If you want to see a live performance in New York you don’t need to visit Broadway or a nightclub, all you have to do is hop on the Subway. Once banned, busking in New York’s subway system has flourished since the mid 1980’s, with the subway operators even picking out the better ones and giving them approval to perform in the top spots on the subway, via their Music Under New York program.
Even with all the hand picked licensed buskers there are still plenty of unapproved buskers that range from fantastic to just plain awful. A common occurrence is buskers that ride the trains raking in money from carriage to carriage with performances that range from barbershop quartets to break dancers, so if you are on the subway and some one breaks out into song don’t be alarmed, it’s art.
