The room that taught the rest. Geary at Fillmore, 1,315 capacity, chandeliers older than your parents' record collection. Every show ships a free hand-drawn poster at the door — get there 30 minutes early or miss it. The Bay's mid-sized standard. If a touring act plays SF, they play here.
1,315 CAP6 SHOWS THIS MONTH
Next up
Sun, Sep 13Manchester Orchestra-I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child 20th Anniv Tour
Sat, Sep 19The Matches - Decomposer 20 Years Later
The 1928 movie palace Telegraph Avenue forgot until it didn't. 2,800 cap, gold-leaf everywhere, balcony that feels like a balcony. BART 19th St drops you three blocks west. The bigger Fillmore — same caliber of touring act, twice the room, half the SF price ceiling.
Summer-only. Open-air. 6,900 capacity scooped into a Stanford hillside since 1937. Caltrain to Palo Alto + Marguerite shuttle if the show ends before 11pm, otherwise drive in early because 280 will punish you. Booked through Stanford Live — the Bay's only real outdoor amphitheater that doesn't feel corporate.
6,900 CAP1 SHOW THIS MONTH
Next up
Sat, Sep 19Brandi Carlile - The Human Tour with CMAT
Fri, Oct 9Slightly Stoopid - <em>Cali Road Trippin 2026 </em>with The Elovaters, The Hip Abduction, and Denm
Marin's room. Three hundred capacity, downtown Mill Valley, Bob Weir co-owns. The drive over the Golden Gate is part of the ticket. Acts who could fill the Fillmore play Sweetwater when they want a small night — songwriter sets, surprise drop-ins, Grateful-adjacent reunions. Street parking, or the Lytton Square lots — be parked before doors.
Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, 800 cap. The room where punk, surf-rock, and college-radio acts have routed through since 1976. Eighty miles south of SF — make it a drive day. Downtown garages two blocks. Meters end at 6pm. Underground in the literal sense: low ceilings, sticky floors, no chrome.
Civic Center. 7,000 capacity. The room The Fillmore graduates to. Same lineage of programming, four times the floor — when an act outgrows Fillmore but isn't ready for Chase Center, BGCA is the move. BART Civic Center two blocks. Don't street-park Tenderloin at night. Built 1915, still the heavyweight.
7,000 CAP4 SHOWS THIS MONTH
Next up
Sat, Sep 19Steve Aoki - Dim Mak 30 Tour
Tue, Sep 22Jay Park with special guest LNGSHOT - Serenades & Body Rolls
East Bay arena. 19,596 capacity, Coliseum Way, the room where Oakland acts come home and play twice the floor BGCA gives them. Warriors-era tunnel still echoes. BART Coliseum drops you at the door — last train back to SF is 12:30am, plan the encore accordingly. The cross-bay weight class.
Dogpatch's warehouse. Forty thousand square feet at 900 Marin — gallery, café and artist studios wrapped around a 1,500-cap main room called RiDE, running a Funktion-One Evo rig. That system is the booking: this is where the electronic and hip-hop calendar lands when downtown is the wrong room. T Third stops two blocks out and the industrial blocks around it park free most nights. Check the listing before you go — performances here are often 21+.