Shows Menu

Venue

Photos

A band on stage under the neon sign and a disco ball, with the crowd in front
Photo: Benny Huynh
A guitarist close up, with the Du Nord neon behind
Photo: Thomas Cook
Guests dancing with glow sticks under disco balls and gold streamers
Photo: Holly Hursley Photography
A singer and a guitarist under the red neon sign
Photo: Sunny Stetsyuk
A band on the stage in blue and purple light
Photo: Donn Dobkin Photography
The empty room from the back: dance floor and pillars, the bar on the right and the stage behind a blue curtain
Two guitarists singing under the neon sign, in front of a blue curtain
Photo: Kathleen Chagoya for The Guest List Magazine
The crowd in front of a band on a red-lit stage
Photo: @megankanphotos
A seated acoustic duo under the neon sign
Photo: Thomas Cook
A tufted leather booth in the foreground, with the stage lit red and pink beyond
The crowd holding up phone lights for the band
Photo: @iamhunaid
The Cafe du Nord blade sign and marquee over Market St
Photo: Ryan Sin Photography

More on Instagram.

Location

Cafe du Nord is centrally located on Market Street, one of San Francisco's major thoroughfares.

Our address is 2174 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94114.

Cafe du Nord has its own street door on Market St, two doors down from the Swedish American Hall entrance. Look for the red neon sign.

Going to a show upstairs at Swedish American Hall? Use the Hall's main entrance, same address.

We have an elevatorDoor staff will provide access to the Swedish American Hall entrance for elevator access.. More under Accessibility.

Getting here

For parking, there are metered spots right out front that are free after 6 PM. Note: street sweeping starts strictly at 2 AM.

You can also check out 511.org for everything you need to know about public transportation.

Market Street is a high-traffic street, so you shouldn't run into issues hailing a rideshare to pick you up directly in front of the venue.

History

The Swedish Society of San Francisco built Swedish American Hall on Market St in 1907, after the 1906 earthquake and fires destroyed its earlier home. The architect was August Nordin. The Society still owns the building.

The basement was a bar from the start. In September 1907, Thomas Hain applied to rent it, "to be fitted up by me as a first class Saloon and Billiard Parlor". Cafe du Nord has been the only tenant of that space ever since.

Since the 1990s it has been a live music room, with about 200 shows a year. For emerging artists it's the first stop on a full tour.

The room

The room is part of Landmark No. 267. What to look for:

  • The neon sign over the street door, its curled arrow pointing down to the club. It is a protected landmark feature. The arrow in the Cafe du Nord logo comes from it.
  • The terrazzo threshold at the door, with "Cafe Du Nord" in green letters on yellow.
  • The staircase from Market St down to the room.
  • The 55-foot mahogany front bar, with its original brass rails and copper kick plates.
  • The mirrored back bar, and the wood wainscoting, repainted in its original color in the 2014–2015 renovation.
  • A row of square paneled columns that splits the room.

