The Big Room Bar is a unique live music bar and neighborhood hangout in the Brewery District. We feature live music most every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, as well as select other nights! Come check out the 30 years of music history in this unique venue to Columbus, full of music memorabilia. RENTAL: The Big Room Bar is available for your special event, your celebration, meetings, gatherin
gs, party, or just about anything. [email protected]
BAND BOOKING PROTOCOL:
Our capacity is around 200 people and we feature live music of all styles (from national and local artists)as many as three nights a week. All booking is handled via email, no exceptions. Send all booking inquiries to [email protected] Please include the date you're interested in, the lineup you propose for the night, and links to your music. We will review your proposal and if we think it makes sense for the Big Room Bar, we'll get back to you! We're currently booking shows Thursday through Saturday nights. We will occasionally book live music on other nights for bigger shows (primarily national touring acts with label support) or special events with a large potential draw. GUIDELINES:
Out of town acts: if you don’t already have a huge following in Columbus (a consistent draw of 100 or more), you must have two strong locals on the bill to make this work. “Strong Locals” means bands in town that people have heard of and will actually go see. Let’s face it: your band IS probably the most popular band in your hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, but… if WE'VE never heard of you, it’s pretty likely that there's not going to be a line down the street to see you guys in Columbus, Ohio. SO… in order to make it an awesome show for everyone involved, contact some like-minded local bands first and see if they’d be willing to play with you on the date you’re looking for. Sorry, but due to the volume of requests we get, we are not able to help you find local bands. Cover charges at the Big Room Bar for ticketed events goes to the bands, minus production fee for sound and security. LOAD IN NO LATER THAN 8 PM. Shows need to start by 9 PM (and by 8 PM on four band bills) and must be over by 11:00PM. NO EXCEPTIONS. If you cause any damage to bar equipment or property (e.g. breaking microphones, punching holes in the walls, unapproved graffiti, etc.), you will be held responsible for the full cost of repair or replacement. Here are some common sense tips to help make your show successful:
1. Don’t ask to set up a show here if you’re playing in town the night before unless your name is The Rolling Stones and your show the night before was in Ohio Stadium. Seriously, if you have other Columbus shows within 4 weeks before or after your proposed date, as a general rule, we will not want to book you. While we’re sure your band is great, your fans and friends aren’t going to come see you every… single… week.
2. If you’re setting up a show with an unknown out of town band, do the right thing and give them the middle slot. Treat them right and they’ll probably treat you right when you play in Sheboygan on tour.
3. PROMOTE YOURSELF. Make some posters! Make a Facebook event, post on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, invite your friends and post it on our Facebook wall. Tell your friends. Hand out flyers at other shows. Tell your dental hygienist that you’re playing a show. If you don’t even make a Facebook event – literally the least you can do to promote your show – we probably won’t ask you to play again.
4. Drop off those posters you made at the bar. We know you made an image for your Facebook event (see above), so print that off and bring us some. C’mon. That’s the FUN part about setting up shows.
5. Stay and watch the other bands play. Don’t play your set and bolt. First of all, it’s rude. Second, we pay out at the end of the night. If you’re not here, you don’t get paid.
6. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Any questions, please re-read this list again. If you STILL have questions or you think everything above is reasonable and want to move forward, then email our booking guy: [email protected]
