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Categories: Music Venues, Lounges
711 1/2 Red River Stwe're doing that thing where we tell you who's playing and drink specials on twitter and at http://beerlandtexas.com check it out
Mon-Sun. 9:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
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Ahh, Beerland. This is a bar/venue/club downtown that I wanted to not like for some reason. Not really sure why at this point. I mean, they have a varied selection of bands that play there. They serve Lone Star, PBR and other quality beers straight from the can. They have Rock and Roll Karaoke every Monday night (hey Drew and John!) They have lawn chairs INSIDE the club for crying out loud! This place is class for the blue collar class.
And now I lOVE it.
It's just big enough to have all your friends there (and the patio in front is nice when it gets too crowded or loud inside) but small enough to where even the worst loudest craziest bands will feel welcome and cozy with their three fans, girlfriends and the sound guy. (Can't forget the bartenders...say hi to Jennifer, I believe!)
Anyhow, Beerland is in my rotating places to hangout. Great to hang out when no bands are playing, but even better when bands are playing. Nice people that work there, non-hipster vibe. Totally an Austin standard of sorts. Can't wait for my band to come play here!
Ever catch an Austin old-timer going on and on about how Austin used to be? Well, Austin used to be more like Beerland. The friendliest folks you could hope to meet, unpretentious, treats regulars and newbies and famous bands and bands playing their first show out of their parents' garage, all with the same welcoming, inclusive attitude.
Even better about Beerland is that they're not just about music, they're like a community center for punk rock kids. They've had movie nights, drawing salon nights, I've even been to a wedding there. I've been going to Beerland from the beginning, but I've also taken loads of friends there for their first times, and every one of them has always commented on how friendly the place was, and how they felt right at home. At Beerland, you don't have to be cool, you don't have to be a regular, you don't even have to know anyone, and staff will treat you like an old friend.
Drinks are cheap and there's a fairly good selection, cover's always reasonable, there's good bands just about every night, and the bathrooms, I don't know how they do it, but they're clean and well-maintained. Beerland is a role model every young club can look up to.
I don't come to Beerland often, but it's not because I don't like it. I just tend to stay east and in my set patterns.
After all, we humans are creatures of habit.
But I am big frequenter of their sister bar Rio Rita.
I ventured to Beerland last night to see a friend play, and what sticks out in my mind about this place is how FRIENDLY the staff is.
And not in a "I've been coming here for years and all the bartenders are my friends and we're all cool" kind of way.
Anybody can claim bartenders are friendly when that is your usual haunt. That's cause they know you.
But let's face it:
I only come here a few times a year. And the bartenders are not my friends.
But nobody told them that.
Or more likely, they just don't care.
Both the bartenders last night were great. Smiling, engaging, friendly, and they poured stiff drinks, fast.
It's refreshing to be in a cool bar like Beerland without the sickening cool vibe so common to other parts of Red River.
Beyond that, the room itself is great and I like the patio outside, where I ended up running into 3 separate friends as they walked by on the other side.
And they were playing BMX on the television at the bar.
I love that shit.
I'm gonna start coming here more.
Beerland, simply put, is a treasure. It is the last venue in town that will let baby bands grow up on stage. It is completely independent of SXSW now, and even better for it this year. It is not part of either of the two wannbe-corporate booking agencies monopolizing downtown and the guys booking Beerland have great, adventurous taste. Most nights, you'll be happy dropping by if you've never heard of the bands.
Cheap brews, great bartenders, and the hot dog king is 30 feet away.
Are you stupid or something? If you like garage/punk/indie/avant/wtf, it is your CIVIC DUTY TO SUPPORT BEERLAND! If Austin (or anything, for that matter), had a soul worth saving, here is salvation. Get thee hence.
Beerland just might be my favorite bar in Austin.
I like a bar where I can go in alone and grab a drink and enjoy the scene without being hassled for being a female drinking alone. A place where the jukebox is great, the bands are good and loud, the bartenders are friendly, and the cover is reasonable. Beerland is that bar.
And on top of it being a fantastic dive with great music, you can get the BEST hot dog in town from a cart just a few yards away.
So, I really like Beerland.
Things I like:
The bartenders are always nice and attentive.
They usually have T.V. on with captions so if I'm trying to make it through a shitty band, I have something to distract myself.
Things I'd change:
I wish they always unlocked the chairs.
I think the sound-guy's deaf cause they mic EVERYTHING and crank it. Tiny venue - big sound - annoying.
On my second trip to Austin I just had to visit Beerland again. It was on my Austin friend's Friday night agenda too- so it was a great place to meet! I only wish I could've stayed longer than two bands, but the night was in my veins and I had to explore!
