Live Music and Jazz in Tbilisi: Where to Hear a Band Tonight

Tbilisi is famous for techno, but it has a live music scene most visitors walk straight past: jazz rooms on Rustaveli Avenue, cover bands in pubs, Georgian singers in wine bars and a jazz festival that goes back to 1978. Here's where to hear a band tonight, which nights each place plays and how to find this week's gigs and tickets.

Where to hear live music in Tbilisi at a glance

Most of the city's live music sits in two pockets a 10-minute walk apart: Sololaki, the old merchant quarter below the fortress, and the stretch of Rustaveli Avenue around Freedom Square. Add the Old Town lanes near the baths and one local favorite out in Saburtalo, and that covers the map.

The 10 best live music bars and jazz clubs in Tbilisi, ranked

I ranked these on the music first, then the room, then how easy it is for a visitor to walk in and enjoy it. The jazz clubs sit high because jazz is what Tbilisi does best live; the pubs sit lower because their bands play covers, which is a fine night but not a reason to plan a trip.

1. Crossroads Bar

Crossroads is the bar I send people to when they want music with a crowd they can actually talk to. It sits at 30 Shalva Dadiani Street in Sololaki, a few minutes' walk from Freedom Square, and it's the best cocktail bar in Tbilisi for making new friends: a very open, social room with a long wooden counter. Thursday is live music night, and that's the night to aim for; karaoke runs on Tuesdays and Sundays, and Wednesday is the expat meetup.

The mix of people is the point: expats and locals at the same tables, which makes it far easier to fall into conversation than at a ticketed jazz club. Order the Pinelet, the house bestseller of gin, pinecone liqueur and lime with a soft pine nose, and if you are hungry the kitchen runs until midnight with mini quiches at 7 GEL and potato pancakes.

Check @crossroadsbartbs on Instagram for who's playing this Thursday. It suits solo travelers and anyone who plays; it is the wrong pick if you want to sit in silence and listen to a headliner. The cocktails are good enough that it also tops my list of cocktail bars in Tbilisi.

2. Jazz Club 1984

Jazz Club 1984 is the most dependable live music in the city: there is a show every night, all year round. The club fills a former apartment inside one of the grand old buildings on Rustaveli Avenue, and it feels like a friend's living room with a band in the corner and floral wallpaper on the walls.

The program runs through jazz, blues and soul, with the best Georgian bands on most nights and visiting foreign musicians on others. The room is intimate, which means the music is loud enough to feel and close enough to see the players' hands. Buy a ticket online through Biletebi or pay at the door, and follow 1984jazz on Instagram for the week's lineup.

My favorite night here is Monday, when the rest of the city is quiet and the club still has a full band on. It suits couples and anyone who came for the music; groups who want to talk through the set should go somewhere else.

3. Tatuza Jazz Club

Tatuza is the newest serious jazz room in Tbilisi and the polished end of the scene. It lives inside the Telegraph Hotel on Rustaveli Avenue and takes its name from Tamaz Kurashvili, the Georgian jazz musician everyone knew as Tatuza. The room looks the part: deep orange armchairs, red tables, a raised stage with a grand piano and proper concert lighting.

The bookings are what set it apart. The club opened with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Dennis Chambers sharing the stage with Georgian pianist Beka Gochiashvili, and the program mixes international stars with a house band and Georgian artists. Eastern Promotion, the company behind Georgia's long-running jazz festivals, is a partner, which explains the names it can pull.

Tickets sell on tkt.ge, and for the international nights I'd buy them as soon as you know your dates. Expect hotel-bar prices for drinks. It suits a dress-up night out and jazz fans who check lineups; it is overkill if you just want background music with dinner.

4. Singer

Singer is the jazz cafe in the Old Town where local Georgian bands play every night of the week, and entry is free. Music runs from about 9 PM to midnight, and Sunday is the night for experimental sets. The menu mixes European and Georgian food with cocktails, so you can make a full evening of it without moving.

The club grew out of a plan in 2015 to give jazz a stage two nights a week at the Kakha Bakuradze Movement Theatre, and it has kept that musicians-first feel. The room is small, though, and it is full most nights.

It suits budget travelers, jazz fans and anyone staying in Old Tbilisi who wants music within walking distance. It is not the place for a long conversation, and the tight room is uncomfortable for big groups.

