Where to Catch Live Music in Puerto Rico
If you want to hear live music in Puerto Rico, you’re in luck. There are festivals nearly every weekend throughout the island, and music is always a major component. On weekends and holidays, parks and plazas are filled with the sounds of salsa, bomba, and plena music. To make an evening of it, try these popular hot spots.
- Balcon del Zumbador: This old-fashioned, rustic beachside bar in Piñones is the place to dance to old-school salsa bands. On Sundays starting at 6pm, hear bomba and plena musicians perform.
- La Respuesta: At the nexus of all that is hip in Santurce is La Respuesta, a graffiti-covered industrial space that hosts DJs, live bands, and art exhibitions that celebrate both emerging young artists and oldsters with an edge. Musical acts run the gamut from hip-hop and R&B to metal and Latin jazz. By day this place looks like an abandoned warehouse, but it’s smokin’ at night.
- Shing-a-Ling: Hidden in a labyrinth of speakeasy-style bars in Viejo San Juan, Shing-a-Ling is a late-night club that’s great for salsa dancing to live music on Sundays .
- La Vergüenza: The street outside this dive bar on the edge of Viejo San Juan turns into a lively outdoor dance party on Sundays from 3pm to 8pm when a salsa band performs in a vacant lot across the street .
- La Terraza de Bonanza: On Monday nights starting at 7pm, this open-air chinchorro in Santurce becomes the hottest place in town to see live bomba and plena performances.
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