I knew the Davis music scene was active before we started building Davis Music Guide. You see flyers around town, hear about a show from a friend, or catch an Instagram post a day after it happened. What surprised me was how much it adds up once it’s in one place. As the calendar filled in, many days turned out to have more than one show, and some nights have several happening across town at once. For a town that often gets described as quiet, that says a lot.
It also says something about how music works here. Most of it isn’t tied to one big club. It’s spread across concert halls, music stores, bars, churches, galleries, parks and co-op houses, and it’s kept going by venue owners, volunteers, students and the musicians themselves.
Big Stages and Listening Rooms
At one end is the Mondavi Center at UC Davis, where the program runs from classical and chamber music to jazz and artists from around the world, along with concerts by the university’s own Department of Music. The Veterans Memorial Theatre, run by the City of Davis, gives local ensembles, cultural performances and visiting artists a full stage and theater seating.
Some of the rooms built most clearly for listening are inside music stores. Watermelon Music in West Davis has The Melon Ball, a performance room with a raised stage and a restored Steinway piano. In downtown Davis, Armadillo Music sets performers up right in the shop, a few feet from the record bins, and hosts listening parties for new releases that can bring a line of people to the door.
Where People Already Gather
A lot of music in Davis happens in places people go anyway. Downtown, G Street Wunderbar and Comasocial both move between live bands, DJs and open mics, with Comasocial adding salsa to the mix. Sophia’s Thai Kitchen keeps much of its music outside, so you can order dinner and stay for the band. Later in the night, The Lodge is where DJs and dancing take over.
The breweries play their part too. Sudwerk Brewing Company runs its own concert series and partners with the Davis Live Music Collective on others, while Three Mile Brewing Co. pairs karaoke in the taproom with occasional live sets. If you’d rather listen over a glass of wine, Vininni in West Davis and Great Bear Vineyards both bring in performers.
Community spaces carry a lot of it as well. Odd Fellows Hall presents Thursday Live!, organized by the lodge’s Music Committee with support from KDRT, and Davis Community Church hosts LIVE @ DCC, its free noon concert series, along with choral and community groups. John Natsoulas Gallery brings jazz and poetry together at its Jazz Beat Nights, the Pence Gallery works music into exhibitions and receptions, and even the Davis Food Co-op brings in local performers from time to time.
Outside the Usual Venues
When the weather cooperates, music moves outdoors. Musicians play at the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park, which also hosts the Picnic in the Park series. G Street Plaza holds Downtown at Dusk and other community events, and Community Park fills up for the city’s Fourth of July celebration, where the Davis Live Music Collective helps put together the bands that play before the fireworks.
Some shows skip venues altogether. The Tri-Cooperatives, student-run cooperative houses on the UC Davis campus, put on shows outside the houses that are open to the wider community. Third Space Art Collective presents all-ages shows with local, regional and touring musicians in spaces around town, including house shows.
Adding It Up
Put a chamber concert, a brewery show, a jazz night at a gallery and a band outside a co-op house on the same calendar, and the Davis music scene looks a lot bigger than any one venue suggests. Different rooms draw different crowds, and many of the people playing and organizing these shows are local musicians and neighbors.
Davis Music Guide exists to bring these shows together in one place. New venues and sources are still being added, and some shows only reach the calendar when someone tells us about them. If you’re playing or putting on a show in Davis, you can submit it here.
