I'm a new musician (I started in 2023). I love to sing and play guitar, especially at open mics.
There's several good open mics that I go to around Christchurch.
This is my favourite one: it's on every Wednesday and is hosted by my friend, and master musician (and musicologist!), Anand Yoganathan.
They have an electro-acoustic guitar, an amp, and monitor speakers, two microphones, and a piano (we normally put a mic onto the piano so people can hear it) which you can use. Of course you can bring your own instruments as well.
Relaxed atmosphere in a bar with no stage set up or anything.
For more info, check their Instagram page
This one is once a month, every first Wednesday of the month.
Darkroom is an awesome venue that does a lot of cool alternative music, and the sound technicians for the open mic are great too (Nick, co-owner of Darkroom and also the drummer in the legendary local band The Wendys; Milz, my friend who plays jazz bass, who is an "intern" sound tech at these open mics).
They have a guitar, a guitar amp and a bass amp, a drum kit, and two microphones.
Check out the Darkroom website
I'm new to this one, but it's got the most advanced set up out of all the open mics I've been to. There's a decently sized stage with amps, a drum kit, two microphones, and really good monitor speakers. The sound guy works from a booth across from the stage and really knows his stuff.
It's on every Thursday but is less consistent with their schedule than Boo's or Darkroom. Sometimes they do originals-only nights!
Check out the A Rolling Stone website