Cheers:

1996's choice for expats trying to escape the techno overload.

Jeers:

It's now 2000. Nicknamed "zhadniye lyudi." No macking factor.

Cover:

Cover: Either 50,000 rubles from 7-11pm, or pay a one-time membership fee of $150.

M:

Tretyakovskaya

Phone:

951-33-42

Address:

Bolshaya Ordynka 11/6

Hours:

15.00-5.00

Cheers:

Already defied the cynics by attracting a solid middle-range, non-techno crowd. Awesome super-cheap food deals and drinks. Live music every night. Named after the legendary Moscow punk club. Come early morning for breakfast and U may just get lucky.

Jeers:

Lame three-room layout in former Turkish nightclub.

Cover:

Ranges from free to 80R, depending on night.

M:

Pushkinskaya

Phone:

200-1506

Address:

Tverskaya 12

Hours:

always open!

Cheers:

Roundeye creator Roman Papsuev gives 4 Rooms two black pens up. Has a good draw of students pre-midnight. The front room is larger, the colors are brighter. It seems to be somewhere between Respublika and, well, Four Rooms. The jury's still out. A dyev-reviewer for the MoscowTribune complained that the security did nothing when a some drunken guys sexually harassed her, meaning this could be a friendly place for eXholes.

Jeers:

Uninspired crowd. Used to be the big place in that wonderful summer o' 97.

Cover:

Free on weekdays, 50R on weekends

M:

Tretykovskaya

Phone:

239-3038

Address:

Raushkinskaya Nab. 4

Hours:

19.00-7.00 Thurs-Sun.

Cheers:

Hugely popular with divorcees and young centrist Russians. Packs `em in on weekends. Lots of outdoor space.

Jeers:

Chicks carry "Wide Load" signs with red flags on their hips. Guys are fond of petroleum-based fake silk shirts. Take weeks to enter.

Cover:

Up to 100R on weekends

M:

Chekhovskaya

Phone:

299-1595

Address:

Karetny Ryad 3

Cheers:

Recent stomping-murder of a hapless punk by a group of skins during a Distemper show makes this an all-too-authentic punk club, if you can handle it. If your idea of punk is listening to Crass and sneering in an Amsterdam underground, then stay away from here; like Lenin with Marx, these people take the whole punk thing literally. The runaway son of Moscow's punk underworld is back after having closed for a year, but it's in a new location that doesn't rival the old. A recent visit left much to be desired, although the mix of teenie alterna-groupies, super-cheap drinks, and total absence of pretentiousness was still there. Closer to the center than U-Too.

Jeers:

Location not nearly as cool as old R-Club: this one could just as well be a converted Dvorets Molodyozh in Ivanovo.

Cover:

Up to 60R

M:

Tulskaya

Phone:

928-0478

Address:

4th Roshchinsky proyezd, 19/21

Hours:

Daily 18.00 - ?

Cheers:

Killer, innovative live music and dance club/bar that caters to the young pre-emerging middle-class Russians; students, secretaries and entry level types; design rules in a damn-the-tact-torpedoes sort of way: wood overkill, strange patches of brick, and a dance ramp to let dyevs feel like they're on stage; car cabins that stick out of the walls are a good place to mack - dyevs find them romantic. Overall brought back fond memories of those late 80s acid wash bars in suburban California.

Jeers:

Ugh. Repeated visits to our ol' fave has confirmed the worst: this place has gone the way of Kosovo, with dyevs fleeing the high cover like Serbian refugees.

Cover:

Sun-Tue: 30R (includes one beer); Wed: 30R (no freebie); Thu: 40R (includes one free shot of shampanskoye for dyevs); Fri, Sat: 60R (includes free air)

M:

Profsoyuznaya

Phone:

128-7823

Address:

Profsoyuznaya 27/1

Hours:

Daily 18.00-6.00

Cheers:

Unpretentious, woodsy interior, decently priced drinks. Cool bands like Dva Samolyoty play here. One of Moscow's best live music venues.

Jeers:

Russotrash DJs, whacky Dutch lesbians hogging up the dance floor, too many divorcees.

Cover:

Mon-Thu: women-free; men-50; students-25. Fri-Sat: till 22.00 women-free; after 22.00 - 150 for everyone.

M:

Kievskaya

Phone:

240-9289

Address:

Berezhkovskaya Naberezhnaya 28, 4 stops by trolleybus 17 or 34.

Hours:

Daily from 19.00 to 6.00

Cheers:

A worthy successor to the R-Club, has all the elements of a Soviet punk joint: it's located in a dilapidated theater, it attracts clumsy drunken punkers, the beer is super-duper cheap, and it even has a really cool live music room. Worth the long trip out if the band is right. Deth Porn played here.

Jeers:

When we say it's way the fuck out there, we mean it's way the fuck out there; those drunken punker kids can get really nutty with a bottle of Zhigulyovskoye.

Cover:

30R and up

M:

Skhodnenskaya

Phone:

974-0111, no. 28820

Address:

Kinoteatr "Baltika"

Hours:

18.00-23.00; disco from 23.00 - 06.00 daily except Monday