Awesome place for live music. I like the brick walls and feel of it. If you follow their calendar, you can occasionally see a band on the rise for about $10 before the band hits it big! Downside: lack of ventilation. If it's crowded and it's warm outside, you will sweat like a son-of-a-gun.
Review Source:Very intimate concert setting. Saw JJ Grey and Mofro for $20. It was an awesome show. Sound was great! We went in the summer when school wasn't in session, so being out of towners we wondered how packed it gets when school is in. If you go in the summer, wear shorts - no A.C. and poor ventilation. Good beer selection. Friendly staff. Would make the drive from Ohio to see another show here!
Review Source:First trip there was to see Kip Moore. Headed back this weekend to see Lee Brice - and will hopefully make it for either Colt Ford or Easton Corbin. I can't believe this line-up! Prices are incredible, drinks are strong, and the staff are good people. I went to college in Alabama for a few years, and wasn't sure what to expect seeing a country concert at IU. Blew me away. Great mix of older locals, college-aged country fans, and just a general feeling that you were surrounded by great people in a great place. Love Bluebird.
Review Source:Two words: Jamaican Queller. It's a sweet concoction made of pineapple juice, coconut rum, some sort of neon green alcohol (pucker perhaps), and topped with grenadine, served on rocks. The bartender is awesome! He's funny as hell.
I went here for the Los Campesinos! (w/ The Parenthetical Girls) concert...ah, fun night! By the end of it I was ready to make sweet love to the entire band. It was such a good time!
As far as the big 3 IU bars go (Kilroys, Nicks, Bluebird), I certainly prefer the Bluebird. Â The atmosphere is a little less fratty. Â I have a good time everytime I go. Â I would definitely suggest trying to catch Who's Bad the next time they're at IU. Â Those shows are always the best time I have here. Â Downside is that they don't always have a coat check.
Review Source:Trashy fun typical college dive-ish bar. Â Great music, love the bands, and it has a weird set-up, but one that works for it. Â Good strong drinks, and fun but generally sloppy fun at night... it can be a good time, just know what you're going into... on the nights its dead its fun to go to because there are local regulars that either get sloshed or just look pathetic... I went one Tues. night for Karaoke, and I'm pretty sure "Nothing compares to you" (Sinead O'Conner) was like the second most happy song... super depressing, but funny change of pace, and very different from the Wed night crowd!!! Bathrooms are the worst around though... eek! Â Definitely the opposite of class, but so are most of the people who frequent this place so it works...
Review Source:A pretty great music venue, and sort of a Bloomington tradition. The beer is well-priced, but you get a lot of typical frat guys and slutty sorority women who don't really care much for the music and would much rather get annoyingly drunk. Other than that factor, the live music is great and varies from folk to blues. Get seating early, as the place fills up rather quickly before shows.
Review Source:The Bluebird is a proud Indiana watering hole. Â It's an easy place to get drunk (cheap pitchers, multiple bar access points), and they search the ends of the earth for bands to keep their stage occupied.
They've got no shame in filling the place with cover bands on nights that they can't convince a touring group to stop through. Â But I see no harm in that, and appreciate that their charm still draws some of the best independent bands around.
Sitting for shows is tricky, since you'll likely be left without a view. Â But a busy bar is a good bar when the ratio is right.
When you take a walk and stumble on a concert as good as Mat Kearney for as little as $17, something has to be going well for the spot.
I thoroughly enjoyed my evening at The Bluebird and the Kearney show. Typically overpriced bar beer, but a great atmosphere for a college town bar show. There were all ages of folks in attendance, so I didn't feel like the 'old guy' in the college bar.
The Bluebird is an okay space, but it's very rare that I actually want to go there. Most nights some cheesy cover or tribute band is playing and it's rife with douchebags. Every now and then, an actual non-cover band will play, but nine out of ten times, it's the same tired acts they always book, like Robert Randolph. Sometimes it's someone like Sister Hazel or some other band from the '90s that no one really gave a crap about even back then. Seriously, do people still pay to see the millionth Todd Snider performance there? I'd imagine so since he seems to be there all the time, but it confounds me.
That said, every now and again they book an act from the '90s I actually want to see. (Dinosaur Jr. or Rev. Horton Heat, anyone?) And from time to time they actually book current bands that don't completely suck. (e.g. The Hold Steady, Blitzen Trapper and cooler local indie bands for Total Trash Tuesdays). Sure, crappy (and sometimes good) cover bands have long been a staple there, but there was once a time that good up-and-coming national and local bands were able to book shows here more frequently. I'd like to see those days return. Â I'd also like to see whoever's in charge of maintaining the online calendar actually add EVERYTHING that's going on there to the calendar.
