Highline Ballroom   (Photo: Guy Salvadore)

Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St., nr. Bowery; 212-533-2111.
Pre-tipping-point rock bands and the superlative post-show dig (a basement-level horseshoe bar) make this more than a rock club: It’s a cultural institution.

HighLine Ballroom
431 W. 16th St., nr. Ninth Ave.; 212-414-5994.
The eclectic programming at this new edition to the scene has naturally elevated standards.

Mercury Lounge
217 E. Houston St., nr. Ludlow St.; 212-260-4700.
The epicenter of the dapper New York rock revival (the Strokes, Interpol) is still swarmed nightly with applicants for Next Big Thing status.

Studio B
259 Banker St., nr. Meserole St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn; 718-389-1880.
The spacious onetime Polish nightclub on the outskirts of Greenpoint is now a must-stop for Brooklyn’s best bands.

Town Hall
123 W. 43rd St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-840-2824.
Suffragists founded it, Marian Anderson sang here, and Garrison Keillor likes to stop by to unwind yarns about Minnesota.

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