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Club 737
Try pre-dinner drinks with the glam set on the 43rd floor - the romantic skyline never disappoints. A Latin American dance contest is held Monday evenings, but whatever the day there's always some serious cruising going on among the office crowd of 30-somethings.
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Club Bolo
This is a gay country-and-western line dancing bar that is a one-of-a-kind in the village. Line dancers should aim for Tuesday nights; beginners show up for Friday classes at skilled kickers have Saturday nights to themselves.
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Club One
This big stage venue with table service and a bar serves up an eclectic mix of music, from pop and jazz to New Wave lounge. A product of its recent renovation is a nifty tap dispenser for Jägermeister to settle trendy stomachs.
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Club Soda
This venerable club hosts established acts such as Ranee Lee, a jazz singer in the Sarah Vaughan mould. New talent is embraced as well, with avant-garde groups, heavy metal and comedy acts performing in this hall with several hundred seats. Call for a recorded schedule.
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Comedy Nest
Comedy in Canada is in no danger of going the way of the dodo with venues like this; talent from all over North America flock to the Comedy Nest. Early birds will end up with front-row seats for all kinds of larks, such as lively shows of cabaret with songbirds, dancers, musicians, female impersonators and more birds of a feather.
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Comedyworks
This upstairs venue presents standup comics nightly, usually in English. Events include open-mike nights, improvisation and headline acts on weekends. Audience participation and heckling is encouraged, and acts tend to be racier than at Comedy Nest.
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Cubano's Club
This undisputed hub of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz in Montréal gives dance classes during the day and sets standards of dexterity at night. Highlight here are the big Cuban orchestras and the mambo competitions during the International Jazz Festival.
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Dieu du Ciel
There's no better bar in Montréal. Packed every night this bar drips atmosphere, is totally unpretentious and serves a phenomenal rotating menu of microbrew beers, running from classic ales to stouts that taste like chocolate or espresso, to a beer so smoky it's like sucking ash. (If you find yourself staggering towards St-Laurent afterwards, that building on the corner is a former city hall, transformed into the coolest fire station in town.)
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DoRéMi
If you want to keep your fox trot fresh and your polkas perky, this all-round dance club in north Montréal has excellent music for ballroom dancing. The crowd is 30s and 40s, dedicated amateurs, a refreshing change from some of the presumptions downtown.
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Edgar Hypertaverne
Once a trashy dive, Edgar's appeals to the well-educated, cognac-sipping crowd of the Plateau. When they're not air-kissing groupies, the DJs serve up a discriminating mix of acid jazz and New Age music. The wine list is copious.
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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 on weekends the dance floor is packed with nostalgic 30-somethings. It also draws quite a few single women so guys listen up.
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Else's
A warm and welcoming neighbourhood bar where, as the saying goes, everyone knows your name. Settle into one of the worn chairs for an order of nachos, a tasty microbrew and a big portion of chat in front of the ceiling-high windows. Late-night jazz is a joy on weekends.
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Ex-Centris Cinema
A showcase for independent films from around the world founded by the creator of Softimage, a Montréal special-effects company. It's sleek and geared to provide pure movie enjoyment (pop corn and soft drinks are banned). Besides several cinemas, this place is full of high-tech film gadgetry you have to see to believe, starting with the box-office cashier whose disembodied head speak to you through electronic port holes when you buy your tickets.
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Exit
Exit is one of those clubs where what's exciting is the people who fill it and not the space itself. This house and R&B mainstay doesn't look like much on the inside with its sparce interior, but when the star DJs show up this place is packed - it's one of the best nightclubs around.
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Foufounes Electriques
A one-time bastion of the alternafreak, the 'electric buttocks' has lost its edge but still stages some neat events (eg a DJ 'starmaker' night or indoor skateboard contest). On weekends the student-grunge crowd plays pool and quaffs brews till the dance floor starts to gel. The wall art is still vintage creepy-crawly.
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Go-Go Lounge
The retro-kitsch decor here looks like it was copied from an Austin Powers movie: '60s psychedelics, glistening vinyl and teardrop chairs. Regulars give raves for the cocktails and raspberries for the same music playing night after night. Look for bizarre weekend antics like women in schoolgirl costumes paddling passersby on the butt for fun.
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House of Jazz
Formerly known as Biddle's, a fixture on the Montréal jazz scene until owner-bassist Charlie Biddle passed away in 2003. The ambience is a tad touristy but fun with fin-de-siècle decor and musical instruments hanging from the ceiling. There's no cover charge, and you can eat ribs or chicken for about C$15 per person including a drink. Prepare to wait if you haven't reserved.
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Hurley's Irish Pub
This incredibly cozy place features live rock and fiddling Celtic folk on the rear stage and beer-soaked football and soccer matches on big-screen TVs. Standard pub grub is also served - fish 'n' chips, meat pies and burgers.
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I Musici de Montréal
Under the leadership of Moscow-born violin-cellist Yuri Turovsky this 15-member chamber ensemble has won many awards for its baroque and contemporary performances. Over the past 20 years I Musici, which has its home stage at the Place des Arts, has recorded 43 CDs and toured in Europe and the USA.
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Istori
Unwind at two bars or 20 pool tables at this loft-style pool hall on the 2nd floor, a world away from rue Ste-Catherine below. Beers are tasty and potent (Hoegaarden, Leffe, Stella Artois) and you can obliterate an order of nachos or tacos before your next full clearance. Pool is free Mondays and Tuesdays to midnight.
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Jazz & Blues
Located in the McGill University student union building, the Jazz & Blues club stages regular concerts by McGill's excellent student bands.
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Jello Bar
This perennial favorite is the quintessential lounge bar with garish-glitzy loveseats, lava lamps and a hot-to-trot clientele. Order one of 50-plus martinis and listen to the latest Marvin Gaye imitator at one of the extended jam sessions (weekends only).
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L'escogriffe
This smoky, intimate Plateau club has quickly become one of Montréal's best jazz venues. It holds regular tributes to jazz legends like Charlie Parker or Herbie Hancock, and on Thursdays a jam session displays some of the greatest 'chops' on the Montréal scene, including some incredibly talented street musicians looking to break in. Blues and world music is woven into the agenda some nights.
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l'Opera de Montréal
Holds lavish stage productions that feature big names from Québec and around the world. The specialty is classics such as Mefistofeles , Aïda and Carmen ; translations (French or English) are run on a video screen above the stage. Tickets cost around C$40 to around C$100 during the week and slightly more on Saturdays.
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La Sala Rossa
This hall seats 250 people and its weathered digs show off the indie acts and rock bands that regularly take the stage (The Dears once played here). But with such an eclectic location - Spanish social club and restaurant, you can expect shows offering DJs, reggae, jazz or spoken word.
