Cheer Up Charlies

Cheer Up Charlies is the Austin venue that most fully embodies the synthesis of the city's two defining cultures: live music and LGBTQ+ community. The bar-venue in the Red River Cultural District operates as an outdoor music space as much as a bar — there is a covered outdoor stage, a large patio area, food trucks serving the queue and the crowd, and a programming calendar that mixes live acts with DJ nights in a ratio that changes week by week. The queer community has claimed Cheer Up Charlies as one of its own, and the venue has reciprocated with programming, hiring, and a general atmosphere that is explicitly inclusive. The Red River Cultural District is Austin's live music corridor — the neighbourhood of venues that has maintained the city's identity as a live music capital through the pressures of development and gentrification that have affected other entertainment districts. Cheer Up Charlies sits within this tradition while adding the queer character that distinguishes it from the surrounding venues. On a warm Austin spring or autumn evening, an outdoor set at Cheer Up Charlies is one of the better experiences the city offers.