Entry No. 43 — the Memphis file — filed under: dive bar
Murphy's
Murphy's sits at 1589 Madison in Midtown and has been quietly absorbing Memphis's loud end of the spectrum for two decades. Setlist.fm has 182 setlists on file here going back to 2003, and Songkick counts 177 concerts — the overlap is heavy on garage, punk and indie, with Nots, Negro Terror and The Queers among the most-repeated names. In September 2019 the bar took a Gonerfest 16 day session and ran nine bands through in an afternoon, half-hour slots starting at 2 p.m. The booking has thinned considerably since; the most recent show on record is Joecephus and The George Jonestown Massacre in May 2026, and nothing is currently listed ahead.
→ Three more underground music & performance in Memphis — never the same twice
The story
Murphy's occupies 1589 Madison, a Midtown address that has been logging live music for more than two decades without ever quite committing to calling itself a venue. Setlist.fm carries 183 setlists from the room going back to 2003, filed under a rotating set of names — Club Murphy's, Murphy's Pub, Murphy's Public House — which tells you roughly how much attention anyone here was paying to branding. Songkick counts 177 concerts at the same address. The busiest years in the archive are 2013 and 2016, twenty documented shows apiece, which for a bar with no marquee is a serious amount of amplifier moving.
The repeat bookings describe the taste better than any genre tag would. Nots leads the tally with six shows; Negro Terror and The Queers have three each; then comes a long tail of bands that played twice — Jacuzzi Boys, Spray Paint, Total Control, Manateees, Chicken Snake, River City Tanlines. Garage, punk, post-punk, and whatever else was touring cheap and needed a Tuesday. The densest single entry in the whole file is September 28, 2019, when Murphy's took a Gonerfest 16 day session and pushed nine bands through the room in one afternoon: Greg Oblivian & The Tip-Tops, The Resonars, Michael Beach & The Artists, Aquarian Blood, Total Hell, Warm Leather, The Dixie Dicks, Tire, and Cindy.
Then it thins. Setlist.fm's most recent entry from the room is April 2022. Songkick's is Joecephus and The George Jonestown Massacre in May 2026, and there is nothing at all posted ahead of it — zero upcoming shows listed for 2026 or 2027. Murphy's has settled into being the kind of Midtown bar where a show is a rumor you confirm the same afternoon or not at all. Which, if you are the sort of person who reads a twenty-year setlist archive for pleasure, is arguably the correct condition for a room like this to be in.
What it's like
There is no published calendar to plan around, so the trip starts with a phone call or a look at the bar's socials the same afternoon. If something is on, arrive about an hour early — the patio is where everyone waits out the load-in, and it is the only stretch of the night where you can hear each other. Inside is small, loud and cheap; expect a modest door charge and bring cash, since a room that does not publish a schedule tends not to publish a card minimum either. Street parking runs along Madison. If it turns out nothing is booked, you have not wasted the drive: B-Side sits about a hundred yards west in Minglewood Plaza, and the rest of Madison Avenue is walkable in both directions. Don't shout requests at the band. Nobody here is taking any.
The move: Call or check the bar's socials the same afternoon — a show here is a coin flip, not a schedule. If something's on, arrive an hour early, drink on the patio while the load-in happens behind you, and step inside when the first band starts; if nothing's on, it's still a cheap Midtown bar within walking reach of the rest of Madison Avenue, which is the fallback plan built into the trip.
📍 Before you go Verify before you go. The show listings confirm the venue was active as recently as May 2026, but there are zero upcoming concerts posted on Songkick for 2026-2027, and current operating hours are not published anywhere I could confirm — treat this as a call-first stop rather than a sure thing. When shows do happen they're small, loud and cheap; expect a modest door charge, cash preferred. Street parking on Madison; the patio is where the pre-show happens.
- 📍 Memphis
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1589 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN 38104
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- B-Side — About a hundred yards west in Minglewood Plaza, B-Side books local live music every single night and streams the sets to YouTube — the guaranteed version of the coin flip you just took at Murphy's.
- Shangri-La Records — Half a mile east on the same street and closed by 6 p.m., so it's the daylight half of a Madison Avenue evening: dig for the records first, then walk down and see whether anyone's playing that kind of thing loud.
- Hi-Tone (the downstairs Small Room) — A mile north on N Cleveland, the downstairs Small Room runs a free comedy open mic every Tuesday at 7 — another 21+ room with the same temperament and, unlike Murphy's, an actual posted schedule.
More weird in Memphis
Good to know
How do I find out whether there's a show?
Same-day only. There is no reliable published calendar — Songkick lists zero upcoming concerts at Murphy's for 2026 and 2027, and the most recent show on record there is Joecephus and The George Jonestown Massacre in May 2026. Call the bar or check its socials the afternoon of.
What kind of music has played here?
Garage, punk and post-punk, overwhelmingly. Across 183 setlists dating to 2003, Nots appears six times, Negro Terror and The Queers three each, with Jacuzzi Boys, Spray Paint, Total Control, Manateees and Chicken Snake among the repeat bookings. Murphy's also hosted a nine-band Gonerfest 16 day session on September 28, 2019.
What does it cost to get in?
When shows happen they're small and cheap — a modest door charge rather than advance tickets. Bring cash; this is not a venue with a box office.
Where exactly is it, and where do I park?
1589 Madison Ave in Midtown, 38104. Street parking along Madison. It's about a hundred yards east of B-Side in Minglewood Plaza and roughly half a mile west of Shangri-La Records on the same street.
Is it worth going if there's no band?
It's a cheap Midtown bar with a patio, in walking reach of the rest of Madison Avenue — which is the entire reason the fallback plan works. Just don't drive across town for a show nobody has confirmed.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: songkick.com · setlist.fm
last checked: 2026-08-26