south-yarraWed-Sat 22:00-late, occasional Sun sessions
Revolver Upstairs on Chapel Street is Melbourne's most enduring dance club: a 36-hour weekend licence, a multiple-room layout across a terrace building and a booking history that spans everyone from local DJs to international electronic acts.
New Guernica in a Corrs Lane basement is Melbourne's specialist techno club: a dark, low-ceiling room with a function-first sound system and a booking policy that consistently brings serious international and local electronic acts.
The Corner Hotel on Swan Street is Melbourne's most important mid-sized live music venue: a 1,000-capacity front bar and band room that has launched or hosted every significant Australian band since the 1990s.
The Tote on Johnston Street is Melbourne's underground rock institution: a three-room pub venue that was saved by a 2010 public campaign after liquor licence changes threatened to close it, and has since never looked back.
Howler in Brunswick is Melbourne's best outdoor music venue: a warehouse main room with an attached garden bar that hosts the city's best independent festival-scale events without the festival size.
Siglo's rooftop terrace above Spring Street overlooks Parliament House and the Treasury Gardens: a tailored cocktail list, an Australian whisky selection and the best Melbourne rooftop view outside the high-rise hotel bars.