foobos

foobos is a free app and website for finding live music and comedy around Boston. It covers 71 cities and towns across eastern Massachusetts — Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Allston, Jamaica Plain, Brookline and Medford, out through MetroWest to Worcester and up to the North Shore. The listings are updated every day.

The problem it solves is a familiar one. To find out what's on, you check a ticketing site, a few venue calendars and Instagram, and you still miss things. Usually the free shows, the small rooms, and anything a couple of towns over. Ticketing sites only show what they sell. Venue pages only show one room. National apps only track the artists big enough to be in their system.

foobos works from the calendar instead. If a room has a date booked, it's on the list — arenas, concert halls, clubs, bars, churches, breweries and DIY basements, all in the same feed. A Tuesday night at a Somerville bar sits next to Symphony Hall. As of August 8, 2026 there were 5,312 upcoming concerts and comedy shows on it. 482 venues have a page on foobos, and 293 of them have something booked right now.

One thing to be upfront about: foobos is regional. If you want to know what's on in Chicago, it can't help you. What you get instead is much better coverage of one place — including the small independent rooms that never show up on the national apps, and comedy, which most music apps leave out entirely.

You can search by date, genre, neighborhood, price or T line. The MBTA filter is the one nothing else has: pick a line and see what's playing along it. Venue pages tell you what you need before you head out — capacity, bag policy and the closest T stop. About one show in six is free, and you can filter for free shows, all-ages shows and 18+/21+ rooms.

The app adds a few things on top. footective learns what you like from the shows you save and points you at others. foochat gives each show its own chat room, so you can find people before doors. There are maps, alerts when an artist announces a date, reminders, home screen widgets and Siri Shortcuts. On the web, The List is a simple calendar by date and the finder handles the detailed filtering. foobos is free. You don't need an account to browse.