Shanghai's live music scene is modest at best, but improving. I'm not normally a bar person, but there are a few good ones around. Check out the following places.
Hit House
Siping Lu, near Guoding Lu intersection in Wujiaochang district
This bar / disco is up near Fudan University, with a great atmosphere, pretty cheap drinks, and an eclectic clientele. It's crowded every night until 2am, and is open pretty well 24 hours, 'tis said. The night I was there, DJ Charles was spinning mostly reggae numbers, but Monday-to-Wednesday, the DJ post is occupied, I understand, by a 65-year-old Chinese guy who claims to be the oldest dance DJ in the world. Prove him wrong. The dance floor is small, biut the sound system is pretty good. For decoration, the bar has permanent Christmas lights, and jolly Santa Claus pictures, which add a pleasant touch of surreality. Pizza is on offer, but one patron described it as undependable - sometimes okay, sometimes ... well, let your imagine run riot.
Blues and Jazz Bar
Sinan Lu, near Xiangshan Lu intersection
This bar opened in December last year, and is already doing good business. The owner / operator is Lin Dongpu, the host of a popular TV show on Shanghai television and one of the best known dubbing actors in the country (his voice is as low as James Earl Jones, and he does a Chinese Darth Vader perfectly). The bar features a great hi-fi sound system - the best in Shanghai (hi-fi, mind you, not dance. We're talking quality), and the best CD collection of blues and jazz music as well. As you walk in the bar, you'll probably hear some Howlin' Wolf or B.B. King playing.
Live music-wise, itinerant troubadour Mathhew Harding is currently playing there four nights a week. I play on most Saturday nights, singing (what else?) jazz and blues numbers. It's a pleasant place to be, thanks in no small part to the good humour of mein host Lin Dongpu and his wife Songlan. Check it out.
Absolut Disco
Shaanxi Nan Lu, near Changle Lu
The second best disco in Shanghai, after New York New York, and an interesting place for number of reasons. For one thing, lots of guys, and the best dancers in town. From the outside, it looks like just another restaurant/karaoke place, but in this case, appearances are seriously deceptive. You go up the stairs, along a winding corridor which breaks into a cavern of a place with good lighting and plenty of room. The sound system is not as good as New York New York - not enough bass, too much high-end treble - and the speakers can't handle the volume overload on some of the songs. but definitely worth a visit to soak in the atmosphere.
New York New York Disco
Near Yuanmingyuan Lu
The best disco in Shanghai, at this point anyway. Good sound system, good choice of music, if a little repetitive from one night to the next. But I like Mr Vain, I admit it, and The Sign and Swamp Thing, and a disco night wouldn't be complete without any of them. The restaurant in New York New York is also worth checking out. Good noodles, and passable pizza. The couple of times I've asked, the desserts menu is a chimera - they're all off, dear, except for the ice cream.
Cotton Club
Corner of Huaihai Lu & Fuxing Lu
One of the best live music places in town, the Cotton Club is a strange dog's leg shape of a place, but with it's almost completely local clientele, and interesting decoration, it has definite atmosphere. Live music is currently provided by troubadour Matthew Harding several nights a week, supported by sax player Zhang Xiaolu. His Chris Isaak and Elvis renditions are a knockout. There also a band that plays there some nights, which does good covers. The manager of the Cotton Club is Tony, and he's got a policy of providing drinks as cheap as possible. So an orange juice or coke costs only 10 yuan. One of the reasons it's almost always crowded.
Peace Hotel Cafe
The Bund This is a tourist haunt, and an extremely lucrative one at that, I would imagine. The live jazz band is mainly noted for the high average age of its members. The drummer is lively on some of the numbers, and it's nice when the musicians don't talk amongst each other too much during the performance. There's a hefty cover charge, and the attendants are always busy. But you've got to do it once, just to say you've been there. If you want a cup of coffee at a more reasonable price, try the other Peace Hotel Cafe, in the hotel annex across Nanjing Lu, ground floor. This used to be the Palace Hotel, once the premier hotel in Shanghai, and parts of the building have been renovated in the old style. The coffee's pretty good, and there's some interesting cakes.
Long Bar
Portman Hotel
The Long Bar features live jazz two days a week - Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons. The band is called Five guys On A Train, always a good conversation starter given the fact the band almost always has six or more members. THIS is the best jazz band in Shanghai, perhaps in China. Accept no substitutes. They do mostly fifties and sixties-style jazz, with a strong horn section - sax and trombone. I sing with them most nights too, which is always a blast. Tell Philip the manager that you really like the music.
Cowboy Bar
536 Chang Le Lu
This is one of a number of places around town converted from can only have been former air-raid shelters. The design of this one is more interesting than most. It consists of a long tunnel with rooms off on either side in which you will find little bars, Japanese take-off-your-shoes sitting areas, karaoke, pool, deck chairs ... .
It's got a relaxed feel, the prices are reasonable (except for the karaoke room, which has a minimum charge of 50 yuan, and a dreadfully sparse selection of toons to croon to), there's amusing graffiti in the toilets, and some good quirky pictures on the wall which are worth looking at for a while.
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