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Photo: Anittoli18, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Long the most popular music club in the area, the venerable Water Street is back after several years in somewhat different forms. The main hall has room for 1,000 revelers, and the venue is careful with its booking to avoid some of the capacity and rowdiness problems of the past. There are not many places like it in Rochester. Jack's on Water Street is an attached restaurant and occasional (smaller) performance venue.
Water Street Music Hall is a 1,000 capacity concert venue in Rochester, New York, located in the St. Paul Quarter. WSMH is divided into two spaces; the main hall and The Club at Water St., which is a 500 capacity room for local and regional bands. Both performance spaces offer a full sound system, stage, lights, with a balcony view. Water Street Music Hall has been open in one form or another for forty years.
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While one of the largest breweries in the country, Genesee had no visitor's facility until September 2012. Now it's up and running and a major landmark on the east side of the river. The Genesee Brew House is a visitor's center, brew pub, and gift shop rolled into one. Genesee beers are on tap, of course, but there's also a pilot brewery for small batches of experimental brews; you can try a flight of four beers for $10, a portion of which goes to charity. Schedule a tour of the pilot brewery, or check out the visitor's center to explore the long history of beer in Rochester.
Rochester's convention center is centrally located and, true to its name, right on the river. It's connected via Skyway to the South Avenue Garage (and thus to the Hyatt Regency Hotel). It also connects via Skyway to the former Rochester Riverside Hotel, which will, with luck, reopen someday.
Hochstein Performance Hall is part of Hochstein School of Music & Dance, which has served as a community center for Greater Rochester since 1920. Located in the heart of the city, the elegant 857-seat Performance Hall offers free recitals and performances regularly, including the long-running "Live from Hochstein" Broadcast and Concert Series.
hockey
Known fondly as the "Amerks", Rochester's storied hockey team is the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial is an old building, but it was renovated in the 1990s and is now a fine downtown hockey arena. One of the oldest and most successful teams in the league: hockey night in Rochester is still a fun time, especially in the playoffs.
lacrosse
The K-Hawks are a top-tier indoor lacrosse team, featuring some of the best talent in the world. If you've never seen an indoor lacrosse match, a National Lacrosse League game is a great introduction. The original Knighthawks won back-to-back-to-back NLL championships (2012–14) and had several future Hall-of-Famers on the roster, but all that left town for Halifax in 2019. The new team, which was created as an expansion team in 2019, is now owned (as of 2025) by the Seneca Nation of Indians. It's struggled to reach the same heights as the old team, but the fan base is returning and the results are improving.
baseball
A Rochester tradition since 1899, the Red Wings are the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals. ESL Ballpark is a beautiful 90s ballpark situated downtown with convenient $6 parking. The general manager and his team can't control the product on the field, but they hit it out of the park when it comes to promotions and the gameday environment. Free fireworks shows set to music are just one of the possibilities to accompany a game. Food options at the park are a bit better than the average, too—there's the usual hot dogs and beer (white hots and Genny, since this is Rochester, after all), but maybe you'd like to try the beef on weck, rice bowls, mac and cheese, or the "Home Plate" (the stadium's take on the Garbage Plate).