Hey r/Asheville,
A couple of months ago I posted AVL.LIVE here, a free calendar that tries to catch every live music show around Asheville and the surrounding towns. Then I posted an update. Between the two threads you gave me 50+ pieces of feedback, and I've built about 90% of it. Receipts below.
AVL.LIVE is now on iPhone and Android
- iPhone / iPad: App Store
- Android: Google Play
They're free, with no account and no ads. They're also a work in progress and will get better fast. Shows, search, the map, genre filters, artists and venues all work well right now.
Notifications are the rough part, and I'm about to overhaul them. If you have opinions on what a "music near you tonight" alert or a followed-venue alert should look like (how often, which shows), tell me in the comments. That's what I'm building next.
New: Asheville Stages coverage, built in
As part of a partnership with u/mecca_lecca (more below), Asheville Stages coverage now shows up right on the listings it's about. If they've previewed, reviewed or interviewed a show, shot photos, or put it in their weekly picks, the show gets a badge, and their articles appear on the show, venue and artist pages, linked back to the full piece.
This weekend (Fri 10/16 – Sun 10/18): 162 shows at 84 venues
A few that jumped out:
Friday
- The Tallest Man On Earth – The Orange Peel, 8pm
- Joshua Ray Walker w/ Cecilia Castleman – The Grey Eagle, 8pm
- LaMP (Russ Lawton, Scott Metzger, Ray Paczkowski) – Revival, 8pm
- Phuncle Sam's Bob Weir birthday celebration – Pisgah Brewing, 6pm
- Third Annual Beatles Hymn Sing – The Mule at Devil's Foot, 6pm
Saturday
- The Infamous Stringdusters w/ Broken Compass Bluegrass – Pisgah Brewing, 7:30pm
- Luna – Asheville Music Hall, 9pm
- Carsie Blanton w/ The Burning Hell – The Grey Eagle, 8pm
- Maya De Vitry w/ Lyle De Vitry – AyurPrana Listening Room, 7pm
- Canaries / Tanner York / Blooming – Static Age Records, 8pm (Asheville Stages pick)
Sunday
- Bluegrass Brunch – Jack of the Wood, noon
- Peggy Ratusz & Daddy Longlegs – The Meadow at Highland Brewing, 2pm
- Empire Strikes Brass, benefit for Homeward Bound WNC – Pisgah Brewing, 5:15pm
- Cor de Lux / JD Pinkus Triptych – Static Age Records, 8pm (Asheville Stages pick)
Everything else, including free patio shows, brewery sets, and stuff out in Brevard, Black Mountain, Hendersonville, Saluda and Hot Springs: avl.live/shows/weekend
You asked, I built it
- u/cubert73 caught shows listed at 12AM (the Ginger's Revenge show was actually 6pm). Fixed. Shows with no posted time now say TBA and sort to the bottom instead of pretending to be at midnight.
- u/HanBro44 asked for a week/month calendar view, a map, and a list that updates automatically to whatever's visible on the map, Zillow-style. All three are in.
- u/leaky_eddie wanted shows within X miles, venue info without jumping tabs, and to stop losing their place when going back. Done. There's a map plus a Nearby radius filter in the apps, address/directions/phone/website open right in the listing, and Back puts you where you were.
- u/BatAgreeable5559 asked for the date to stay visible while scrolling on mobile, reported broken map taps, and spotted missing venues. All fixed. One World Downtown, One World West, The Odd and Fleetwood's are all in, and every one has shows this weekend.
- u/corgiobsessedfoodie asked for genre filters. Done, plus a new Artists section.
- u/CrackerJackKittyCat asked for autocomplete after three letters, prefix matches first ("hen" → Hendersonville). Done, and it now finds near matches when you misspell things. Still no accounts, as you recommended.
- u/minimal-camera wanted to follow venues in an app. The apps let you follow places. Making those alerts good is the notification overhaul.
- u/thesilverdoors and u/mecca_lecca flagged the name overlap with AVL-Live.com. Happy ending: I partnered with u/mecca_lecca, who graciously handed over the AVL-Live.com domain. Old AVL-Live.com venue and event links now point to AVL.LIVE, I handle the show schedules, and their journalism at Asheville Stages is built right into the listings. One calendar, real local coverage on top. Huge thanks.
Still in progress
- u/FlyByPie: genres. About 60% of shows now get a genre tag, but there are still gaps (the Crown Magnetar + To The Grave show slipped through). I'm looking at the Last.fm API next to fill in the rest.
- u/Impossible-Library32: auto-generated festival posters for big weekends. I built a first version, but I didn't like that it leaned on AI-generated art. I'm reworking it into simpler posters with no AI art at all. Still working through it.
- u/CrackerJackKittyCat: an "I'm going" button to surface popular shows. Not built yet.
- u/minimal-camera: sorry I never got the AVL FM fundraiser in. Community and pop-up events are still a gap.
Thanks to u/MetaverseSleep, u/flyingfishyman, u/iguessiwaspunkonce, u/Bollopelao, u/thesilverdoors and u/cereal_killer_828 for the kind words. And respect to the folks behind LiveMusicAsheville.com, whereyatavlmusic.com and ashevilleconcerts.com, who were doing this long before me. More ways to find shows is good for everybody.
Keep it coming. Missing venues, wrong times, app bugs, notification wishes: drop them here.
— Josh
Source: r/asheville · by /u/monst