Club entertainment in Canada
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A
Caprice
Originally a movie theater – hence the giant screen evoking its Tinseltown past – upscale Caprice is one of the best mainstream haunts on the Granville Strip. The cavernous two-level venue is a thumping magnet for all the local preppies and their miniskirted girlfriends, while the adjoining resto-lounge is great if you need to rest your eardrums and grab a restorative cocktail and bite to eat. Expect to line up here on weekends, when the under-25s visiting from the suburbs dominate.
reviewed
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B
Le Drague
The star player on the city’s tiny gay scene, Le Drague comprises a front outdoor terrace, a two-level disco where drag shows are held, a slightly more laid-back tavern –and then there’s Base 3. The men-only Base 3 is…well…let’s just say it turns the capital’s conservative reputation on its head and has even seen-it-all Montrealers saying ‘I didn’t know they had that in Québec City.’
reviewed
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C
Roxy
A raucous old-school nightclub that still has plenty of fans – including lots of partying youngsters who seem to be discovering it for the first time – this brazen old hussy is downtown’s least pretentious dance space. Expect to be shaking your booty next to near-teenage funsters, kid-escaping soccer moms and UBC students looking for a bit of rough. On Sunday, don your buttless chaps and drop by for a wild western night out.
reviewed
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D
Sky Pub & Club
This is one of those popular Village complexes designed to suck you in for an entire Saturday night of partying. If you’re a gorgeous guy or looking for one, start the evening in the 1st-floor pickup pub before heading up to the dance floors (disco and energized house/hip-hop). The roof terrace is a perfect place to catch the Loto-Québec International Fireworks Competition in summer.
reviewed
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Red Lite After Hour Discotheque
This 1850-sq-meter club has been around for decades, and the sketch factor – dark, pulsing, trippy – is through the roof. Its remote location in the French suburbs of Laval adds to the other-world feeling, and also explains its clientele, mostly people who live or work nights in Laval. With house and hip-hop rooms, it gets great DJs from around the world. A cab from the city should take about 20 minutes.
reviewed
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E
Cowboys
After recently relocating to a fresh location, this legendary Calgary hotspot has lost none of its hedonistic reputation. Everyone from Prince Harry, Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince ('Purple Rain' Prince, that is) have all had a boogie at Cowboys, the cavernous nightspot to see and be seen. Stetsons and tight Wranglers are the norm here, but even if that isn't your scene, the eye candy alone is worth a visit.
reviewed
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F
L’Alterno
Regulars kept telling former Le Drague employee Benoît they wished there was another gay club in town to shake up the scene a little, so finally he opened one, tucked away just inside the Porte St-Jean. It’s low-key during the day with people playing billiards, but wilder at night once the DJs come out. It’s easy to miss this place – look for the pride flag and go up the stairs.
reviewed
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Bar None
Yaletown’s favorite haunt for young professionals has a scrubbed beatnik appearance, but within its exposed-brick-and-beam shell the main topic of conversation is perfect cocktails and real estate prices. The great and good come to sip and sway at Thursday’s Straight Goods night (rap, hip-hop and $4 highballs) followed by Metro Fridays (’80s, ’90s and contemporary mixes).
reviewed
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Shine
With music from electro to funky house and hip-hop, Gastown’s sexy subterranean Shine attracts a younger crowd and is divided into a noisy main blue room and an intimate cozy cave red room with a 40ft chill-out sofa. The club’s Bonafide Saturday indie disco and electro rave night is justifiably popular, while Wednesday’s reggae, glitch and dubstep is slightly more chill.
reviewed
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Circus After Hours
Sometimes featuring circus performers and dancers, this hot spot is more glamorous than you might expect from an after-hours joint. Big-name DJs join local residents behind the decks, to the dancing thrills of glo-stick-brandishing ravers, and city clubbers not yet ready to call it a night. Get there early to avoid the long line; alcohol served before 3am.
reviewed
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Sat
Officially called La Société des Arts Technologiques, this slick warehouse and new media space promotes partying as much as digital art. DJs and performance artists push the envelope with banks of multimedia installations, while cult party brands like NEON throw parties here. Dancing and carousing with the arty, electro-loving glam set.
