When Rolling Stone tells you that you have one of the top five venues in America, you must be doing something right.
The NorVa is a playground for national touring acts. Like literally, a playground. The space was a health club in its previous incarnation, and still has the basketball and racquetball courts, hot tubs, saunas, and even full laundry facilities to prove it. The intimate 1,500-capacity front of the house ain’t too shabby either, with a $350,000 state-of-the-art sound system, multiple levels, and an outside smoking area notorious for being where the opening acts sneak out to mingle with fans (and bum cigarettes) between sets.
The NorVa, located smack dab in the middle of Downtown, has hosted Bob Dylan, Phoenix, B.B. King, Justin Timberlake, and countless stellar acts among the 2,000 shows in its history. Given that the space was originally built in 1917 as a vaudeville theater, there’s a lot of music hidden in the rafters.
Summertime in Norfolk means taking The Elizabeth River Ferry across the water to the open-air nTelos Pavilion. With its dancefloor lawn, friendly Southern vibe, and the breeze coming off the river, nTelos is what great concert memories are made of.
Norfolk also has an under-the-radar independent music scene that keeps the local music lovers in symphonic bloom all year round. Places like The Boot and 37th & Zen supply a steady diet of up-and-coming, catch-them-while-you-can indie bands that get the hipster kids’ Converse tapping all night long.
There’s more to Norfolk than just rock venues. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra calls Norfolk home, as does the Virginia Opera. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Norfolk’s spirited karaoke scene, with Cogan’s and the dive-bar-to-end-all-dive-bars, Cruzer’s, a place as dirty as it is fantastic, setting the bar for all the singing-in-the-shower frontmen and women of Norfolk.
If good music is the fix you craze, Norfolk most certainly has your hook up.