5. Zazanova Salon

Zazanova is a restaurant first, which makes it my pick for a dinner where the music adds to the evening rather than running it. It sits in Sololaki, the menu crosses Georgian and European cooking, and local bands play jazz and rock on most nights of the week, which puts it among the few places in the city with live music almost every day.

The program is usually set about a month ahead and posted on its Facebook page, so you can plan a jazz night before you even land. Book a table, especially on Friday and Saturday, and ask for one with a view of the band.

Order a spread of Georgian starters to share and let the set run while you eat. It suits couples, families with older kids and anyone who wants dinner and music in one booking; it is not a late-night bar, so move on afterward if you want to keep going.

6. Wine Not?

Wine Not? is where I'd go to hear Georgian musicians with a glass of Georgian wine in hand. The Gudiashvili Square branch, on the edge of Sololaki, has a full kitchen and a proper stage, and Georgian acts play most nights in high season and on weekends through winter and spring. There is also a much smaller microbar in Vera, but the stage is at Gudiashvili Square.

The acts are Georgian, which makes it a good middle ground between a jazz club and a folk show. Entry is free, and the wine list is long enough to treat the night as a tasting.

Ask the staff for a glass from a small producer and something to eat with it. It suits wine lovers and first-time visitors who want a Georgian evening without a set dinner-show menu, and it makes a natural first stop before the wine bars of Sololaki.

7. MacLaren's Irish Pub

MacLaren's is Tbilisi's longest-running Irish pub, and on most weekends it has a band. The evening runs in two halves: acoustic sets in the early evening, when you can still hear your table, then cover bands later on, when the room fills and people start singing along.

It is a sports bar the rest of the time, with matches on the screens and a back bar papered with banknotes. Nobody comes here for Georgian culture, and that is fine: it is the easiest place in the city to drop in alone on a Saturday and end up talking to strangers.

Get there for the acoustic set if you want a seat, and stay for the covers if you want the party. It suits groups, sports fans and anyone on a Tbilisi pub crawl; skip it if you came to hear something you can't hear at home.

8. #8 BBQ House

#8 BBQ House is the rock and blues bar of this list. It is Georgian-owned, with a grill menu, a terrace with city views and an indoor stage big enough for a full band. Bands play rock and blues on weekends, and Thursday is often a rock or blues night too, which makes it a good midweek option when the pubs are quiet.

The terrace is the best seat in summer: a cold beer, the city lights and the band audible through the doors. In colder months everything moves inside, closer to the stage and louder.

Come hungry: the grill menu is half the reason to book, and the burger is the safe order. It suits rock fans and groups who want dinner and a band; jazz fans will be happier on Rustaveli Avenue.

9. Sheen Aura

Sheen Aura is the one on this list where you will mostly hear Georgian around you. It is a restaurant and bar in Saburtalo, a residential district out of the center, and the crowd is almost all local. Friday is folk night, with Georgian folk ensembles on stage; other nights bring piano and vocal duos, jazz, and even poetry readings and literary evenings. In summer the performances move out to the garden.

Getting there takes more effort than the central bars, but it is on the Tbilisi metro, so it is a short trip from the center rather than an expedition.

Book through its Facebook page, order khinkali for the table and let the Friday ensemble do the rest. It suits travelers on a second visit who want a local night; first-timers short on time get more from the central venues.

10. See360

See360 is the restaurant to book when you want live music and a city view at the same table. It has music from Thursday to Sunday, starting around 8 PM, and the sets are pitched to sit under dinner rather than over it, so you can talk without shouting.

The dining room is bright and plant-filled, with patterned pendant lamps and windows on the city. It is the most low-key way to get live music into a trip, and the easiest one to book for a birthday or a last night.

Reserve a window table through its Facebook page and arrive before 8 PM to watch the light go. It suits couples and families; anyone looking for a band to dance to should head to MacLaren's or #8 BBQ House instead.

Rock, indie and small-stage nights

Beyond the top 10, Tbilisi has a handful of smaller rooms where the music is rougher, cheaper and often more interesting. These are the places I'd look for on a second night out.

• Revolution Bar puts local rock and indie bands on a small stage under a brick-vaulted ceiling, the kind of basement gig I like best.