reviewed
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Republic
Republic attracts those sophisticated over-25s who have strayed all the way from Yaletown. Start your visit with a cocktail on the 2nd-floor patio while you look over the human wreckage of staggering late-night drunks. Then hit the dance floor, open nightly. Sunday is reggae and ska classics, while Saturday offers pulsing dance shenanigans.
reviewed
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Honey
A refreshing alternative to the Granville St party rabble, this laid-back resto-lounge venue transforms into a hopping club on weekends and is especially renowned for its Friday-night Mod Club, when a welcoming and pretence-free crowd of young hipsters dresses up for a night of pop-soul-and-everything-else fun. Good drinks specials, too.
reviewed
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Le Social
Inside a converted 19th-century mansion, Le Social is fun spot to while away the night among its three floors. Chandeliers, stained-glass windows and wild locally crafted artwork all add to the eclectic ambience. The crowd is hit-or-miss, depending on the night, with DJs spinning old-school funk, house, electropunk or straight-up rock.
reviewed
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Electric Avenue
Duran Duran, INXS, Depeche Mode…the spirit of ’80s video pop lives on in this basement club in party-down Rue Crescent. A few mirrors and lamps on satin-covered walls make up the decor, but no matter; from around 11pm on weekends you’ll find the dance floor is packed with nostalgic 30-somethings.
reviewed
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O
Aubar
Top 40, hip-hop and house blast from the speakers at this popular, mainstream near-Gastown haunt, complete with three bars and a smallish dance floor. Drop in on Friday for Sensual, a mash-up of R&B and old-school pop, or save yourself for Rockstar Saturday, when the locals writhe around each other with abandon.
reviewed
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Tokyo Bar
This successful little club reels in scenesters and suburbanites in their 20s and early 30s, who dance up a storm on two dance floors. Weekends are more mainstream, while a cool crowd hangs out Wednesdays for ‘rock night.’ The huge rooftop bar and patio rules on summer nights! Great staff, too.
reviewed
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Tribe Hyperclub
Celebrity guests like P-Diddy and Paris Hilton, house, trance and techno DJs, and sexy patrons make this very hyper nightclub the go-to spot of thousands. Don’t forget the monstrous 100,000-watt sound system. If you’re ready for bottle service, book a table in advance.
reviewed
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R
Tonic
Clubland’s Tonic bills itself as ‘neutral’ and ‘abstract, ’ but the grape-like disco balls above the entry lobby suggest otherwise. ‘Uni Night’ on Thursdays draws a slightly more literate crowd than ‘Fashion Fridays, ’ which see a steep decline in the skin-to-clothing ratio.
reviewed
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Docks Nightclubs
A lakeshore entertainment complex, the Docks has multiple nightclubs, all with huge dance floors, and a breezy outdoor patio. It's primed at the height of summer, when 2000 people gyrate through special event nights. Public transport isn't an option – take a cab.
reviewed
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Hooch
Lounging around upstairs from Gypsy Co-op, Hooch heats up with rare grooves and hipster moves on various nights of the week, often with no cover charge. DJs spin soul, jazz, house, swing and drum 'n' bass, while tarots are read in a darkened corner.
reviewed
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Time Supperclub
Dress for success at this Miami-inspired supper club, where models and wannabes shake their booties upon a lit-up catwalk. Special events featuring international DJs and celebrities attract paparazzi-seekers who dig high-energy house music and overall gorgeousness.
reviewed
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U
Chez Maurice
Set up in a gutted, châteaulike mansion and cheekily named after hard-ass former Québec premier Maurice Duplessis, this entertainment complex has three separate partying spaces. There’s a nightclub, and a cigar lounge with 200 sorts to choose from.
reviewed
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Republik
Resident DJs spin old-skool, drum ‘n’ bass, alt-rock and hip-hop at this massive club, divided into three rooms: the main club, the Vision Room and Toronto’s largest smoking room (wheeze…). Friday’s alternative nights are more rockin’, less pill-poppin’.
reviewed
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Zoobizarre
One of Montréal’s coolest party rooms, this intimate venue hosts special DJ nights and concerts featuring amazing local and international talents. You have to be ‘in the know’ to know about it, so consider yourself informed.
reviewed
