House of Blues

The French Quarter outpost of the national music-venue chain — and while the corporate lineage is real, the New Orleans room has accrued genuine character of its own across the years of acts that have passed through it. It works on its own terms when the right artist is on the bill: get there early for a good spot, treat the night as being about the music rather than the bar, and let the room do what a proper music hall does. The Sunday Gospel Brunch is the local-legend exception, a tradition that outshines the chain's branding entirely.