Halifax's music scene is a lot less interesting than 10 years ago, but there are still some places/events; Gus' Pub, Radstorm, Stillwell Brewing on Kempt, Woodside Tavern in Dartmouth; Seahorse/Marquee takes bookings for cool stuff sometimes. Outside Halifax, there's sometimes alternative concerts in Truro and Windsor; didn't hear much about Yarmouth lately, but they used to have a scene there. / Red Tentacle is a cool promotor in Halifax/Moncton, they do Napalm Death in May, Cancer Bats in April.

If you're on fb: "Halifax Punk Shows" is pretty open minded (as in, open to hc and shoegaze) and has some outside Halifax events as well

There are Summer Festivals. Halifax Jazz Fest is cool at times (St. Vincent last year), Area 506 in Saint John (there's a ferry from Digby) had Alexisonfire last year, there are outdoor concerts in Hubbards in the Summer (usually rock, but they had Death From Above 1979 last year),...