| The Catalyst, in downtown Santa Cruz, and the Rio Theater also nearby to downtown, are cool venues that actually gets some big names playing. I'm pretty into indie/alternative music and I'm really happy with the bands they bring. So far I've seen:
Groundation (reggae), Pinback, Explosions in the Sky, Architecture in Helsinki, (all indie/rock/alternative), Reel Big Fish (ska)
and plan to see:Matt Costa, Jason Mraz & im sure many more
the shows are cheap ($12 - $20 avg.) and the venues are pretty small, so you get up close. | 
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