Top venue in Stockholm with all the best bands making a stop there, probably holds 400-500 and the crowd are right on top of the stage, prices pretty reasonable given its Sweden. We paid about £14 to see the Horrors who were superb. Drinks about £5.50 a beer, you can book in advance on line

www.debaser.se
Karl Johans Torg 1, 111 30 Stockholm
+46 (0)8 30 56 20
Google map: bit.ly/yIBEnr

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A tiny local bar/club - you won't hear yourself think or see across the room for smoke - but to meet local people, enjoy cheap local drinks and escape the pompous arses in Carpe Diem in a lively and exciting atmosphere - this is perfect.

Down one of the backstreets off the main strip of bars (the walkway by the yachts, where Carpe Diem is) - you'll probably need to ask a local!

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It’s not quite a trip to the jungle, it’s not a tour through sparkling snowy waste, but exploring the side streets of Glasgow can be just as much a life-changing experience. It’s the music that does it, as I discovered on trips to the city in the last year. Live music happens in every street; not just in grand concert halls but in basements bars and attic clubs, in ageing art deco cinemas and old variety theatres, in subterranean tunnels where gigs are punctuated by passing trains, in vegan (yes vegan) cafes which would not look out of place in San Francisco. Live music transforms even the most battered parts of the city into an unforgettable experience – O2 Academy stands like a beached liner, a defiant dazzler on Gorbals edgelands. Barrowland is a beacon for rock bands the world over, The Arches and Sub Club rock the city underground and even the Apollo, long gone, absolutely refuses to die. All adding to the gritty, almost industrial strength of Glasgow’s cultural life. No wonder this is the UK’s first UNESCO City of Music. I explored Glasgow with the help of Walking Heads audio tours who have just produced Glasgow Music Tour as a free app.

www.walkingheads.net/

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Is it a restaurant? Is it a club? Is it a record shop? No one is quite sure but either way Radost FX near Namesti Miru is very cool.
Street level houses a quirky veggie café and a music/video/wine shop. Downstairs is a lounge/restaurant area with the same menu, and a club.
During the daytime enjoy the Radost FX cafe. Set behind large windows facing the street, the cafe has some pretty eclectic decor. Tuck into breakfast from 8-11, or later on enjoy the wide vegetarian menu later in the day. Radost Fx has a truly global menu, boasting dishes from countries including Greece, Italy, India and Thailand as well as some of the best veggie burgers and 'slaw ever. Food is available all day.
The same menu is available in the longue area downstairs, which is complimented by a great bar and live music at the weekends - well into the small hours.
I especially love the shop area on street level next to the cafe. As well as videos, DVDs and wine, this cosy shop offers an ever changing selection of vintage and contemporary music on vinyl.
There’s something for everyone here, at any time of day.

www.radostfx.cz/
Bělehradská 22, 120 00, Prague 2
+420 603 193 711
Nearest metro - Namesti Miru or IP Pavlova
Google map: bit.ly/zgnAMf

* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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A popular downtown club that hosts live music and DJs every night, has a very decent drink and bar menu and good atmosphere. The website is great for directions (!) and listings. A top venue that hosts live music nearly every night.
It’s worth saying that, despite the name of the club, the music on offer is not all jazz!

www.cairojazzclub.com/
197, 26th July St.Agouza
+202 3345 9939
Google map: bit.ly/urs2Qj

What to tell the taxi?
197, 26th July St. Sphinx square

* Alip is our Been there local for Cairo. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/cairo-local-alice-allsop.jsp and you can follow her tips directly here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/alip

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Cromwell's Tavern is a friendly local pub, found near the castle in the heart of Pembroke.
It's a great place to try Welsh bitters and admire all the music memorabilia: framed pictures of Kiss, Jimi Hendrix and others line the walls and we didn't dare take on the locals at pool, after spotting all the trophies in a glass cabinet!

2 Westgate Hill, Pembroke, Dyfed SA71 0NU
+44 1646 682718
Google map: bit.ly/qC3vOO

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Pan.Optikum is a Theatre Company with a difference; you cannot just sit down and watch giant street theatre because it happens all around you. You look in one direction and the actors are coming towards you on huge platforms, then suddenly you hear a voice behind you and another actor is climbing a back-lit scaffold structure. All this happens as an amazing emotionally stirring soundtrack plays around you.
Their productions include pyrotechnics, singing, cantilevers, acrobatics, lights, silhouettes, music, video and dual language performances; a sensory experience that cannot be matched.
See them in their home country, Germany, or catch them on tour. But see them you must!

www.theater-panoptikum.de/index.php?id=1
gemeinnützige GmbH, Engesserstr.6, 79108 Freiburg, Germany
+49 761 503 944 9
Google map: bit.ly/nIaEJ0

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If you're not going to be able to make Semana Santa (Holy Week) or don't want to face the crowds, to at least get a feel for it head to La Torre del Oro in the evening (8pm+) to spot the band practicing. No matter what time of year (even when the event has only just past) they are there trumpets-a-tooting, drums-a-banging.
Another spot is in the Maria Luisa Park, not too far from the Plaza de Espanya entrance.

