Greensboro NC’s Best Venues for Unsigned Bands

Greensboro NC is home to a large amount of budding musicians. When you’re first starting out in a band it can be difficult to find live music venues that are willing to allow an unsigned band, with very little actual stage time perform. In Greensboro however, there are several smaller live music venues that embrace new groups and give them the opportunity to play in front of what sometime becomes a very large audience. Here are a few local places in Greensboro that will allow unsigned and newer bands some stage time.

New York Pizza
337 Tate Street
Greensboro NC 27403
336-272-8953

New York Pizza is just what it sounds like, a pizza joint. In addition to serving some of the best pizza in Greensboro they also have a bar attached to the back of the restaurant. The bar brings in a huge amount of college students every night as well as some local professionals that live around the area. They have a stage in the corner with a little bit of lighting, and allow groups to play music there.

Playing NY Pizza is primarily going to be good for exposure, you more than likely won’t be allowed to charge a cover unless you’ve played there enough that they know you’re going to bring in a pretty good sized crowd. There will be people there however, no matter what night of the week you play, so you’re guaranteed to have an audience.

The bar itself is not very large, so this venue is better for acoustic performances, or bands that don’t have a loud sound.

College Hill Sundries
900 Spring Garden Street
Greensboro NC 27403
336-370-1372

College Hill is located in between the college campus of UNCG and downtown Greensboro. It brings is a pretty good mixed group of professionals from the area, college students, and random others. They don’t have a stage, but they also aren’t very particular about who they have come play.

If you can bring in a crowd, you can charge a cover. Generally you need to get to know the manager of the bar before you would be allowed to have a cover charge, and with the cover you would give a cut back to the bar. College Hill is strictly 21 and up, so if you pull in a younger crowd, it may not be the place for you.

The beer here is cheap however, and there is always a decent crowd here, so it can be a good place to get some exposure when you’re first starting off and looking for a following.

Wild Magnolia Café
2200 Walker Ave
Greensboro NC 27403
336-378-0800

Wild Magnolia is kind of the graduate school of beginner band venues. Wild Mags will let a lot of unsigned bands play, but you need to be pretty good before they do. They have some night when they allow smaller bands to come play back to back each a few songs that may be your way into the venue if you’re looking to play a show.

This venue has a real stage set up, and it designed a lot like the nicer venues in town. They have a full bar, and a great atmosphere. They aren’t full all the time however so mid week shows are going to require you to do a lot of promotion to get a crowd in.

The bar will allow you to charge a cover, so you can also stand to make a decent amount of cash if you can pull in a crowd.