Best venues

Sneaky Pete’s

73 Cowgate, EH1 1JW, sneakypetes.co.uk, 0131 225 1757
A staggering number of club nights beef up Sneaky Pete’s roster of local and national live music. Everyone’s catered for, from Etiket’s deep house and techno (third Friday, bi-monthly) to Ride’s hip hop and dance (last Saturday of the month), as well as nights through the week serving up funk, soul, garage and dancehall to keep your dancing shoes permanently mixed up.

The Bongo Club

66 Cowgate, EH1 1JX, thebongoclub.co.uk, 0131 558 8844
Edinburgh’s multi-arts venue and nightclub is the place to be if you like your clubbing with a little more meat on its bones. Mumbo Jumbo mixes funk, soul, disco and electro with heaps of character, vocals, live congas and percussion, while Messenger Sound System caters to your reggae, beats, roots and rasta needs. Plus there’s I Heart Hip Hop every Tuesday.

Potterrow

Bristo Square, EH8 9AL, 0131 650 9523, eusalive.co.uk
An important place for students in general (what with it being the EUSA hub), Potterrow is also a one-stop shop for all your dancing needs. For the club night you’ll remember fondly once you graduate, look no further than Big Cheese or catch a truly eccentric line-up of bands – check out various members of old popsters including S Club and Vengaboys for a real nostalgia fest.

I AM

Weekly night flipping between Sub Club on Tuesdays and Cabaret Voltaire on Thursdays, which lives by the ethos ‘no bullshit, no gimmicks’. Playing electronica and house, residents Beta and Kappa bring open-minded, forward-thinking music to Edinburgh’s masses. Recently they’ve welcomed the likes of Domenic (Subculture), Dan Monox (Dixon Avenue Basement Jams), Nathan Fake and JG Wilkes.

Jackhammer

A regular night at the Liquid Room that dishes up your weekly allowance of techno sounds and never fails to draw in killer line-ups, including the likes of Ben Sims, Jeff Mills, Cai Williams, Magda, Brainstorm and Marc Houle, while keeping the spirit of the underground alive. Usually sticking to the more industrial end of the spectrum, there’s a good mix of European and homegrown beats to enjoy and a huge amount of energy on the floor.

The Egg

An Edinburgh institution for those in the know looking for a quick fix of decent music and attitude-free clubbing. Indie, 60s garage, electro, northern soul, ska, 70s punk and new wave hatch every Saturday at Edinburgh College of Art, catering to a diverse and chilled clubbing crowd. There’s a spectacular mix of styles: be prepared for your Spotify playlists to grow legs when you get home.