Green Bay is a football town, and it does not pretend otherwise. On a Packers weekend the bars around Lambeau Field fill for the game, not the band. The rest of the year, though, the live music Green Bay puts on is better than its reputation: a gilded 1930s theater downtown, a proper concert hall on the university campus, an arena for the big tours, and a handful of bars that book bands under the shadow of the stadium.
This guide sorts them by size, so you can match the room to the night you want, whether that is a seat in a theater, a spot on an arena floor or a stool at the bar.
Green Bay’s music rooms, by size
At the top is the Resch Center, the arena next to Lambeau where the big touring acts play. A step down are the theaters: the Meyer downtown and the Weidner on the east side, both seated and both built for listening. Then there is EPIC, a general-admission hall for rock and country shows where you stand on the floor. And at the bottom, where most of the city’s actual weekend music happens, are the bars near the stadium on Holmgren Way and Armed Forces Drive.
Most of the big rooms cluster in one place: the Lambeau district on the west side, around two to three miles southwest of downtown. That makes it easy to pair a show with dinner and a drink without moving the car, and hard to find parking on a game day.
| Room | Kind of night | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Resch Center | Arena tours, big crowds | Next to Lambeau Field |
| Historic Meyer Theatre | Seated, 1930s theater, concert series | Downtown |
| The Weidner | Concert hall, orchestras and touring shows | UW-Green Bay campus, east side |
| EPIC Event Center | Standing floor, rock and country, full bar | Holmgren Way |
| Stadium View, Cowboy Mac’s | Bar stages, free or cheap, weekends | Lambeau district |
Historic Meyer Theatre
The Meyer suits the concert series and touring acts that would be lost in an arena. Seats are close to the stage, and the building itself, with its gilding, paintings and sculpture, is half the reason to go.
The Weidner
EPIC Event Center and the Resch Center
The two big rooms by Lambeau handle most of the touring rock and country that comes through Green Bay.
A few blocks away, EPIC Event Center on Holmgren Way is the general-admission room: live performances on a standing floor, a full bar during events, and a crowd that comes for rock, country and cover bands. It fills the gap between the bar stages and the arena, and it is the room to try if you like being close to the stage without paying arena prices.
Bars with bands near Lambeau
On Armed Forces Drive, with a view across to the stadium, Cowboy Mac’s Country Club is a Tex-Mex and barbecue restaurant with slow-smoked brisket, a full bar heavy on whiskey and bourbon, and live music and themed country nights. If you want country music in Green Bay, this is the place to start.
Both bars are within a short walk of the Resch and EPIC, so a band before or after a bigger show is easy. Check the listing before you go, because the band nights change from week to week.
Game days and the calendar
On a Packers home weekend the district changes character. The bars fill for the game, not the music, and parking disappears for blocks in every direction. It is worth knowing the home schedule before you book a show-weekend hotel.
There is one exception worth knowing. The Johnsonville Tailgate Village in the east parking lot outside Lambeau’s Oneida Nation Gate has a 4,300-square-foot party deck, a full bar and live bands on game days, and it is open to the public without a game ticket. If you are in town on a game weekend and want music rather than football, that is where the two meet.
Summer, when there is no football, is when Green Bay’s music moves outdoors, and the theaters and the Weidner run their main seasons from fall into spring.
Free summer concerts
In summer Green Bay’s music moves outside, and most of it is free. The city runs something close to a concert every night of the week between late May and August.
On Sunday evenings, the Levitt AMP Green Bay Music Series brings nationally touring acts to Leicht Memorial Park on the riverfront downtown, free, from late May into August. On Wednesday evenings at 7pm, the Green Bay City Band plays St. James Park on Monroe Avenue, as it has for more than 120 seasons, with park benches or your own chair.
On Friday evenings from mid-June to the end of July, Fridays on the Fox puts free concerts on the CityDeck along the Fox River from 6 to 9pm, with country, rock and Americana. Bring a lawn chair, though some seating is available, and food and drink are served from the Hagemeister Park patio from 5pm. Grooves on the Green takes free concerts with food trucks to neighborhood parks around the city on select Fridays, a partnership between the city, the Tarlton Theatre and Green Bay Neighborhoods. It only started in July 2025, and it is already one of the easiest free nights out in the city.
Badger State Brewing hosts free weekly concerts in its beer garden through the summer. And for a ticketed night outdoors, the Green Bay Botanical Garden’s Billie Kress Amphitheater has tribute bands on select Fridays, with lawn seating among the flowers.
Tickets, ages and what things cost
Most of Green Bay’s free music is genuinely free: the Levitt Sundays, the City Band Wednesdays, Fridays on the Fox and Grooves on the Green cost nothing, and you only pay for food and drinks. The Botanical Garden’s ticketed concerts run to roughly $50 for the lawn and $60 for terrace seats per concert on its bigger series, with a cheaper Thursday series at around $17 for adults and less for seniors and children.
The Meyer, the Weidner and the Resch are generally all ages. EPIC depends on the show. Most bar stages near Lambeau are 21 and over once the music starts, and Cup O Joy is the easy all-ages answer if you are bringing teenagers. For anything in a bar, the listing is the place to check the age policy for that night.
A Green Bay music weekend
On a summer Friday, start at the CityDeck for Fridays on the Fox, then walk into downtown for dinner. On Saturday, catch a show at the Meyer or the Resch, and finish at Stadium View or Cowboy Mac’s if there is a band on. On Sunday evening, the Levitt concert at Leicht Park is a relaxed way to end the weekend on the river before the drive home.
In winter, swap the outdoor stages for a seated show at the Weidner on Saturday and a bar band near Lambeau on Friday, and check the Packers schedule before you commit to the weekend.
Downtown and beyond
Downtown has the Meyer and two more rooms that are not yet in our listings. The Tarlton Theatre on West Walnut Street, the old West Theater, is an independent downtown room with concerts, film and a food-truck yard on Wednesdays, and it runs a Weidner Downtown series with the university. Cup O Joy on North Taylor Street is a family-friendly, alcohol-free live music venue, which makes it one of the few places in the city where teenagers can see a band. Both are worth a look if you are staying downtown.
If you want the full Packers experience alongside the music, stay near Lambeau. If you want walkable restaurants and a quieter night, stay downtown and drive to the district for the big shows.
Getting around and the next town over
The Lambeau district and downtown are about two to three miles apart, an easy drive or rideshare. The Weidner is further out on the east side. After a big show at the Resch, expect a slow exit from the lots, so it pays to park facing the way out.
Appleton is 26 miles southwest, with a listening room on College Avenue and free Mile of Music every summer, and Appleton’s music rooms make an easy second night.
Door County starts 38 miles northeast at Sturgeon Bay, and in summer the whole peninsula turns into a string of free park concerts, beer gardens and concert halls, with live music in Door County most nights of the week from June to August.
And Green Bay’s rooms are one part of every region’s music venues, from Milwaukee’s clubs to Alpine Valley.
Frequently asked questions
Published September 14, 2026
