Oh, glorious summer! A season of fun and frivolity, long days and warm evenings, of festivals and dancing until the early rays of a new day’s light. Well… that’s at least what we will hope it will be. For many of us, summer still holds the same daily structure of life prior to the changing of seasons. There is work to get to, early meetings and a need to be productive. While nothing seems more tempting to venture out and enjoy the impromptu celebrations that many of our live music locales offer, the restrictions of needing to be up and out the door before 7 a.m. means many of us have to be home and in bed far earlier than before the music even gets started.
So what is a person to do? You want to hear live music, but, you don’t want to be a drooling zombie the next day as you have an important breakfast meeting at 8 a.m. Never fear, because you can have your cake and eat it too! Syracuse is blessed with several locations to hear great live music throughout the week and still be able to be in your pajamas by 10 p.m., well rested for the next day!
Starting with Sunday, Armory Square offers a swinging brunch at the Empire Brewing Company. Brunch starts at 11:30 a.m., and features a bevy of cool and refreshing specialty cocktails alone with craft beers to savor while enjoy hot midday serenade. Later you could stroll to the edge of Downtown and take in some rhythm and blues at the Boneyard outside the Dinosaur BBQ from 4-8 p.m. Or if Celtic music is more your fancy, Coleman’s Irish Pub on Tipperary Hill offers Trad inspired performers from 4-7 p.m.
Monday tends to be a quitter giving everyone a chance to catch their breath from the weekend. The week picks up right away on Tuesday, with Pops in the Park at Onondaga Lake Park. A free family friendly open air concert has music starting at 7 p.m. Ironwood Restaurant in Manlius offers music with wood fire pizza and an early close time of 9 p.m.
Wednesday and running nightly through Saturday, World of Beer at Destiny USA offers a wide selection of local musicians to compliment a wide selection of beers and craft cocktails, with acts performing approximately 7-11 p.m.
Thursday is the day where the promise of the weekend is almost here but, the haunting need of work on Friday hangs over our heads. To compensate for our almost anguish, several establishments offer happy hour performances to enjoy; Coleman’s and The Dino’s Boneyard have outside music from 6-9 p.m., Small Plates has their Acoustic Thursday happy hour, The B’ville Dinner offers classic cars and classic tunes from 4-8 p.m., and Phoebe’s across from Syracuse Stage has jazz from 7-11 p.m.
This is only a small sampling of weekday music available for the early morning riser crowd! Summer is so sweet and fleeting in CNY, let’s make the most of it and enjoy this season by supporting these local establishments and the amazing local musicians.
Where is your favorite place to hear live music during the week? What local act would you love to hear playing earlier than 10 p.m.? Leave a comment about it and let your fellow readers know a place or act they should check out.
