2 Best Sights in Pennsylvania, USA

Intended to make a contemporary design statement, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts has some architectural oomph with its dramatic vaulted glass roof. The 450,000-square-foot venue by architect Rafael Viñoly includes the 2,500-seat Verizon Hall, the more intimate 650-seat Perelman Theater, a central plaza, and a rooftop terrace bar. Making their home at the Kimmel are the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadanco, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Philly Pops. Free performances are given before some performances and on many weekends in the center's Commonwealth Plaza.

While the venue gets its name from a well-known WXPN-FM program, and WXPN is housed in the same building, World Cafe Live is in fact a separate entity, even though aesthetically it hews to the XPN sound of acoustic, independent, and world-beat contemporary music. There are two live concert spaces, the larger of which, Downstairs Live, can pack in up to 650 concertgoers. There's a menu, but the food is so-so—better to eat a good meal elsewhere and then come for the show. If you can land gratis tickets via online pre-registration, XPN’s “Free at Noon” is a wholly unique concert experience—notable artists break the routine, performing stripped-down lunchtime sets for an intimate crowd. Adele, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, the Pixies, and the Pretenders are just a few of the big names who have graced the daytime stage. The upstairs venue is more of a drop-in place to listen to quality, mostly local bands.