• Drunk Owl in the Old Town, near the Meidan bazaar, has live music on weekends from 8 PM, free entry and cheap drinks. The crowd is mostly travelers, which makes it an easy first night.

• Apotheka Bar and Lounge in Sololaki, set in an old pharmacy, has subdued weekend sets, from a singer with piano and violin to DJs later on.
• Backstage 76, just off Rustaveli Avenue, mixes live acts such as accordion players with film screenings.

• Ikalto Micro Art Residence in Saburtalo is a gallery in a ninth-floor apartment that hosts piano and acoustic performances alongside its exhibitions. Entry is free apart from the 5 tetri elevator.

None of these keeps a fixed weekly schedule, so check their Facebook or Instagram pages on the day. If you'd rather dance than listen, the city's real late-night strength is its techno clubs, which take over after the bands finish.

Live music in Tbilisi by night of the week

If you are in town for a week, you can hear something different every night. This is the plan I'd follow, built around the nights each venue is most reliable.

Add Crossroads Bar on Thursday for live music, or on Tuesday or Sunday if you'd rather sing yourself, and Tatuza into whichever night has a name you recognize. Wine Not? works on any night in high season.

Concert venues in Tbilisi

For a seated concert rather than a bar gig, Tbilisi has three halls worth knowing, and all of them sell through tkt.ge.

The Tbilisi Concert Hall, which most locals still call the Philharmonic, is the city's big modern hall: a curved, glass-fronted building that hosts classical, jazz and contemporary concerts with Georgian and international artists. It is the traditional home of the Tbilisi Jazz Festival, and touring rock bands play it too.

The Jansug Kakhidze Tbilisi Center for Music and Culture on David Agmashenebeli Avenue is the hall for orchestral and organ concerts. The main hall has a white honeycomb ceiling and a pipe organ, and it is my favorite room in the city for classical music.

The Tbilisi Conservatoire has its own yearly program of concerts too.

For opera and ballet, book a night at the city's opera house on Rustaveli Avenue, a Moorish-style building that is the grandest on the avenue.

The Tbilisi Jazz Festival

The Tbilisi Jazz Festival is the biggest date on the city's jazz calendar, and it happens every October. It started in 1978 as the All-Soviet Jazz Festival, with 23 bands from 13 Soviet cities, went quiet for years, and has run every year since its revival in 2000. The Tbilisi Concert Hall is its traditional home.

The festival's partners overlap with Tatuza Jazz Club's, so the club often carries the same quality of bookings through the rest of the year. Georgia's other big jazz event is the Black Sea Jazz Festival in Batumi, on the coast, and the wider calendar of Georgian festivals and holidays adds wine festivals, Tbilisoba and church holidays with music of their own.

Georgian folk music and polyphony

Jazz and rock are only half of Tbilisi's live music. The other half is Georgian: polyphonic singing, where three voices weave together without instruments, and the folk dance shows that fill a handful of big restaurants every night in high season. These "dinner and a show" evenings need a reservation, sometimes weeks ahead in summer.

I'd do one folk night on any first trip, because Georgian polyphonic singing sounds like nothing else you will hear in the city, least of all in the bars above. For a lighter taste, Friday folk night at Sheen Aura or a Georgian act at Wine Not? gets you there without a set menu.

How to find gigs and buy tickets in Tbilisi

Live music in Tbilisi runs on Instagram and Facebook. Most bars and restaurants post the week's lineup there, often only a day or two ahead, and that is also where you book a table, by sending a message.

For ticketed concerts, tkt.ge is the main ticketing site in Georgia, covering the Concert Hall, Tatuza and most big shows; buy at tkt.ge once the lineup is out. Jazz Club 1984 sells through Biletebi as well as at the door. Singer and Drunk Owl are free to walk into, and at the pubs and wine bars you pay for drinks rather than at the door.

Timing is easy once you know the rhythm. Bands rarely start before 8 PM, most jazz sets begin between 8:30 and 9 PM, and the bar gigs often run past midnight. I eat early near the venue, catch the first set when the room is at its best, and decide on the second set after that.

A good live music night also slots neatly into the rest of the city's nightlife: dinner in Sololaki, a jazz set on Rustaveli Avenue, then a club if you still have energy. On a short trip I'd pick one jazz club, one bar gig and one folk night, and leave the rest for the next visit.