The Frequency

Good drinks, great bands, excellent people. My favorite place to spend a night out and see a show.

A divey punk club that’s cleaned itself up a bit.
STAFF
+ Enormously friendly every time. Special shoutout to Aaron!
BAR
+ I rarely spend time at the bar at clubs, but I end up sitting for a drink or two when here more times than not. You can hear the music from the stage in the bar but still hold a conversation, which is great so that people who want to chat through the whole set have a place to go. They somewhat recently repainted the room and there is currently Simpsons-​themed art on display and the menu written chalk on the walls.
BATHROOM
+ Single occupancy; usually clean.
STAGE
+ Sound is usually good if often brain-​meltingly loud. The room is very small so be prepared to get cozy with your neighbors. I am short so I sometimes struggle to see the stage if I am standing in the back — I spent a lot of the last show I attended staring at the back of the man standing in front of me. There wasn’t a whole lot of room for me to go elsewhere, so arrive earlier if you think you’ll find yourself in my predicament. Sometimes the vibrations cause dust and chunks of the ceiling to fall, but the addition of the gold foil stars on the walls is festive.
OVERALL
You’re not going to find anything fancy here, but it’s a nice, intimate place to see some of your favorite acts in a small venue.

I came here with my boyfriend to watch his roommates play a show. It’s a typical Madison dive bar with its own old school, eclectic flavor (a corner full of Simpson memorabilia including a knit Marge Simpson, old arcade games, etc) it’s a very small space, so you’re either making conversation or watching the band.
The back room is where the bands play. Just FYI there’s no seating in that room and limited seating along the bar. Even so, the small space makes it nice and cozy.
The beer selection was sizeable and very reasonably priced. They also offer pizza, but I wasn’t quite hungry when I arrived.
For that night, there was a cover fee. Not sure if that’s typical or not. Since it’s a smaller venue, they don’t have coat check, so expect to hold your coat.
Overalls, thought it was a cute place and would come back if there was a band I liked.

Last night was out first time at the Frequency. Our friend was in town from New York and playing there. It was a prefect venue for a jazz concert. Throughout the night I thought to myself «what a cool space.» The drinks were VERY affordable and overall, just a great night. Now that we have been there, we will be on the look out for other opportunties to frequent the frequency.

My kind of place, never a dull show here. If your looking for some good music — definitely check out their website for upcoming shows!
Don’t miss out on some sweet music :)

My favorite place in all the land!
Live music every night.
Best bartenders.
Coolest owner.
Good people.
Good beer.
What more could you ask for?
(Order the holiday surprise!)

Great place to see a live show. I’ve seen a ton of bands that went on to bigger and better things while standing not 2 feet from them. It ain’t pretty, but it’s rock and roll. Just use the bathroom earlier in the night.

Great place to see local bands. Cool atmosphere. Fair drink prices. I have been there a few times and it’s always a blast.

This is perhaps my favorite venue in Madison.
Dark and shoulder to shoulder… if that’s how you like your punk rock shows, this is the place for you. The sound totally exceeded my expectations considering the «hole in a wall» type of venue it is (that’s not a knock).
The venue manages to bring in some pretty big name acts, yet also does a good job with the local scene, and artists trying to break out. Madison should be lucky it has such a great venue like this.
The staff and bartenders are all super friendly and just flat out work their asses off. Highly recommended to check out.

My band played here recently for the first time, and we’ll be back hopefully sooner than later.
For musicians: the sound was great. Like, really. This can be quite a task to find someone who can actually make you sound as good as you know you sound. I play upright bass and I was booming. There were some hiccups in the beginning, but they were quickly remedied. On a different note, to get your drink tickets, you have to sign a waiver which was a first for us. According to our buddy, someone once got really drunk and did a bunch of illegal things and broke stuff and is now banned, so to prevent that from happening in the future, they have a waiver. (Upon returning home and relaying this story to my roommate, I found out that this hooligan in question may in fact be the person I share a home with. Oops.)
For non musicians: bartenders are super friendly! I really enjoyed talking to them and they will definitely be a factor in me wanting to return. Decent beer selection. I didn’t try any mixed drinks. They do have scorpion shots here, which I passed on (as they are $ 10), but there’s a (dead) tiny scorpion in some sort of vodka shot. Tip: don’t try to chew it, it’ll get stuck in your teeth.
Love this place! Would love to return soon.

I love the set up: bar up front, maintained by some of the friendliest bartenders I’ve ever had, and then an intimate concert venue in the back. It’s kind of like a 2 for 1.
There are so many drinks to sip on, and the bartenders are great with recommendations. Especially when it comes time to satisfy my «not too strong, but strong enough to make me feel somethin’» tastebuds. The drinks are much cheaper here than most other places which is another plus.
Now on to the music…
With the bar being secluded, you are better able to hear/​focus on the performer. It’s a small space, which adds to the «living room» show feel, but I’ve never had a problem with it being overcrowded. The sound is managed to perfection, and you can tell that the employees really care about their musical guests and putting on a great show for the audience.
In other words, The Frequency is a great place to grab a few drinks, hear a great show, and have a nice time out with friends.

