The free weekly guide to live music in the south metro.

We cover Apple Valley, Bloomington, Burnsville, Chaska, Eagan, Hastings, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, Mendota, Northfield, Rosemount, southern Saint Paul, and Shakopee.

One email goes out every Wednesday, previewing the upcoming 10–11 days of shows and events. No paywall, no algorithm, no clickbait — just a curated list of what's happening this week and a short "don't miss" pick or two.

How we find events.

We review venue websites, Facebook pages, and Google Calendars every day across 40+ south-metro venues. An automated pipeline flags new events, and a human editor reviews, curates, and writes the weekly issue before it goes out. New venues are added every month.

Venues we actively track.

• Apple Valley: Bogart's Entertainment Center
• Bloomington: Nine Mile Brewing Company
• Burnsville: Bricksworth Beer Co, Bucks 54 Bar and Grill, Ineffable Brewing Company, Lucky's 13 Pub
• Chaska: Heartbreakers Bar and Grill
• Eagan: Ansari's Mediterranean Grill & Lounge, Bald Man Brewing, Casper's Cherokee, Daniel R. Olsen American Legion Post 594, Lone Oak Bar and Grill, Union 32 Craft House, Wildcats Bar & Grill, Wyatt's Twisted Americana
• Hastings: Spiral Brewery
• Inver Grove Heights: Drkulas 32 Bowl, Inver Grove Brewery, Jersey's Bar & Grill, Mississippi Pub
• Lakeville: Babes Bar, Barley + Vine Kitchen, Lakeville Brewing Company
• Mendota: The Mudd Room
• Northfield: Reunion Brewery
• Rosemount: Celts Irish Pub and Grill, North 20 Brewing, OMNI Winery & Taproom, Rosemount VFW Post 9433
• Saint Paul: Bogey's Lounge, Wabasha Brewery
• Shakopee: Badger Hill Brewing, Boardwalk, O'Brian's Public House

See the full venue directory with addresses and website links.

Specific is better than generic.

The weekly issue is written by a real person. We pull from the event data we've collected during the week, sort by day, and highlight what looks interesting to local readers — a tribute act with a packed crowd, a regular residency worth catching, a jazz night that flies under the radar. We don't list every event as equally exciting, because they aren't.

If a performer has a name, we use it. If the genre matters, we mention it. If a show is a tribute or residency or one-off, we call that out.

Everything's free, basically.

The full week's events are live on the site every Wednesday, the venue directory is public, and the archive keeps past issues available as permanent pages. The newsletter is how most readers prefer to get it (delivered to your inbox Wednesday morning, curated "don't miss" picks, no need to remember to visit the site), but the information itself is open.

Who runs it.

South Metro Live is published by GreenOx Digital, a Minnesota-based creative and tech studio. The newsletter is a free community project — it exists because the south metro is full of great venues quietly doing interesting things every weekend, and there wasn't a single place to find out what was happening.

Reply to any newsletter.

Venue owners, performers, and readers — reply to any newsletter email to reach a real person, or email us directly at events@southmetrolive.com. We respond to every message. Use it to:

• Suggest a venue we should start covering
• Correct a listing (date, time, performer, cancellation)
• Submit a specific event
• Tell us about a residency, series, or recurring night

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up below and you'll have a reply address after the first issue hits your inbox.

Reviewed daily.

Event data is reviewed daily. The this week page updates every Wednesday with the new lineup. Past weekly issues remain available at permanent archive URLs so the content stays citable — even if you're reading this a year from now.