Broadway Rhythm in Midtown, NYC: Free Lunchtime Concerts by MTA Subway Musicians

Broadway Rhythm is a free outdoor concert series run by the Garment District Alliance, the nonprofit that looks after the Garment District in Midtown Manhattan. The music happens on the Broadway plazas between West 39th and 40th Streets, every Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 2 p.m., timed for the lunch hour.

The performers come from MTA Music, the transit agency's program of musicians who play in subway stations. Here they step out of the stations and onto a plaza stage. The official schedule lists each act by date and covers a wide range: brass bands, classical strings, jazz, singer-songwriters with guitars, Latin-leaning groups, opera and dance.

Today, October 22, the slot belongs to Galdort Gumbo & the Righteous Cats, a five-piece band. Earlier in October the lineup included West Fourth Trio on October 1, Clovers Curfew on October 6, Inti and the Moon on October 8, Cupid's Nemesis on October 13, Zuique on October 15 and Chanese Elifé on October 20.

The concerts are free. Time Out New York described the series as free lunchtime concerts by subway musicians on the Broadway plazas in Times Square and the Garment District.

For Japanese visitors, it offers a different way to hear the kind of performers you might pass on a subway platform: seated or standing in a plaza, with a set to listen to rather than a few bars between trains. The venue is on Broadway between West 39th and 40th Streets in Midtown.