PS- got a really rad sticker that looks like the back wall logo in blue for a buck!
Was there recently from out of town, and the doorman's description of the bands as "confrontational,… Read more »
I almost perfectly love Beerland, for the nicest staff that I've met in Austin. It gets 5 stars for the staff and the good on tap beer selection.
But 1 less star because I had a bad experience personally with all the 20 year olds there during the show. Maybe an off night, but the crowd seemed exceptionally young,.... and slightly irritating, but I'm probably just jaded.
The day I flew into Austin for my job interview, I had never been to this town before. After a burger at Casino El Camino, I parted ways with the potential co-workers because a little bird told me to go to this magical place called "beer land" where there was this band playing that "you might like."
The rest is history.
That band was the Flametrick Subs. When I stepped into Beerland in all its punk rock glory, and heard a band who would be a better Cramps cover band than the Cramps would be... (no offense guys and gals, I'm just trying to simplify for the masses) coupled with the foxiest cheerleaders of the underworld ever... I knew I had found a new home.
I made my decision that night that I was 100% for sure moving to Austin (and I did). But I digress.
Beerland is one of the ONLY venues that will still drag me downtown. The $7 cover for Flametrick shows is not overly pricey for the amount of entertainment, the staff is quick with your beers and remembers your name after only a few Lone Stars when you're running a tab, they pour generously, they carry Sparks, for those pussies who are tired after a long day at work and want to get a little kick without resorting to snorting coke off the toilet tank lid in the men's room (I personally wouldn't suggest doing THAT, but ... it IS an experience and if you're adventurous, its pretty freakin' rock and roll....)
The crowd is generally good-natured when I go, young, punk and angry, but not too angry. It amuses me a little how tame the Austin music scene is. I saw the Flametricks in Dallas and two fights broke out. . . It was kind of nice, it reminded me of home.
Again, I digress.
Ok, let's sum it up: fun crowd, reasonable cover, beer flows like ... beer. at good prices, great music, gritty bathrooms that I feel right at home in, except that I would prefer a mirror in the men's room so I can comb my hair without resorting to the big Guinness mirror on the wall.
One day I traveled to a place called Beerland. I ordered a pint of Blue Moon. The Blue Moon tasted like it had come out of a keg that had been sitting in the Alpha Chi Omega backyard two weeks after a party. So I ordered something a PBR tallboy. The PBR tallboy was warmish and flat. Sad, sad night.
Yay Beerland! 5 stars because:
Awesomely fun staff
Cheap drinks
Great bands almost every night of the week
Karaoke with Nathan Black on Mondays
And now they even have a smoking porch out front!
My best friend's boyfriend plays here every first Friday of the month. I like to go because it is a big time dive bar. One of the walls has a huge L7 poster "Smell the Magic" which is both vulgar and hilarious.
The bathrooms are covered from ceiling to floor with tags and no body tries to cover it up. The prices for drinks are really good. I think on Fridays the well drinks stay $1.50 for the night, but they aren't the super watered down nasty drinks, they are pretty loaded (with cheap liquor, but still).
It is a hang out for the local roller girls, too and you can spot each and every one of them. Most of them are pretty intimidating, so I stick to my Lonestar and pretend not to notice their tattooed sleeves.
Once upon a time, Beerland put on appearances of being an upstanding and clean bar. Those days are gone, which is great news! Beerland is a place to drink beer and hear music. Beyond that, well, it's a great place to drink beer and hear music. The band selection is varied and often its a crapshoot as to whether or not the band will be any better than "mediocre."
That said, Beerland is fun (provided you know what you are getting in to) and it's conveniently close to a number of other swanky little spots like the Red Eyed Fly so that if the dive bar mystique isn't doing it for you, you're not wholly out of options.
this would be my favorite venue if they would unlock the chairs. why do you tease us with the stacks of chairs outside? the patio is great, when friends need a smoke and i need some air, we walk outside to see the chairs all stacked up and locked. doesn't matter if it's a slow tuesday or a bustling saturday, they are always locked up in two stacks of tease. it's torture when i've decided to dress up a bit and wear heels. sometimes i'm just feeling lazy and want to sit down. i would stay longer and drink more if i could rest my feet on occasion.
on a more positive note, i love the megamaster quiz whiz on the bar. when we're waiting for a band to set up we hit up the quiz machine for some music quizzes. we're nerds like that. plus i get to sit my ass down if i scope it out for long enough.
i've had some pretty bad mixed drinks here, but it is called beerland. and they have plenty of it for you beer lovers. they do serve up a nice tequila shot, so that's what i stick to.
the variety of bands that play here keep it interesting and i can't remember the last time i saw a band that sucked.
the staff is cool and the owners are even cooler. thanks for making a dive bar way more than a dive.