Cafe du Nord alumni

  • Neil Young
  • Imagine Dragons
  • Mumford & Sons
  • OneRepublic
  • Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
  • My Chemical Romance
  • Train
  • Janelle Monáe
  • The Lumineers
  • Brandi Carlile
  • Sara Bareilles
  • Jason Mraz
  • Phoebe Bridgers
  • St. Vincent
  • Lola Young
  • sombr
  • The National
  • Cage the Elephant
  • Keane
  • Portugal. The Man
  • Cake
  • Spoon
  • Damien Rice
  • Regina Spektor
  • Jamie Cullum
  • Corinne Bailey Rae
  • Beach House
  • Iron & Wine
  • Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
  • Tegan and Sara
  • Kneecap
  • Passion Pit
  • Four Tet
  • Japanese Breakfast
  • Cat Power
  • Liz Phair
  • OK Go
  • My Morning Jacket
  • The Decemberists
  • Band of Horses
  • Tom Odell
  • Passenger
  • Vanessa Carlton
  • Lisa Loeb
  • Debbie Gibson
  • Aaron Carter
  • Paris Jackson
  • Crash Test Dummies
  • Jenny Lewis
  • Glen Hansard
  • Michael Franti & Spearhead
  • Jakob Dylan
  • John Cale
  • Daniel Lanois
  • Stephen Malkmus
  • Bob Mould
  • Ben Gibbard
  • Frank Black
  • Joanna Newsom
  • Silversun Pickups
  • Cold War Kids
  • Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
  • Explosions in the Sky
  • Jet
  • The Walkmen
  • Alkaline Trio
  • Rilo Kiley
  • Drive-By Truckers
  • Lake Street Dive
  • Local Natives
  • Dawes
  • Mt. Joy
  • Little Dragon
  • Orville Peck
  • Tash Sultana
  • Madison Beer
  • Suki Waterhouse
  • Peter Bjorn and John
  • Best Coast
  • Snail Mail
  • Bat for Lashes
  • Arthur Lee & Love
  • Country Joe & The Fish
  • Daniel Johnston
  • The Brian Jonestown Massacre
  • Veruca Salt
  • DOMi & JD Beck
  • Angus & Julia Stone
  • John Butler Trio
  • Los Lonely Boys
  • Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
  • The Mountain Goats
  • tUnE-yArDs
  • Sean Lennon
  • Devendra Banhart
  • M. Ward
  • Thee Oh Sees
  • Capital Cities
  • Dr. Dog
  • Delta Spirit
  • The Bravery
  • Matt and Kim
  • Ra Ra Riot
  • Jonathan Richman
  • J Mascis
  • Evan Dando
  • Mark Kozelek
  • Martha Wainwright
  • Hamilton Leithauser
  • Medeski Martin & Wood
  • Thomas Dolby
  • Robyn Hitchcock
  • Matt Nathanson
  • Caamp
  • The Joy Formidable
  • FIDLAR
  • Girls
  • Christopher Owens
  • Charlotte Lawrence
  • yung kai
  • Sienna Spiro
  • Haute & Freddy
  • Blondshell
  • Cloud Nothings
  • Julia Jacklin
  • Brigitte Calls Me Baby
  • Rogue Wave
  • Britt Daniel of Spoon
  • Chris Robinson Brotherhood
  • Vincent Gallo
  • The Von Bondies
  • Zella Day
  • ZZ Ward
  • Lady Blackbird
  • Danielle Ponder
  • Alex Cameron
  • Samm Henshaw
  • Jay Som
  • Thao
  • Patrick Watson
  • Oh Land
  • Nico Muhly
  • The Dodos
  • Kate Bollinger
  • Goldie Boutilier
  • Spill Tab
  • Miya Folick
  • Charlie Cunningham
  • Chuck Prophet
  • The Fresh & Onlys
  • Port O'Brien
  • Howlin Rain
  • Vetiver
  • The Mother Hips
  • The Radiators
  • Nico Vega
  • Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers

Cafe du Nord Presents

We also produce our own shows and festivals. Email us to find out more.

  • Goldfish with Bag Raiders, Sep 2024. A free show for thousands in Union Square, then a sold-out late show downstairs the same night.
  • Cambodia Day, Oct 2024. The first Cambodia Day in San Francisco, with Khemarak Sereymun, Dengue Fever, Meas Soksophea, Chan Makara and more.

Press

Partners

  • Live Nation presents most of the shows on our calendar.
  • TicketWeb sells our tickets.
  • Opendate handles booking requests from artists.
  • The Swedish Society of San Francisco owns the building. Swedish American Hall is upstairs.

Tech specs

Booking a show? Playing here has the details. The floor plan is on Cafe du Nord's page on the Swedish American Hall site.

Capacity
320 standing
Stage
12 ft deep × 20 ft wide × 8 ft high, 2 ft above the floor. Stair access upstage left.
Backstage
Green room with its own bathroom

Sound system

  • Mains: 2× d&b E12
  • Subs: 3× d&b 18S-Sub
  • Delays: 2× d&b E12, 2× d&b E8
  • Outfills: 3× d&b 8S
  • Amps: 1× d&b D20, 1× d&b 30D, 2× d&b 10D, 1× Lab.gruppen fP 2600
  • Console: Allen & Heath SQ5 with I/O expander card and 2× AR2412 (48 in / 24 out). 10 outputs used for stage monitors and the main PA.
  • Monitors: 4× d&b M6 2-way active, 2× Radian Microwedge coaxial
  • Audio and data patch panel to the side-stage I/O racks: 8 XLR returns to FOH, 4 shielded and 4 unshielded Cat6

DJ setup

  • 2× Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS
  • 1× Pioneer DJM-900NXS mixer

Microphones and DI boxes

  • 1× Shure Beta 52
  • 2× Shure SM57
  • 5× Shure SM58
  • 2× Shure Beta 58
  • 2× Sennheiser e604
  • 2× Sennheiser e609
  • 2× AKG D1000
  • 2× Audiopile 300C small-diaphragm condenser
  • 5 mono DI boxes: 2× DB-01, 1× ART, 1× DI600P, 1× Countryman

Signal cable

  • 27× XLR, 25 ft

Stands

  • Tall microphone stands: 4 round base, 1 tripod
  • Short microphone stands: 1 round base, 2 tripods

Video

  • Motorized front projection screen, 87" × 49"
  • BenQ 3000-lumen HD projector, ceiling mounted

Lighting

  • 6× Chauvet SlimPAR H6 LED
  • 5× Chauvet COLORband LED
  • Control: Chauvet Obey 40 D-Fi console, wired from FOH (not wireless)