MOHAWK

Mohawk has been holding it down on the corner of 10th and Red River since 2006, and in that time it has become one of the most recognizable venues in Austin. The place was built from the ground up as a bar and music venue, and it shows. There are two stages here, an indoor room that keeps things tight and loud, and an outdoor stage that opens up to a multi-level patio with bleacher seating, a rooftop deck, and sightlines that work from just about every angle. On any given week you might catch a national touring act on the outdoor stage one night and a local punk band tearing through a set inside the next. The booking is genuinely eclectic, spanning rock, indie, hip-hop, electronic, experimental, and everything in between. Mohawk runs three bars across its different levels, pours strong, and keeps more than sixty beers in rotation including a solid lineup of local drafts. Happy hour runs daily from five to eight. Owner James Moody was one of the driving forces behind formalizing the Red River Cultural District, pushing to protect the corridor that makes Austin's live music identity more than just a slogan. The venue has hosted everything from wrestling matches to fashion shows to air guitar championships, but at its core Mohawk is about the music. The outdoor stage in particular has a street-level energy that is hard to replicate anywhere else in the city. You can post up on the upper deck with a beer, look down at the crowd, and feel like you are exactly where you are supposed to be on a weeknight in Austin.