Venue improvements and cool shows at the Domino Room and Midtown Ballroom

Published 10:30 am Monday, September 23, 2024

If you don’t follow the Midtown Ballroom and the Domino Room on social media, you should. The venerable Bend concert venues not only announce their shows there, of course, but they’ve also been showing off some improvements to the adjacent spaces recently.

There’s a handsome new floor and new art on the walls in the Midtown, and the Domino Room’s entryway features new seating, pinball games, a massage chair and pool table. Also in the Domino Room: They removed the large pole in the dead center of the floor! If you’ve ever watched a mosh pit swirl around that thing, you might find this a tiny bit sad, but ultimately, it’s a good thing.

Shout out to owner Jim Dickey and his team for all the work they’re doing inside one of the area’s oldest — and busiest — spots for live music.

Speaking of live music, here’s what’s coming to the complex this week:

On Thursday, it’s the Las Vegas band Crashing Wayward, whose catchy and emotive hard rock sounds like it was plucked out of the post-Nirvana alt-rock era and imported into present times. 7:30 p.m., doors open 7 p.m. $20.

On Friday, the Domino Room will host the terrific Texas country band Silverada, formerly known as Mike and the Moonpies. These cats take an ever-evolving approach to twangy music, and they’re one of the best things going in the surge of non-mainstream country music happening in the wake of Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson and so on. Leroy From the North opens. 7 p.m., doors open 7 p.m., $18.

On Saturday night it’s the larger Midtown’s turn, with Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela bringing their energetic blend of acoustic guitar rock and flamenco music to town. In a world where you rarely see something truly unique, these two have been doing their own thing for two decades. OKAN opens. 8 p.m., doors open 7 p.m., $40.

And last but not least, Sunday brings in a couple of gritty garage bands: Serpentfoot from Tacoma and Screen Frogs from Seattle. The former mixes stoner and surf fuzz into its sound, and the latter veers off into entrancing psych and kosmiche worlds. Fans of Thee Oh Sees, here is your heads up! Crooked Looks open. 8 p.m., doors open 7 p.m., $15 in advance, $23 day of show.

Learn more and buy tickets at midtownballroom.com.

Marketplace