CITY SCENE · SOUTH AFRICA

The Johannesburg live-music scene, by the registry

Ground Frequency tracks 83 live-music rooms in Johannesburg, 37 of which announced a dated event in the last 28 days — 106 events in that window and 577 across the trailing year. That is what our registry sees announced in this city as of 2026-10-22, not a census of everything that happened in it.

rooms tracked

active in 28 days

106

events, 28 days

577

events, 12 months

45% of the rooms we hold in this city announced something dated in the last four weeks. Counts are of announced, dated events at tracked venues — a coverage-weighted signal. How we count

What kind of scene is Johannesburg?

rooms by the genre on their registry record

World Music 35DJ / Electronic 30Vocal 6Jazz 5Pop / Hiphop 4Rock / Band 3

Which rooms in Johannesburg are actually running?

ranked by dated events our registry holds for the trailing year — announcements, not attendance

ROOM	GENRE ON FILE	EVENTS 12M	28D
Bad Manors CHARTED	DJ / Electronic	41	8
Ratz Bar CHARTED	DJ / Electronic	40	8
Mamakashaka & Friends CHARTED	DJ / Electronic	37	7
Untitled Basement CHARTED	Vocal	28	5
Sognage CHARTED	DJ / Electronic	23	2
Native Rebels	DJ / Electronic	22	5
Great Dane	DJ / Electronic	22	3
Bahama Bar CHARTED	DJ / Electronic	21	5
Bailey’s, Bedfordview	Rock / Band	19	0
Weed Lovers Market Marshalltown	Pop / Hiphop	18	0
Bassline Live	Vocal	17	2
Railways Cafe	Rock / Band	16	2

Which Johannesburg rooms are on the chart this week?

the venue chart ranks rooms on audience momentum, not on who played there

Streetbar Named Desire#5 SOUTH AFRICA · WORLD MUSIC79.1 Collectors' Collective Record Bar#6 SOUTH AFRICA · JAZZ78.6 Bahama Bar#9 SOUTH AFRICA · DJ / ELECTRONIC72.3 Untitled Basement#10 SOUTH AFRICA · VOCAL70.2 The Bannister Hotel#11 SOUTH AFRICA · WORLD MUSIC69.5 Hugh's Jazz Club#13 SOUTH AFRICA · VOCAL67.0 Onions&All#15 SOUTH AFRICA · POP / HIPHOP66.8 OKIO#14 SOUTH AFRICA · DJ / ELECTRONIC66.8

Who has played Johannesburg this year?

artists our appearance ledger places in a room in this city — matched, not complete

ARTIST	LAST DATE	DATES
Rhys Mømsen	2026-09-05	1

CITE THIS PAGE

Ground Frequency. “The Johannesburg live-music scene, by the registry”. 2026-W43. https://www.groundfreq.com/scenes/south-africa/johannesburg/

Figures are as of 2026-10-22 and move weekly. Data is published under CC BY 4.0 — reuse it with attribution and a link. How the numbers work

Every tracked room in Johannesburg · The South Africa rising charts · The global room index · What these figures mean