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Upstate New York has a live music scene that most people outside the region don’t fully appreciate — and honestly, even a lot of people who live here don’t know the half of it. On any given weekend, there are shows happening at arenas, state parks, restored movie palaces, riverside amphitheaters, college ballrooms, and corner bars from Buffalo to Plattsburgh. The problem has never been the music. The problem is finding it.
That’s what Upstate Concerts is here for.
This site covers live music across the full stretch of Upstate New York — the Capital Region, Hudson Valley, Western NY, the Finger Lakes, Central NY, the Southern Tier, and the North Country. Seven regions, 100-plus venues, and a lot of ground to cover. We’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We’re trying to be the one place you can check to find out who’s playing near you, when, and whether it’s worth going.
Beyond the concert listings, we write about the shows. Not press release rewrites — actual pieces about why a particular night at a particular venue is worth your time and money. We cover the venues themselves, too: what it’s like to be there, where to park, where to grab a drink before the doors open, which section has the best sound. Venues have personalities, and if you’ve only been to a place once — or never — it helps to know what you’re walking into.
We also run a feature called On This Day, which is exactly what it sounds like: a daily look back at concerts that happened on this date somewhere in Upstate New York. Some of these are legendary. Some are obscure. All of them are part of a music history that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition. Upstate New York is where Woodstock happened. It’s where some of the best touring acts in the country have been playing for decades, in rooms ranging from 50-seat coffeehouses to 25,000-seat amphitheaters. That history deserves to be documented.
We’re also tracking free concert series — the summer park shows, the downtown entertainment districts, the events that don’t require a ticket at all. Live music shouldn’t always cost money, and we want to make sure those shows are just as easy to find as the ticketed ones.
This is a new publication, so there will be gaps. If you know about a show we haven’t listed, a venue we’ve missed, or a free series that should be on the site, please submit it. We want to hear from you.
The best way to stay current is the newsletter — a weekly roundup of what’s coming up, delivered before the weekend. You can sign up on the site. No spam, no sales pitches. Just shows.
Thanks for being here. Now go see some music.
— Jim Reynolds, Publisher