ONCE Somerville

Great space for intimate shows - I've been here with the performance area in two different locations, with mid-size and minimal sound systems, but the room is always pretty small. Friendly bar staff and surprisingly inexpensive drinks.

Funky music club with great sound. Good selection of beverages. I'd you get there really early you can park across the street for free.

What a great venue for a show. Saw Scream Along with Billy and guests. I hope to go again sometime!

Once is a fine place for concerts and events of various types. The staff is awesome and the place is super affordable. It was nice to spend NYE there. We saw four cool bands and got complimentary champagne to welcome the new year and decade! I'd love to go back there!

The staff are super nice and make it a very hospitable venue. They also have a lot of metal bands play pretty often. Very intimate venue where you can get up close to the stage, great sound and beer selection.

Great venue, amazing staff, was there for am epic evening of revelry, food, and destroying my voice is cheers. Would absolutely go again. Sound upstairs was great, but in the main hall, truly powerful. Just the right size place for me. Love it!

The facilities neglect the customer. A single food vendor served Indian empanada-like pastries out of a cooler. They came cold and tasted flavorless. The setting has charm (industrial lot next to a railroad track), but felt awkward and uncomfortable, with a large empty space devoid of people and nowhere to sit or rent chairs. A higher level of professionalism would benefit the performance line-ups. The first two performers asked if anyone knew about jobs available. They sang to karaoke tracks of their music. The main musical act, Brandi Blaze, brought energy and creativity for half an hour. The speaker and light systems performed well, but the overall set-up (no tables to eat, asphalt parking lot as listening area, portapotties as bathrooms) felt unrefined. One of the available beers tasted good at $12 a can. Several non-food vendors arrived about 9 pm; the music started at 8 and the doors opened at 7. I would have enjoyed walking around and visiting them before the start of the show. I recommend having them set up before. Overall, for your money you can have better experiences elsewhere, like the Lawn on D Street. ONCE, if you want people to come back: (1) get a food truck serving hot food; (2) provide tables to eat; (3) have non-food vendors set up before the gates open; (4) provide or rent chairs.

Tiny hole in the wall with great artists! Good house sound mixing, very easy to isolate instruments. Friendly staff. Free water. Best concert this year (Archspire +4 others) was only $20! And because it's such a small venue we were able to meet all the band members.