Irish Hill

A neighborhood in Louisville

Irish Hill sits east of downtown Louisville, in the inner Highlands area. Hemmed in by train tracks and Interstate 64, it's a neighborhood people often pass through rather than seek out, yet it holds one of Louisville's most established live-music rooms. Locally owned and operated, Headliners Music Hall on Lexington Road is considered the premier live entertainment venue in Louisville, booking local and national acts. The building started as a cafeteria for a bottling facility, and during Prohibition it served as a rehearsal hall for big bands that played the Seelbach and Brown hotels on weekends, with the public allowed in to watch while drinking "medicinal" bourbon allegedly bottled on the property. Decorative murals on the walls date to 1939, commissioned by the National Distillers Product Corporation. The venue has hosted acts across rock, metal, acoustic, hip-hop, and alternative, with names like My Morning Jacket, Old Crow Medicine Show, Kings of Leon, Jason Isbell, Tame Impala, and Ice Cube among past bookings. It mixes national touring acts with local and up-and-coming artists on a standing-room floor with full bar.