The Manhattan Beat: April Forecast: Much More Live Music

New York City is starting to rock again. More stages are opening for live music, and an eager public is buying tickets.

Last summer and fall, many New York City-based musicians found a place to play by simply going to a restaurant owner and saying, "I live in the neighborhood and I can bring you customers if you let me play on Saturday night." That seemed to work for the many musicians who persisted in knocking on doors. Many restaurants that never before hosted live music gave it a try and in short time a new local music circuit evolved.

By the start of winter, however, stricter governmental restrictions and harsher weather shrank the restaurant opportunities. Spring arrived 10 days ago, however, and with it came the promise of relaxed restrictions for restaurants and music venues.

By mid-March, the New York State government allowed restaurants to increase indoor capacity from 33 percent to 50 percent, plus whatever outdoor they already had in place. Mona's reopened two weeks ago with a bluegrass jam on Mondays and Mona's Hot Four playing jazz on Tuesdays. Café Wha? and Groove also reopened, and their stable of pop, rock and rhythm & blues performers are drawing impressive numbers of music fans.

In April, entertainment venues that do not qualify as restaurants can open at 33 percent, up to a 100-person limit (150 people if everyone tests negative for Covid). The Shed will reopen this Friday with a sold out performance by Kelsey Lu; performances later this month by members of the New York Philharmonic, Renee Fleming and Michelle Wolf are also sold out. The Bowery Electric will reopen on Friday and Saturday with four sold-out Jesse Malin shows. City Winery will reopen with two shows on Saturday by Rhett Miller and two shows on Sunday by Willie Nile, and shows later in the month by Rufus Wainwright, Joseph Arthur, Patti Smith, James Maddock and others sold out quickly. The Bitter End will reopen next weekend with performances by JudyAnne Jackson, Jess McAvoy, Fawn and Stella Blue's Band. The Sultan Room is among the dinner and music venues in Brooklyn that will re-open soon with concerts Native Sun on April 21 and Jachary on April 28 each will perform two shows at the Kismet Garden on the Turk's Inn rooftop.

The promoters at the larger venues will wait for further restrictions to be lifted. Promoters and bigger-drawing musicians cannot break even when the maximum they can sell is 100 or 150 tickets. Shows from last summer that were postponed until this summer likely will be postponed again or cancelled.

Here are some of the musicians and venues that showcased in downtown Manhattan in the last two weeks of March.