Best Live Music Bars in Montreal

The most important small music venue in Montreal. Casa del Popolo has been launching careers and hosting touring acts since 2000, and it remains the best room in the city for discovering something new. The vegetarian food is genuinely good, the beer list leans craft, and the cover charge almost never exceeds $15. A cultural institution dressed as a neighbourhood bar.

A 350-capacity room that consistently books the most interesting acts in the city. The sound system is excellent, the bar runs serious cocktails at fair prices, and the courtyard out back is one of Montreal's genuinely great outdoor drinking spaces in summer. Genre-agnostic programming means every visit brings something different.

Montreal's premier dedicated jazz venue, Upstairs has been booking world-class performers since 1988. The two sets nightly are broadcast-quality events. Arrive before doors to guarantee a table for the 9pm set. The whisky selection is among the best in the city, and the kitchen delivers respectable bistro fare until midnight.

A Plateau institution with a front room built for conversation and a back room that hosts live blues, folk, and acoustic sets most evenings. No cover charge on weeknights. The beer selection focuses on Quebec microbreweries. Regulars treat the bar like their living room, and first-timers are welcomed immediately.

For 20 years, Divan Orange was where you discovered who was going to matter in music before anyone else. The venue closed, reopened, and closed again, but its spirit lives on through the programming that shaped a generation of Montreal music fans. The current incarnation runs strong programming Thursday through Sunday. No frills, no pretension, extraordinary music.

A listening room in the best sense: sit-down shows, acoustic programming, and a room designed to hear rather than to be seen in. The coffee and wine are both excellent. Ideal for folk, singer-songwriter, and chamber music performances. The cover charges are minimal and the intimacy is unmatched anywhere in the city.

Attached to the Maison du Jazz in the Quartier des Spectacles, L'Astral is where the Montreal Jazz Festival sends its overflow acts, and it maintains that standard year-round. The 425-seat room has sightlines and acoustics that smaller venues can only dream about. Premium experience, premium prices.

The scruffiest and most lovable bar on Saint-Laurent, Bifteck hosts bands in a room that holds 80 people at maximum comfort and 120 when someone good is playing. The beer is cheap, the crowd is mixed, and the music skews indie rock and punk. No reservations, no dress code, no attitude.

A true all-day neighbourhood bar that somehow manages to host worthwhile acoustic and small-band performances without feeling like it is trying too hard. The Hungarian-inflected menu is excellent, the drinks are cheap and well-made, and the back garden is one of the more pleasant places to spend a summer afternoon in Montreal.

A 550-capacity music hall that programs everything from touring indie acts to international jazz names. The sound and lighting rigs are professional-grade. The bar inside is well-run with a good craft beer selection. Buy tickets in advance — the most popular shows sell out weeks ahead.