is it an indie rock town? Maybe a hip-hop town? It turns out it’s more of an everything town. But from what we gathered from just a few of the places, each venue manages to offer its own assortment of “everything.”
MAX’S PLACE
109 W. Seventh St.
Type of music: “Basically anything that’s off the beaten path,” owner Travers Marks said. “We don’t really go for big cover bands. We like classic rock, but we don’t usually book it. We don’t like top 40, but bluegrass, reggae, blues, jazz, any weird combination thereof, singer-songwriters, that’s Max’s Place.”
The Max’s Place scene: Marks said two simple words sum up the restaurant’s niche within the Bloomington music scene: hirsute, meaning shaggy, and liberal.
Before you go: Don’t eat before seeing a band at Max’s Place. Grab a table with your friends, share a pizza and stay a while.
RACHAEL’S CAFE
300 E. Third St.
Type of music: Owner Rachael Jones said the restaurant has had every genre of music except country. Jones said people looking to soak up music at Rachael’s can expect to hear punk, folk, Irish and hip-hop, as well as plenty of local independent acts.
The Rachael’s Café scene: “We are so many different things,” Jones said. “We are a coffee shop in the daytime and a music venue at night. We also are not limited to people 21 and over. Any age can come. In fact, we had a women’s music night, and there was a girl playing that was younger than 10.”
Before you go: While Rachael’s Cafe can fill the place to capacity at night with its live music and DJ events, don’t forget that it’s also a great place to study or relax during the day. The place is adorned with bizarre sculptures, stimulating artwork and loaded bookshelves for customers to enjoy.
THE BISHOP BAR
123 S. Walnut St.
Type of music: “We’re not too genre-specific,” owner Stephen Westrich said. “(We’ve had) everything from rock bands, indie rock bands, alt-country, hip-hop. But if we lean towards one thing, it’s an indie rock environment.”
The Bishop scene: “In terms of places that regularly do live music, we only do original music,” Westrich said. “We definitely embrace local bands like nobody else does, and we really solely concentrate on original music. We’ve turned down things we know would bring us 200 people, but we don’t do them. There’s an audience for those kinds of things, but we brand ourselves as something different.”
Before you go: If you’re older than 21, you can go directly to the bar after checking in at the door, but anyone younger will be directed to the stage area.
RHINO’S YOUTH CENTER
331 S. Walnut St.
Type of music: “We’re very open-ended,” assistant director David Britton said. “We do everything from national and international touring bands to local high school bands. We do metal, hip-hop, rock, folk music and really a lot of everything, but we do try to concentrate on local music.”
The Rhino’s Scene: Britton said what sets Rhino’s apart from other live-music venues in Bloomington is that it’s an entirely all-ages club. He said he also likes to take the risk of booking younger bands that can’t get booked at other places because of age restrictions.
“We’re also a bigger venue compared to some of the other places,” Britton said. “So we can bring in bigger name artists.”
Before you go: Students from the local Harmony Education Center started Rhino’s in 1992. Since then, the venue has offered a variety of non-music programs for youth. In the past, Rhino’s has helped organize film screenings, dance parties and various fundraising events.
