6 Best Nightlife in Boston, Massachusetts

An underground bohemian bistro featuring delicious food, libations, and live music nightly, The Beehive is nestled under the historic Cyclorama building. Nightly live music includes a mix of jazz, blues, R&B, electronica, reggae, latin, country, cabaret, and burlesque, while patrons enjoy craft cocktails and wines and dine on Mediterranean meze platters, daily special pastas, and comfort entrées. If jazz is your jam, don't miss the weekend live jazz brunch from 10 am to 3 pm; Sunday night features blues.

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive—thousands of folkies have strummed and warbled their way through Club Passim, one of America's oldest (1958) and most renowned clubs for Americana and roots music. Audience participation is encouraged, so be ready to sing along. The ultra-cozy brick basement has a kitchen that's open for relaxed live-music dining (which is only available to ticket holders). If you travel with your guitar, call about open-mic nights. Classes and workshops at their school around the corner carry on folk traditions. Acoustic bands perform nightly; expect to pay a $5–$25 cover.

This famed global chain draws rock music and memorabilia fans to its large space with a double bar—decorated with hundreds of Zildjian cymbals—dance floor, bandstand, restaurant (wall art of signed photos, LPs, guitars, and gear), and private party room. The Cavern Club welcomes name (think Psychedelic Furs and Charlie Puth) or tribute bands (Doors, Aerosmith, and Pixies) occasionally on weekends for ticketed entry, while the Rock Shop sells iconic and collectible merchandise. Fuel up on their legendary burgers.

Around the corner from Fenway Park and girded with bars and restaurants, the city's juggernaut among nightclubs books a wide array of bands into its barnlike music hall. Tickets are $25–$45, with VIP box seats usually $15–$20 more. The Foundation Room (an upscale VIP lounge) opens to the public for an additional fee, and promises "high-class debauchery."

By day a Berklee College coffee and snack bar, the Cafe by night opens its tidy, scarlet, 200-capacity concert space. Run, booked, and played by students, it's an ideal all-ages venue for aspiring student bands and indies on the rise; everyone from Hozier to Karmin has played here. Refreshments are light (soft drinks, noodles), and so is the cover charge, which varies based on the event. There are a dozen eateries within 200 yards.

Follow the retro neon sign to the music scene you've been waiting for. Bringing a long-awaited sophisticated rock music and dining venue to Harvard Square, The Sinclair's adventurous, near-nightly lineup of indie rock—with enticing flings into world, electronica, and jazz—often sells out. Its adjacent but quite separate restaurant and bar, with wanderlusty train and highway decor, a serious beverage list, creative mixology, and cuisine inspired by regional Americana at on-site Brato, is proving to be a winning formula. Accommodating 500, here's a party made to order for transient, academic, and streetwise grown-ups.