Never underestimate the power of boredom when you're home visiting family. What are the freakin' odds that 12 other "sounds cool" means no one shows up? Oh well.
I want to give you 4 stars so badly but you charge me the same for a PBR tall boy as a Lonestar longneck, more than at Creekside. But your karaoke is awesome even if you didn't have some of the more obscure songs that I inquired about. You gave me such a good feeling when I picked a song that most people haven't heard in a while. But seriously I gotta ask. What is with people that sing five times in the same night? Do they really like hearing their voice that much? Do they just have no concept about how annoying it is to the other people that haven't been up yet when they hear the same asshole for the third time? Picking out the same tired-out crap e.g. Don't Stop Believing. Well I'm pretty sure I hear the aforementioned once before. But I heard Meat Loaf's - Anything for Love, the second time since I was back in Brighton, Mass people. I mean, if people are picking the same things (just for novelty purposes) in different parts of the country...doesn't that mean it's time to move on? Someone picked a song I'd never heard before by Pulp, so Kudos. And there was this girl who was being ridiculous on the dance floor that kinda looked like Maggie Gyllenhaal, so props. Also, thank you to the girl that sang Bette Davis Eyes. I hadn't heard or thought about that song for years.
I fucking love this place....especialy if the Flamtrick Subs are playing.
Got a craving to sing some serious rock and roll?Gotta dance while yanking a mike around on the floor and swigging a beer? Feel like the other karaoke places are too stifling?
Beerland Monday night karaoke may be your thing. Beerland has grown on me, as has Red River. I like the variety of bars on the street, and once I found Beerland, I kept coming back. Look for Tyler, a bartender with a bald head ( and he's a bad ass actor to boot!)
So sing a jam, meet some hipsters or rock kids, or listen to some bands that are always playing here. Red River IS the new sixth, but better.
They know how to do things right at Beerland. Definitely the #1 red river destination. No one's a jerk, the bands are varied and generally tasteful, humane bathroom situation, all kinds of non-band fun-timey events. Just good people. Go there and spend some money. And Rio Rita as well. Austin is blessed to have somebody giving us a non-Emo's non-710 blah blah blah crappy 'alternative' venue. You go, Randall & Donya. xo
i was here during sxsw, and holy crap, i've never seen a bar let a band get away with playing on top of the bar, throw garbage cans at people, spew beer and other things at the crowd.
totally punk and awesome!
I can't speak to the beer prices, as I happened to be in this place during a much needed de-tox day. What I was able to glean from it was that it's a good place to see a show. The sound was pretty good, the little stage meant that not everything was blocked if you were in the back, and most importantly it was COOL inside in the middle of May. Very dark, very cool. We were able to stand around and not sweat.
Beerland is easily the best live music bar downtown. They consistently book good bands, the drinks are cheap, and the location slightly off sixth street radically reduces the number of frat boy jerks and drunken college girls that might wander in elsewhere.
this bar was cool good place to see live music drinks are cheap.
I saw some great and funny shit (and live music) at Beerland! Of course I've only been there for SXSW when you expect to see something unusual. It's a great dive bar with a stage, pool tables and skanky bathrooms.
Ah Beerland... the name says it all, and that is all you need to know about this place. They serve beer at some of the cheapest prices in town. They are dark, drity, and loud. On any night of the week you are likely to find the best up and coming or unknown bands with the occasional comedian or burlesque show sprinkled in here and there. There isn't much more to this place than what you see, but that is the beauty of Beerland. Dive Bar defined.
Pretty cool hole-in-the-wall bar for catching local bands. The drinks are fairly cheap and the monthly Flametrick Subs shows are always worth catching. Not really a place I'd go just for the sake of going but you could do a lot worse in Austin for a place to drink and catch some live music.
If you want to sing in front of a crowd, but don't want to get booed off of the stage, Beerland on Monday night is the place to be. You don't have to be a good singer, but you do have to have a sense of humor. The song selection isn't that great, but the Nathan the DJ is pretty cool, and the small size of the bar makes it way less intimidating than some other places around town. I personally was hooked when I went into the women's bathroom and saw an old magazine clipping of Tom Baker as Doctor Who decoupaged to the wall. My kind of place.
this is where i go to see live music in austin. it mainly specializes in garage/punk but occasionally indie or all 3 mixed together. i've seen some great shows here and the crowd is usually pretty fun. they have a great jukebox, too when you actually get to play and listen to it.
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