Live Music in Wellington: Bars, Festivals, and Arenas

When it comes to live music in Wellington, New Zealand’s watery and windswept capital stealthily outclasses most cities of its modest size. Infact, the Wellington live music scene has launched the careers of a huge number of home-grown headliners.

Fat Freddy’s Drop built a global audience from local jams, Flight of the Conchords turned comedy music gigs in Wellington into a global passport, Shihad cut their teeth on the city’s heavier stages, The Black Seeds played the local circuit for years before Breaking Bad made them big.

Such impressive alumni can only come from a city where live music is deeply embedded and lovingly tended to and that is very true of Wellington.

It’s incredibly easy gig-hop here: Cuba Street alone can hold a full night’s crawl without hailing a single rideshare, and multi-venue festivals routinely stitch ten rooms into one giant party.

We've rounded up the top venues for live music in Wellington and how to navigate them. 

Whether you're up for a late one, or just a low-key beer with quality music, there are dozens of venues lovingly dedicated to live music in Wellington.  

Venue address: 171 Cuba Street, Te Aro

A cornerstone of live music in Wellington since the 1990s, this venue has worn several names (Indigo and the San Francisco Bath House among them) and has the receipts to prove it. Weekly Eyegum Free Wednesdays have brought emerging artists to a full club since 2016, with free entry and a community vibe that’s pure Pōneke civic pride. 

Signature moments literally live on record here. The Clean’s “Mashed” includes tracks recorded at the old Bath House, and Recloose’s “Backwards And Sideways” was captured live in the room. Up and coming locals like The Phoenix Foundation keep the line out the door.

Pre or post show, graze your way along Cuba Street. Within a few minutes you’ve got late cafés, cheap eats and laneway bars, and on festival nights San Fran becomes a hub for the Great Sounds Great precinct, which lights up ten venues in one evening each spring.  

Venue address: 9 Edward Street, Te Aro

Meow is the shapeshifter of Wellington music venues. Opened in 2008, it books indie one night and a jazz ensemble the next, then flips to storytelling or label showcases.

In the last twelve months you could catch Peter Cat Recording Co. and The Lemonheads up close. It also doubles as a recording-friendly room. Wellington jazz collective The Troubles even staged a live album session here.

Neighbourhood note: Edward Street is a tiny lane that drops you back onto Willis or Cuba in minutes, so you can bounce between gigs without losing your friends or your appetite. 

Venue address: 272 Taranaki Street

For left-field ears, this artist-run space is where experimental music and sonic arts are normalised. Pyramid Club presents small-room concerts, workshops and residencies that sit outside the commercial circuit. The crowd is curious, the programming is fearless, and the coffee table will have as many synth fans as drummers around it. 

It’s an intimate room, so arrive on time and bring cash. You are a short walk from the southern end of Cuba Street for post-show debriefs in friendly bars. 

Venue address: 92 Vivian Street, Te Aro

A recent arrival with serious heritage, Meow's sister venue Meow Nui is the repurposed Salvation Army Citadel on Vivian Street, given a sympathetic acoustic upgrade and capacity to host larger touring acts while keeping indie cred intact. It’s already attracting international artists like Chelsea Wolfe, which tells you agencies rate the room.

Being on Vivian means you are two blocks from Cuba Street and five from Courtenay Place. Grab a bite on the way in, then take advantage of late buses after the encore. For what’s on, check the venue diary and gig listings. 

Venue address: 154 Vivian Street, Te Aro

Valhalla is the city’s bunker for metal, punk and anything with guts. The address has housed live music since the 1990s under names like The Valve and Medusa, and the venue’s own history is a crash course in Wellington’s heavier sounds. Shihad and Head Like A Hole cut early teeth in this room. 

Today, it is a touring node with a busy calendar and in-house production built for loud, tight sets. Expect EP launches one night and international stoner-rock the next, and on festival weekends you’ll find Valhalla anchoring the Vivian-to-Cuba corridor. Pre-show, you are minutes from late eateries on Vivian and the top of Cuba Street, which helps when the pit has burned off your dinner. 

These are the best live music venues in town that will also serve you a decent meal and an ice cold Monteith.  

