Clubs in Scotland

If you're looking for music of any kind, s1play's Music and Clubs section is the place to be.

Folk, jazz, rock, pop, indie, metal, hip-hop, reggae, emo, screamo, goth, classical, traditional, opera, country, progressive, blues, rap, urban or R 'n' B - we've got it all.

Scotland is buzzing with live music right now: there are gigs in the most unlikely places. On the back of huge successes such as Franz Ferdinand and Snow Patrol, it seems that every pub has an open mic night or an evening set aside for live concerts, and every club is organising a battle of the bands or incorporating signed and unsigned acts into their more usual DJ-driven formats.

Of course, Scotland has long been famous for its live scene. Glasgow's Barrowland is a long-standing favourite among many major touring acts, and newer venues in the city such as the Carling Academy are making a similar mark. On the east coast, the Edinburgh Playhouse has reverted more to touring theatrical shows, but other venues such as the Corn Exchange have risen to fill the gap. Many of the country's biggest acts believe a tour isn't a tour without at least on Scottish date.

One of the great beauties of the Scottish live scene is that there are venues for all sizes of bands. Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut is a regular for small-to-medium acts - or more established artists who want that intimate feel - as are Aberdeen's Lemon Tree, the Tolbooth in Stirling, Edinburgh's Cabaret Voltaire, Dundee's Doghouse, and Inverness's Ironworks.

Glenfarg's The Famous Bein Inn is an institution in its own right - a rural hotel and pub run by real music enthusiasts who tempt the greats into Perthshire with the promise of a super-keen audience and a great gig in genuinely intimate surroundings.

And, of course, there are the enormodromes - Glasgow's SECC and Clyde Auditorium (The Armadillo) and Aberdeen's AECC - and the annual festivals such as T in the Park, the Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum, the new Indian Summer festival in Glasgow and the planned Connect festival.

Scotland's clubbing scene has never been healthier. The days of hard techno and rave music have gone - although there's still plenty of that about, particularly in Glasgow - to be replaced with wide and varied music policies. Nights such as VEGAS!, Club Noir, Death Disco, Optimo, Tackno, and venues such as Glasgow's Cathouse have shown how different clubbing can be. All the old divisions - gay and straight, rock and indie, techno and house, cheese and chart - are blurring.

Whether you're looking for cool tunes or a hot dancefloor, s1play's Music and Clubs section has it all.

s1play : clubs