Must-see entertainment in Washington, DC

Overlooking the Potomac River, the magnificent Kennedy Center hosts a staggering array of performances – more than 2000 each year in venues including the…

The major-league Washington Nationals play baseball at this spiffy stadium beside the Anacostia River. Don't miss the mid-fourth-inning ‘Presidents' Race’…

The Black Cat is the go-to venue for music that's loud and grungy with a punk edge. The White Stripes, Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters have all thrashed here…

Woolly Mammoth is the edgiest of DC’s experimental groups. For most shows, $20 ‘stampede’ seats are available at the box office two hours before…

Built in 1910, Howard Theatre was the top address when U St was known as 'Black Broadway.' Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and other famed names lit the…

The nation’s foremost Shakespeare company presents masterful works by the Bard, as well as plays by George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Eugene O’Neill and…

The Anthem opened in 2017 and has quickly become one of DC's best live-music venues. The 6000-capacity hall books acts from Judas Priest to Lorde to Big…

The 9:30, which can pack 1200 people into a surprisingly compact venue, is the granddaddy of the live-music scene in DC. Pretty much every big name that…

Playboy magazine once named Madam's Organ one of its favorite bars in America. The ramshackle place has been around forever, and its nightly blues, rock…

The 270-seat, Renaissance-style theater attached to the Folger Shakespeare Library stages classic and modern interpretations of the bard's plays, as well…

DC9 is as intimate as DC’s live music venues get, and about as divey as well. Not that we’re complaining; there’s always a good edge on in this spot. Up…

Washington’s NFL team, the Redskins, plays September through January at FedEx Field. The team has experienced a lot of controversy recently, and not only…

The mod, glassy Arena Stage is the second-largest performing-arts complex in Washington after the Kennedy Center. The three theaters inside (including a…

Dating from the 1920s, this handsomely restored art-deco movie house shows a mix of independent, foreign and first-run films. It's operated by the local…

The R&R Hotel is a great, grotty spot to catch rockin’ live sets from the likes of Thurston Moore, St Vincent and the Dead Kennedys. Don’t let the name…

DC Improv is comedy in the traditional sense, featuring stand-up by comics from Comedy Central, Saturday Night Live and HBO in its main theater. The…

Greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan played this venerable club back in the day. The talent remains just as sterling now, and the setting just as…

This ever-busy facility is DC's arena for big-name concerts and sporting events. Washington’s rough-and-tumble pro-hockey team the Capitals (www.nhl.com…

Reggae and highlife bands take the stage nightly at Bukom. Be prepared for sore but happy hips as you join the mix of West African immigrants and ex–Peace…

Washington’s oldest continuously operating theater shows flashy Broadway musicals and big-name productions. A lottery for $25 tickets (cash only) takes…