Venue address: 167 Riddiford Street, Newtown

Moon is Newtown’s community engine: a pizzeria, craft-beer bar and seven-nights-a-week live-music cocoon. The city’s longest-running open-mic and jam night happens here on Tuesdays, morphing from sign-ups to full-tilt band as the evening rolls. If you are passing through with a guitar, this is your Wellington baptism.

Mid-week often brings free shows and label showcases, weekends swing from reggae to math-rock, and the pizza moves fast between sets. Before doors, take a Newtown wander for cheap eats and vintage shops along Riddiford. 

Venue address: Level 1, 20 Garrett Street, Te Aro

Upstairs from Rogue, Bedlam & Squalor is a musician’s bar that leans into club-night programming, experimental one-offs and listening-room sets. It has even hosted the New Zealand String Quartet’s “Racket Lounge”, proving the room’s sound is as comfortable with arco as it is with 808s. 

The address puts you metres from Glover Park and a short stroll to Hannahs Laneway for a sweet treat before doors. When it’s part of multi-venue nights, Bedlam’s staircase becomes a scene all by itself.  

Venue address: 52 Taranaki Street, Te Aro

If Pogues and a pint is more your speed, Jack Hackett's is an Irish pub done properly. Guinness, hearty plates, and a weekly music slate. Friday nights are home to Capital Blues with live bands from about 8:30pm, Saturdays lean into covers and crowd-pleasers, and there’s extra midweek music on a rotating schedule. It’s central, roomy and easy to duck into before or after a waterfront gig.  

From arena thrash to symphonic swells, Wellington also has a wealth of venues with big stages for big shows.  

Venue address: 111 Manners Street, Te Aro

Opened in 1914, this heritage theatre is where Wellington dresses up for big voices and touring names that want an ornate proscenium and plush seats. The Edwardian Baroque façade and horseshoe balconies make it a favourite for orchestral crossovers, theatre and special concerts. It is performance history you can sit inside. 

Acoustically, it's known to performers the world over for the way it flatters singers and chamber ensembles, while its central Manners Street location means you can glide to late bars on Cuba after the curtain call. 

Venue address: 111 Wakefield Street, Te Aro

MFC is the capital’s purpose-built symphonic hall and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s Wellington home base. The room is famed for clean acoustics and has hosted everything from film-music spectaculars to contemporary collaborations. It also doubles as a recording venue for major projects.

The NZSO recorded film score sessions here, including work for A Minecraft Movie, and “Mana Moana” with Signature Choir was released as a live album. If you want your goosebumps with seats and sightlies, this is the ticket. Beforehand, Civic Square and the waterfront are close for stroll, sip or quick bite.

Venue address: 4 Queens Wharf, Wellington

For arena-scale tours, DJ spectacles and pop heavyweights, TSB Arena is the city’s big box on the water. Capacity runs to the mid-five-thousands after its 2005 expansion, and past setlists include Leonard Cohen, Steely Dan and Don Henley.

It is the space for the kind of production that travels in trucks. Logistics are easy. You can pre-game on the waterfront, walk in, then be back on Courtenay Place in minutes for a nightcap. Listings run through multiple ticketing and gig-guide platforms. 

Wellington’s festival calendar swings from free street takeovers to one-night venue sprints, with CubaDupa in late March, the Wellington Jazz Festival in October, summer’s Gardens Magic concerts, and indie favourite Great Sounds Great in September.

Venue address: Cuba Stret precinct, various venues

If you want a concentrated hit of Wellington live music, book for Great Sounds Great. Eyegum Music Collective turns the Cuba Street area into a one-night, ten-venue sprint that rewards nimble feet. Buy a wristband and bounce between Meow, San Fran, Valhalla and friend groups until your step counter gives up. 

Venue address: Cuba Street precinct, various venues

Wellington turns its creative dial to “loud” for CubaDupa, a two-day street takeover that closes roads and fills the Cuba Quarter with bands, parades, installations and pop-up parties.

It’s free, family-friendly and huge: in recent editions the programme has topped 140 acts and 170+ performances across Saturday and Sunday, with big crowds rolling through from lunchtime until late.

Expect a mash-up of styles rather than a single genre lane: brass bands beside DJs, contemporary dance outside cafés, and roaming spectacles like LED dragons, Bollywood troupes and mass ukulele swells.