Where to Be on a Friday Night in the DMV — The Real List

Martin's Downtown in Roanoke for live music every night of the week. U Street in DC for the culture. Power Plant in Baltimore. The 757 on a weekend. The DMV's nightlife is not one thing — it's 14 cities with 14 different personalities, all going off at the same time.

Martin's Downtown at 413 1st St SW is the best live music venue in Southwest Virginia. Blues, folk, roots, and rock nearly every night. Sidecar on 1st Street for the best craft cocktail menu in the city — Thursday Martini & Frites happy hour from 5–8PM is mandatory. Tuco's Taqueria on Salem Ave for the late-night taco and marg run that anchors the whole corridor.

The U Street Corridor is DC's most historically significant nightlife district — built on the same blocks as Black Broadway, home to the Lincoln Theatre, and still the center of the city's Black social life. The go-go scene lives on U Street and the surrounding blocks. The cocktail bars, the live music venues, and the carry-out culture combine to create a nightlife experience that is uniquely DC.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor Power Plant area gives way to the Fell's Point bar corridor, which gives way to Station North's arts venues. The city has a nightlife ecosystem that runs from waterfront bars to underground music spaces — and the East Baltimore community has its own circuit that rarely makes travel guides but is always the most authentic experience in the city.