The Frequency is Madison’s smallest venue (capacity: 200) that still has the ability to draw in renowned names from around the nation. Thanks to the booking efforts of the Majestic (now) and True Endeavors (past and likely future), you can easily come here and have an intimate show with an artist you love. This is why one of my top 10 shows every year ends up being a show I saw at the Frequency. The space itself apart from being small is also a dive, but it works very well. The walls are all black and lined with posters for upcoming shows, and there’s just enough space to start a small pit in the front of the stage. The shows best suited for this venue are rowdy ones, because the music gets loud, and no one is concerned about keeping the venue in tact.
I don’t have much experience with the bar portion, but I remember it not having many taps, and the prices on most drinks being cheap. So, the drink selection kind of suits the music space well.
Even though The Frequency is usually fun, I have a couple of complaints about the space. First, even though the capacity is 200, shows that are sold out feel more cramped than they should be. If you don’t show up early, you end up in a spot pretty far back where it’s surprisingly difficult to see the artists. Also, the Frequency doesn’t book rap anymore. This is because a local show in early 2013 ended with guns being drawn outside of the venue. I’ll respect the venue’s decision to do what they feel is best to keep things safe for their patrons, but i’m nonetheless flustered that it’s now more difficult to see a certain type of music in my city because one of its few venues can’t host it. But other than these quipes, i’ve had plenty of fun at the Frequency, and will likely have plenty more as well!

The Frequency is an acquired taste, but has lately become one of my favorite venues in town. The ambiance is best described as a «hole-​in-​the-​wall dive,» but that’s become part of its charm. The bartenders are friendly, fast, and accurate. If you want to use a card to pay, there is a $ 10 minimum. Normally, this would be easy to do at a downtown bar, but the Frequency’s beverages are insanely cheap! This leaves you with some extra room to buy one of their inexpensive pizzas. They’re store-​bought frozen pizzas, so they’re nothing to write home about, but at the end of an evening of drinking they come out steaming hot and taste delicious.
The Frequency’s small size means it often brings in up-​and-​coming acts, especially during its monthly Communion shows. The tickets are almost always ten bucks or under, making it a better deal than seeing a movie at a theater. It regularly hosts the Six-​Shot Comedy Showcase, where you can see six (usually local) comedians for five bucks. Chairs and tables are in short supply, especially in the performance area, so arrive early if you want to sit. Make sure you bring earplugs if it’s a music show, as the small size of the venue can mean that the sound gets deafening quickly. The bathrooms are single-​stall, covered in stickers from past acts. They tend to be clean, but the women’s door doesn’t look and sometimes doesn’t even latch, which is a pain. The only other minor complaint that I have is that getting the sound mixing right in such a confined area is very difficult, and artists usually have to spend time after the first few songs talking to the sound guys about getting things the way they want them, which kind of detracts from the overall experience. Also, as someone under 5’6″, it can be very difficult for me to see the band if I’m not very close to the stage. There’s no upper-​level seating or sloping floor, so if you’re also on the shorter side, showing up early will be to your benefit.

I dj’ed a show here back in November. The staff is super friendly. The sound for live shows is excellent. I wasn’t drinking that night, but they were nice when I was refilling my water. I loved that at the end of the night the front bar was playing punk music. My only complaint was being by the sound booth in the back it smelled like piss.

Live music 7 nights a week. Friendly bar staff. Cool owner. Great sound engineers. Hell yes!

I’ve never seen more cans of PBR sold in my life. Great place to listen to, but not see a show. I love the sound and the fact that you can hang out at the bar without paying a cover.

The Frequency is a great little venue to see interesting bands. The sound is incredibly good – way to go sound guy! The layout with small stage and room slightly separated from the bar area is great for smaller shows. The bartenders were friendly and attentive and the crowd was relaxed and appreciative of the music (way to go non-​apathetic music lovers!).

Hits: all about music, not a scene
Misses: limited bar, but see above
Hints: go any night there is a show. Even if you don’t enjoy the band, you’ll love the company.

definitely my favorite place to see a show in the city… reminds me of an ACTUAL club. It’s small, it’s dark, it’s LOUD. This isn’t a place you come to gawk over a rooms acoustical properties. It’s a place you come to listen to good music and drink.
I dig the separate bar/​venue layout this place offers. You can come in, grab a beer, and if the music isn’t your style, walk out with the $ 5 cover in your pocket. Either way, it’s a cool hangout.
If you’re into music, do yourself a favor and check this place out. I haven’t been let down yet.

Without a doubt one of the best music venues in Madison.
Reason 1.) You can actually hang out at the bar and not pay the cover if you don’t want to go to the stage room area. So you can frequent the Frequency even if you don’t necessarily care for the band.
Reason 2.) If you do care for the band the cover charge is usually around $ 5 which is far far cheaper than say the High Noon (avg. $ 10 – 15.)
Reason 3.) They actually get really good bands to play here.
Reason 4.) The doorman and the bartenders are all friendly and the drinks are not overpriced.
Reason 5.) If you are going just to have drinks at the bar you can actually still hear your friends conversations.
I’d like to point out though that I have nothing against the High Noon and go to many shows there but I unfortunately I can’t afford to go unless I really enjoy a particular band since the cover is usually much higher. The Frequency does get a little crowded though due to the limited capacity.