Music & Nightlife
Your guide to the best live music, nightclubs, gay clubs, comedy clubs, after-parties, dance parties, bands and dating events in Los Angeles
Summer concerts in LA
Get out your calendars: Your guide to the best summer concerts of 2016 has arrived.
EDM music festivals near LA
Like sweaty dance clubs with a bit more Day-Glo, a little less clothing and thousands of newfound friends.
The Time Out Love Los Angeles Awards 2016
Let us know how much you love LA by nominating your favorite cultural venues across the city.
Summer music festivals guide
Not all summer music festivals require a road trip to the desert.
More live music in LA
Upcoming concerts
All of the city's best music is right here in our calendar of upcoming concerts in LA.
Free concerts in LA
You're in luck—music (aside from film, possibly) is the city's most abundant form of entertainment.
The best places to dance every night of the week
These LA dance clubs will feed your need for everything from hip hop to salsa, Sunday through Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard's best live venues
The sprawling strip of Sunset Boulevard takes the cake for both quantity and quality of music venues in LA.
Sex & dating in Los Angeles
The best BDSM dungeons in Los Angeles
The term "BDSM" can conjure pretty intimidating images, but that doesn’t have to be the case.
Who to know in LA’s queer women scene
LA ladies are taking the queer social scene into their own hands, using social media as their platform.
The best first date bars in LA
While we can't promise fireworks between you and your new fling, these cocktail bars, breweries and other date-worthy spots will at least help kick-start a conversation.
Improv, sketch and stand-up comedy events in LA
Tracy Morgan
The former Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star mounts a comeback tour after his yearlong recovery from a devastating 2014 automobile accident....
Comedy Palace
This weekly comedy showcase in Los Feliz hosts one of the most stacked lineups of stand-ups this side of the 101. Located above a Chinese restaurant, the...
Andrew Dice Clay
Andrew Dice Clay made a name for himself with his brash, controversial humor, beginning in the early 80s and gradually earning a following in New York and...
Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival
Promoters keep trying to make outdoor comedy fests happen, but we can't complain with one look at the lineup for Funny or Die's Oddball Comedy and Curiosity...
Picture This!
Animation meets live comedy at this stand-up series from Brandie Posey and Sam Varela. Comedian perform on-stage as local artists sketch them—and cross...
Good Looks
Former Portlanders Ian Karmel and Andrew Michaan host this stand-up show the first Wednesday of the month. What started as a small but impeccably curated...
Hollywood clubs
Sound Nightclub
Sound has quickly made a name for itself among serious househeads and music lovers by delivering high profile acts that were doing dance music well before EDM hit the top 40. Sure, the new space has the markings of a typical Hollywood super club scene: 8,000 square feet of playspace with a sunken dance floor and elevated DJ booth, fancy 3D mapping visuals and a custom Funktion One sound system. But where it emerges ahead of other Hollywood clubs is its focus on the music (hence the name)—not by flaunting celebrity patrons or by playing into the hottest bottle service contest. Acts like Stanton Warriors turn out a Monday night crowd at Social—the 17-year-old landmark party has just set down roots at Sound—and burners find a second home at the club’s Friday party, where face painters, neon-clad dancers and green screen booths bring the spirit of La Playa to LaLa Land. The 500-capacity crowd basks in perks such as burlesque dancers, impromptu celebrity visitors and a frequent 4am closing time, all without the overcrowded feeling of a mega-club.
King King
King King descends from a legendary, smoke-filled Chinese restaurant on South La Brea Avenue that used to host everything from acid jazz bands to DJ-driven parties that felt as illicit as they were artistic. It was a place of reprieve from a (then) metal-heavy Hollywood. The red-lit Hollywood reincarnation is larger and more mainstream but is still billed as an intimate, single-room space—complete with backdoor entrance—that retains its Chinese heritage via lucky red and black decor. The King King has become a go-to space for cabaret, theater and live music performances, but we love it most for the DJs and electronic music nights it features. Legendary house music pioneers like Miguel Migs and Mark Farina drop in to play house and Detroit techno sets at stalwart parties like DJ Marques Wyatt’s Deep and West Coast Soul Events. Of course, the music comprises only half of what makes a magical night out: King King has a friendly staff, wallet-friendly covers, and a rare-in-Hollywood, come-one-come-all inclusive door policy (Dude rolling solo? Come on in. Not-so-svelte house music lover in a t-shirt and sneakers? You’re good to go). Hence, the crowd it attracts keeps an old legend energized with packed dance floors and friendly vibes.
Lure
By the sheer look of the place, Lure has all the makings of another slick Hollywood club, where bottle service and bodycon dresses spur a sit-and-stare vibe. Consider the pulsating LED walls, galaxy of glowing moonlike orbs that hover above the dance floor, gorgeous honey-lit VIP bar and elevated DJ stage—all framed in a massive open room where everyone and everything can be seen. Then, venture out to the expansive patio, where you’ll find winding, white tufted banquettes in cabanas framed by green, living walls. The hostesses are remarkably attractive, and beautifully lit palm trees and footbridges over ponds also disorient—it feels more like a 5-star resort than a Hollywood club. It almost seems like a trap for big spenders in shiny shirts looking for no more than a little bump and grind. But Lure is also where some of the best DJs and acts are throwing down: beneath its beautiful façade, Lure is all about the beat. No cultural ground is being broken, and it can be expensive, but the casual and sexy LA vibe is certainly in full bloom.
The Sayers Club
Live music fiends used to get their fix by entering the Sayers Club via an unassuming hotdog shop. But SBE has commandeered the former Green Papaya to make for a more grown-up precursor to the Sayers experience: the Front Room. It’s fashioned after a neighborhood bar and lounge—the kind of place where you can order a woodfired pizza or a mean old fashioned. But the gunmetal tin-tile walls, which are punctuated with framed guitars, serve as a not-so-subtle tell: serious music lies just beyond the back wall. The actual club is a place where cozy Turkish rugs are piled atop hardwood floors, and whiskey leather couches, exposed brick walls and industrial touches make for a cozy (and exclusive) man cave away from home—well, if that man cave happened to belong to the most connected music buff in town. In this case, that buff is Jason Scoppa and he rules the musical roost. Scoppa is famous for orchestrating Bardot Sessions, now Sessions at the Sayers Club, in which both up-and-coming and world-famous musicians play cover tunes. Of course, it’s the performances from beloved groups like The Black Keys, impossible-to-see-outside-of-an-arena musicians like Prince and actors like Emmy Rossum that seal the Sayers' fate as the best little room in Hollywood to catch major—and sometimes unexpected—talent.
Time Out music lists
Best breakup songs ever recorded
Whether you're wallowing in sorrow or super pissed, we've got the breakup ballad for you.
Cruisin' road trip songs
Hit the road, Jack, and crank up the dial with our definitive list of the best road trip songs ever made.
The 50 best drinking songs
Raise a toast to the greatest drinking songs ever recorded about beer, whiskey, wine and white lightning.
The best songs from ’80s movies
Bust out your leg warmers and warm up your Roger Rabbit—it’s time to hit the ’80s disco of your dreams.
Dance-party playlist
House party, BBQ, wedding party or just a bedroom disco, we have the party playlist you need to get the place moving.