• Darcy’s Pub, 1127 Wharf St.darcyspub.ca
Live music seven days a week — that’s the mantra of this Inner Harbour mainstay. Located underneath the surging Upstairs Cabaret, its primetime locale provides one of the best one-two punches in the city. Darcy’s has a quality roster of cover bands, from rock (the Southern Urge, Monkey Wrench) to pop (the Bright Side) on tap each week, and has been offering live music for close to a decade.
• Bard & Banker, 1022 Government St.bardandbanker.com
Local musicians are on stage nightly at this picturesque pub, one of the busiest the city has to offer. Matt Johnson of 54-40 fame and the Grapes of Wrath’s Tom Hooper are two of the familiar faces, but rising acts like Electric Timber Company show that the Bard’s residencies are eclectic, if not electric. No cover charge? That’s an offer too good to pass up.
• Irish Times, 1200 Government St.irishtimespub.ca
Located just steps away from its sister pub, Bard & Banker, the majority of music heard nightly at this wee slice of ol’ Ireland is of the veteran variety. Singer-songwriter Jeremy Walsh and trio Black Angus (the new project of Kitangus frontman Gareth Hurwood) make regular appearances, but the calendar changes often. The quality, however, never drops.
• Canoe Brewpub, 450 Swift St.canoebrewpub.com
Live music — one-third of which is handled by super-group the Broken Strings — is offered Thursday through Saturday at this fetching waterside venue, which has grown in popularity in recent years. Credit goes to the Broken Strings, fronted by Adam Kittredge and Antonia Freybe-Smith of Jets Overhead fame. The band is one of the top live acts in the city and plays everything from Tom Petty to Alabama Shakes.
• Swans Brew Pub, 506 Pandora Ave.swanshotel.com
This longtime live music favourite is among the handful of pubs that offer local bands seven nights a week. For two decades, Swans has been the go-to spot for blues, roots, funk and soul music, with nary a drop in popularity over that span. That is due to acts like the highly touted Capital City Syncopators, a swing revival act known as the city’s premier Prohibition-era dance band.
— Mike Devlin