It's a shame that the Bluebird is so stuck in the past just like the bulk of music venues in this town appear to be. When the best night at a nightclub with a stage is the karaoke night (which is actually sort of annoying because they start collecting names and songs well before the karaoke starts so the wait is always incredibly long), you know something's off. Most of the time I'm there I find myself desperately wishing Second Story were still here so I could go to a real rock club and listen to real rock music.
It's also a shame that when they expanded they didn't think to try to get rid of that wall between the two sections near the stage. If you're there on a crowded night to see a band you actually care about and can't make it down the stairs to the stage, the sight lines are terrible if you're standing anywhere near said wall.
I'm glad to give this place two rather than one star, however, because I do like all the people who work here and, even should I show up on a night teeming with people who actually LIKE Todd Snider, the old-school bartenders have my back and make me feel comfortable. And there's always some cheap-ass drink special of some sort going on, which my budget appreciates.
The Bluebird is my favorite bar in Bloomington, hands down. Â I'm a huge music fan and the Bird is a great place to see bands play. Â (The other place I like seeing bands is Jake's.) Â The bartenders are cool and make some great drinks. Â Cover charge keeps going up, which kind of sucks, but you know, it happens. Â Last time I went to see one of my favorite bands, the cover was $6 instead of the usual $5. Â Still not super expensive and the fact that all of Bloomington's establishments are smoke-free rocks hardcore.
Review Source:I miss the old Bird, the one where I was always forced to pee in the alley in between sets of Dave and Rae, b/c well...that was just much more fun back in the day and the girls bathroom had two stalls in which there was always a 500 person line (damn, girls...just PEE already). The toilets ALWAYS got clogged with wads of nasty piss and vomit induced paper so...the alley was CLEANER and less crowded. :) You get my drift.
Now, with all the updates it strikes me as a "nicer" bar, when I once remember it as just being a shithole where I could get 5 cent beers on Wednesday night. Â Does this make me old? Â Probably.
Still...the Bird is known for a few GREAT things and that hasn't changed - live music, cheap drinks and cute patrons...oh and good bartenders.
It's still a hot spot when I'm in Bloomington raging with my college buddies and it really hasn't changed. Â Yes, it got a much needed though disappointingly great facelift, but as long as the drinks keep pouring and the music keeps playing, I think it's definitely a MUST do when in B-town.
GO IU!
A great place to come for live music and drink specials. The 15 cent beers make it a great time, but they're only dixie cup size so you end up spending buying like 4 or 5 to be equivalent to a regular beer. This is one of those bars that if you go out drinking, you should visit it at least once while you're here.
Review Source:I have only been here once, but that one experience definitely left a good impression on me. My friends and I went during Purdue/IU football weekend, and there was a band called "Hairbangers Ball" playing that night. Yes, in most cases, 80s cover bands are absolutely horrible, but these guys were great! I guess they play there about once a month. The drinks were really good, definitely try the "dirty bird" (the blue drink). Don't ask me what was in it, but it was amazing! I definitely would love to come back here soon.
Review Source:The Bluebird is one of my favorite bars! They absolutely have the live music market cornered. With live music practically every night of the week, it's a totally different atmosphere than many other bars. Though most nights feature cover bands, the occasional up and coming band comes through once or twice a month. I personally have had the opportunity to see Minus the Bear, VHS or Beta, and  a great band out of Nashville called Autovaughn. ( As a side note, Autovaughn is awesome, look for them to stop back at the bird!)
You really can't beat 15 cent beers and 50 cent wells on Wednesday. I agree with others that Wednesdays are the most crowded night, which of course causes the place to get pretty crazy, but what can you expect with such cheap drinks!
Paige
Yea, this place sees a wide range of folks pass through. Watch out for 10 cent beer nights, it place devolves into a std ridden, intellectual nuclear wasteland. Sadly, this place seems to be on a slippery slope downhill, never to return to the days where groups like Sun Ra thrived here.
Review Source:Rock out. Always a shiny tour bus parked outside. Â From the Silver Jews to Method Man and a lot in between. Â The bar, stage left, is less crowded than the first entry one and sometimes they have girls manning beer buckets, one of which was in Playboys college issue... so I hear. Â
Stop by Rockit's Pizza late night after the show. Â Generally a great atmosphere but depends on the event. Â Dave Matthews cover band night... probably not worth stopping by.
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