The Bay Area is home to some of the greatest musical talent of all time.

From Journey and Green Day to Sly and the Family Stone. The Bay is not only well known for its musical talent, it is also home to some amazing venues for the artists to perform.

Spread out from city to city there are plenty of venues for anyone to find a good live show in the area, but knowing which ones are some of the best is a more difficult challenge.

Focusing on the top venues in the area, number five, for students to check out, is Shoreline Amphitheater.

Shoreline Amphitheater is a must for any Bay Area venue list. Arguably the most popular venue for big named artists to come to there is not a show you cannot see at the venue.

Everything from Post Malone to Blink 182, the venue gives concert goers a wide range of genres to watch. Not only does it give amazing solo headliners it supplies amazing festivals as well.

The most notable festival at Shoreline is Vans Warped Tour. In its final year in 2018, Warped Tour in the Bay has always been housed at Shoreline adding onto its impressive artist track record.

The venue itself might not be the most beautiful thing to look at, but it makes up for it with the lineups it pulls in.

Located in Mountain View, your trip to the theater is led through a Google-owned complex cluttered with Google colored bikes letting you know you are close to your destination.

Seats up close range in price from $80 and up with the lawn directly behind it on a slanted hill always being around $25. Free parking in a giant dirt lot added on to the fairly priced tickets in the area making Shoreline a great destination for the popular band lover.

Moving on from big scale to medium, The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco is the fourth venue that music loving students should check out.

The Regency was built in 1909. It has a 35-foot high ceiling with extravagant turn of the century chandelier hanging from it.

The Regency does not score as many points when it comes to grabbing big name artists, but it makes up for it with appearance and  audience emersion.

The Regency is exactly as the title states, a ballroom. A giant floor full of band goers with a balcony seating others who do not wish to be down low with the rest of the attendees.

The major downside of the Regency and almost anything in San Francisco is parking. The Regency does not have its own garage and the closest is a few blocks down the street for a hefty price.

The best case is being one of the lucky few to find street parking but it’s a gamble and a hard bet to win. With tickets ranging between $25 to $45 it might be a gamble worth taking.

From one turn of the century venue to another, the Great American Music Hall is another ballroom style San Francisco venue built in 1907.

A smaller version of the Regency Ballroom, the Great American Music Hall offers a beautiful venue with its stunning ceiling design different  from any other venue in the area.

The Music Hall is the oldest nightclub in San Francisco but its age does not show. It offers a medium-sized ballroom with a balcony overlooking the very small stage.

The small stage makes it feel as if you are that much closer to the band and where the Regency fails, in busy San Francisco, the Music Hall comes out on top.

A parking garage across the street supplies low cost, easily accessible parking making it a rare occurrence in the San Francisco venue scene.

Easily parking and tickets going for only $20 to $40, the Great American Music Hall is a great contender for best venue in the area.

The second place venue might just be the most unique place on this list. Bottom of the Hill is a venue in San Francisco that is quite literally a house redone for concerts.

You walk in through the front door, the kitchen is now a bar, the front living room is where the stage sits and the back living room is where merchandise is sold. This setup not only makes it so you have a unique feeling at the show but you feel as if you are basically on stage with the band.

On top of the unique feeling, Bottom of the Hill also offers the lowest ticket price out of all the venues listed with each show between $10 to $20.

With that being said, it also lacks the big name artists and is a place you solely go to for small garage bands. However, that does not take away from the amazing experience that you feel in the venue. With great parking arrangements, being located in the middle of nowhere in San Francisco, it is tough to say you can have an experience like this anywhere else.

The top venue gives by far the most well-rounded experience you can have at a show.

Offering a medium sized hall with plenty of bands from Ziggy Marley, SOB and Yellow Card, The Ace of Spades is the Bay’s best venue for almost everyone.

Located in downtown Sacramento, The Ace of Spades offers a parking garage and decently priced tickets, with most going for $25 to $40. The Ace of Spades offers the best of everything a concert goer could ask for.