Standing in a crowd of fellow fans, belting your heart out to songs that you know all the words to, and seeing your favorite artists in the flesh is an activity that many students regularly shell out hundreds of dollars to secure seats for.

Max Rothstein ’17 expressed his personal fondness for live music. “Seeing a band perform live is often better than listening to them on an MP3,” he said. He explained that there’s something much more real about seeing bands perform in person.

While large, publicized concerts such as Foam and Glow – an EDM concert with lots and lots of foam– and venues like Terminal Five and the Roseland Ballroom are extremely well known by the student body, there are a plethora of less popular venues with concerts that are often a lot less pricey than popular shows. Rothstein explained that there are even well-known bands that perform nearby. “There are many great venues to see locally and sometimes internationally successful bands,” Rothstein said.

However, he acknowledged that many people don’t know about or attend the shows because the venues don’t always advertise as heavily as popular venues do.

Rothstein’s favorite local venue happens to be Staples High School. “Most people don’t know that there are live concerts at Staples,” Rothstein said. “Bands like Kicking Daisies and MOTP have performed.”

Another promising local concert venue is the Levitt Pavillion. Ben Rogers ’15 explained, “I think that the Levitt does a good job of providing music to all age groups,” and “gives time for families to spend time together and enjoy themselves while listening to wonderful music.”

Unfortunately, even though most people who live in Westport are aware of the extensive revamping the venue underwent, the schedule makes it difficult for many people to attend concerts at this new-and-improved venue. “The Levitt groups perform on most weekday nights,” Rogers said. “I feel if there was more music on the weekend, it would attract a lot more people.”

Emma Fasciolo ’16 believes that people may not take advantage of the quality local venues they are not quite local enough. “My favorite [venue] is the Fairfield Theatre Company,” she said. “I think not a lot of people go there because it’s not directly in Westport so it’s not necessarily close to us.” Fasciolo has enjoyed many performances at the Fairfield Theatre Company, her favorite being a Pink Floyd tribute band.

Even though local venues may not always be local enough or the schedule isn’t always the most convenient, these venues are extremely promising and worth checking out.