Copper Dragon Brewing Company

Copper Dragon is probably the best place for live music in Carbondale.

There are plenty of bars in Carbondale, but just a few clubs.  I can honestly say that Copper was the only club I visited regularly.  Hangar 9 and Cali's aren't to far away.  But both are ghetto (extremely ghetto) on some nights and the variety of music rarely shifts from Rap to anything else. Copper has a great variety of Rock, Country, Rap and Indie (occasionally).

The building itself is relatively clean for a club. There are two bars: one in the main lobby with some seating, and another in the back where the stage is.  In both causes you will have to wait a little while to be served but that's expected.

A big un-spoken perk that I learned by actually working at Copper, is that if you do happen to get thrown out for being to crazy or getting into a fight...the bouncers will just put you outside and send you on your way, they won't beat the crap out of you.

While Copper is a terrible place to work (as a bouncer), I always had fun here with my friends.

Great for concerts!

Copper Dragon is the building behind Pinch Penny Pub, which is owned by Pinch. They have live bands every weekend and attract many mainstream bands as well. There are a lot of positives and a few glaring negatives. But overall, it's a great place for college students to go to enjoy some live music. Copper is usually only open during the winter months because the live bands play in Pinch's beer garden when weather permits. They usually have great drink prices, and the place is huge - so it's the place to be seen on the weekend. The bartenders are usually cool.
The negatives: If you're wanting to catch a popular band like Hairbangers Ball, you'd better show up early to wait in line for the doors to open at 9. The lines get crazy, and you aren't guaranteed to get in. Secondly, there are a lot of fights because of the insane amount of people that go here to get sloshed. Therefore the bouncers are usually perturbed and could use a lack of judgment, such as hitting someone that was simply trying to break up the fight. The seating is limited, and the crowd is sometimes hard to get through. So be prepared for all of the above, but my friends and I have generally loved the experience there.