Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
186
Getting a Taste of Russian Nightlife
If you'd rather not stay up late or stand in line, try having a midday “business
lunch” in one of the top clubs, which often have their own restaurants. It's a
chance to glimpse the sleek interiors and a few of the glitzy regulars while you
eat lunch, usually for a quite reasonable price.
Sohorooms
Dress up and go early here to get in before glamour controls get too
tight. Then you can watch the Russian showbiz royalty and visiting Hollywood stars
dance the night away.
12 Savvinskaya Naberezhnaya, building 8.
&
495/988-7474.
www.soho
rooms.com. Metro: Sportivnaya, Kievskaya.
ROCK & POP
Russian rock sprang from a semidissident scene of trading bootleg Beatles and Rolling
Stones LPs, and has had a rough time evolving with today's freer-than-free Russian youth
culture. A blend of ironic pop and Russian hip-hop has largely eclipsed rock as the
soundtrack for the post-Soviet generation. The biggest Russian stars today masterfully
blend the traditions of their pioneering rock predecessors—lyrics tinged with Russian
fatalism and melodies in minor keys—with the latest mixing technology and a dose of
humor. Beneath all this usually lies a musician with classical training.
Art Garbage
This is a reliable venue for up-and-coming Russian and European rock
and some mainstream bands. Open Friday to Sunday from 11am to 6am.
5 Starosadsky
Pereulok, building 6 (deep in the courtyard; follow the graffiti).
&
495/628-8745.
Cover for con-
certs 200-350 rubles. www.art-garbage.ru. Metro: Kitai-Gorod.
B-2
The city's chief music venue, this multilevel club showcases popular and more
obscure bands and is always hopping. Open daily 24 hours.
8 Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa.
&
495/650-9909.
Cover 100-700 rubles, depending on band. www.b2club.ru. Metro: Mayakovs-
kaya.
Gorbunov House of Culture
(Dom Kultury im. Gorbunova) This theater-style
venue is a required stop for Russian rock giants, as well as international stars and local
and European alternative bands. The balcony offers a calmer alternative to the sweaty
main floor. This is the club that helped spawn Moscow's thriving bootleg music market,
which has since moved down the street (see listing for Gorbushka on p. 175).
27 Novo-
zavodskaya Ulitsa (just south of Filyovsky Park).
&
499/749-8098.
www.dkgorbunova.ru. Metro:
Bagrationovskaya.
Ikra Club
Hopping music from local and visiting guitar bands and full dinners are on
tap in this three-story estate-turned clubhouse. Its name means Caviar Club, and you can
get a caviar snack but the appetizers are better. 8a Ulitsa Kazakova (inside the Gogol
Theater)
&
495/778-5651.
Cover 200-400 rubles. www.ikraclub.ru/!english. Metro:
Kurskaya.
9
JAZZ & BLUES
It sounds strange to look for jazz and blues in a land of Arctic frost and Slavs, but the
search is worthwhile. Russia's version of jazz and blues is certainly its own, with its mel-
ancholy coming from a different kind of slavery and isolation. See the website www.jazz.
ru/eng for a more detailed rundown.