Paseo Cristobal Colon S/N, 41001 Sevilla, Spain
+34 954 22 24 19
Google map: bit.ly/nUjWjR

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‘Sound Forest’ (Skaņu Mežs) is a music festival which plays not only with your ears, but mostly with mind. The first Sound Forest was organized in 2003. The festival is organized to show the latest activities in the world of music and this is also a provocation for new angles in music. The artists in Sound Forest are surprising, boring, shocking, incomprehensible etc. These are brave artists from all over the world - the future of music – the music for which we are probably not ready yet. As the organizers of the festival say,
they are doing it to “knock the mind out of the comfortable and dull "reality" to remind
you of an alternative”.
Sound Forest 2011 will be in Riga on 16th – 17th of September.

www.skanumezs.lv/en/category/news-summary-in-english/
Miera street 58, Riga
+371 29464264
Google map: bit.ly/odTmG0

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There is a sign above the door of this Edinburgh institution which reads. “Purveyors of fine ales and spirits. Home of world renowned folk music,” and this little place does exactly what it says on the tin.
Impromptu folk sessions, a wide range of fine ales and a superb evening awaits in this tiny and unassuming pub. Plenty of regulars and tourists flock here each night as live musicians provide the soundtrack.
A great atmosphere is guaranteed, so sit back (or more likely prop up the bar) and enjoy your pint. We guarantee you’ll be tapping your foot before long.

25 Forrest Road, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH1 2QH
+44(0)131 225 2751
Google map: bit.ly/roJ9bV

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The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a breathtaking glass building that hosts
performances from the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada. Besides the repertoire of great productions, there is also a free concert series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.
From September to June, concerts take place most Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon, and some Wednesdays at noon or 5:30pm. Because of limited seating, admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Although the programming is not geared toward young children, everyone is welcome to attend a concert. Genres range from vocal, piano, jazz, chamber music, world music, and a dance series.

www.coc.ca/PerformancesAndTickets/FreeConcertSeries.aspx
145 Queen Street West (near University Avenue)
+ 1 416 363 8231
Google map: bit.ly/q4GthM

* Giulia is our Been there local for Toronto. You can see her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/places/canada/toronto/index.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/GiuliaFalsetti

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There are many bars in Brussels trying to do something new and different. Some aim to re-create the music and surroundings of past decades, but there aren’t many places like Booze n’Blues, where you sense the owner’s nostalgia for his youth enveloping you with its dark red walls and jukebox.
References to Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, fraying momentoes and blues music wrapping you in a
cocoon: here it is personal, like a bedroom left behind in a family home and not touched since.
The jukebox will accompany your evening, when it’s working. Likewise Fakir Hindou, the fortune
telling box on the bar, might provide an erratic prognosis of your future for 20 cents. Two attempts produced the same result: “everything will go according to your wishes”. I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have everything you want!

Booze n’Blues has been family-run for the last 13 years. The owner lives upstairs. Downstairs you could almost imagine yourself somewhere in rural America. But the owner has never been. “There’s a meeting of blues fans in Los Angeles every year”, his sister tells me. "I’d love to send him there, but he doesn’t like flying.”

Rue des Riches Claires 20, 1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 513 93 33
Google map: bit.ly/rcdCPW

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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The Afro-Punk Festival on August 27 and 28 is NYC's last free hurrah this summer. For two days, head to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park to take in some free music and/or skateboarding and BMX competition. Saturday's headliners include Gym Class Heroes and Santigold. I'll be there Sunday for R&B singers Janelle Monae and Cee Lo Green. Make sure you've got bottled water, cash, and comfy shoes. To get to the park, take the B, Q, or R trains to DeKalb Avenue.

www.afropunk.com/page/afropunk-festival-11
Commodore Barry Park, Brooklyn
Google map: bit.ly/rrFxUC

* Amanda is our Been there local for New York. You can check out her page here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/new-york-local-amanda-green.jsp and her own NYC blog here: www.noisiestpassenger.com/

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This unmissable show is nothing like I have ever experienced before and had never heard of, until our hostel told us we would be mad to miss it.
La Bomba takes place every Monday night (who cares if there’s work the next day) and is a popular, often sold out, percussion frenzy at Ciudad Cultural Konex, an old open air converted oil factory, and costs the equivalent of about £5.
It is essentially two hours of madness where a group of 17 quick handed musicians take to the stage, and over the course of the two hours their drumming gets louder and faster. As you would imagine, this consequently affects the audience who are taken along for the ride in the form of hypnotic drum beats. It is all improvised, yet conducted through different hand signals, and you cannot help but be mesmerised by the sheer talent and co ordination.
Let me stress, La Bomba is not for the feint hearted. As the drumming gets louder and faster, the crowd reacts a little crazier. If there was ever a more poignant moment for the expression “if you can’t beat them, join them”, this was it. We found ourselves caught up in the excitement, jumping around, all inhibitions lost. By the time it was over, flip flops had been lost, and bodies were sweat drenched; all in the name of drumming! At 10pm the crowds started to disperse and it was off to work the next day. Only in Buenos Aires!

Ciudad Cultural Konex, Sarmiento 3131, Abasto
+54 4864- 3200
labombadetiempo.blogspot.com/

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Summer in Seville is all about staying cool in the day and enjoying the breeze in the evening. There is no better way to do this than to enjoy one of its many nightly events. Noches en los Jardines del Real Alcázar are are series of nightly concerts held in the Arab-style palace gardens. Choose from ancient medieval, classical or world music (even flamenco) and enjoy concerts in one of the most beautiful settings. Tickets can be bought from the Apeadero del Real Alcázar (Patio de Banderas) or via the Internet www.cajasol.es and cost €4 (€5 when purchased online).

www.actidea.es/nochesalcazar2011/
www.patronato-alcazarsevilla.es
Plaza Triunfo, S/N, 41004 Sevilla, Spain
+34 954 50 23 24
Google map: bit.ly/omtFyH

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If you are ever in Scotland during July, you have to head to T in the Park. It is Scotland's biggest festival and it is held in the picturesque Balado. It is a fantastic weekend filled with music, messy camping and the best people. I love it.

www.tinthepark.com

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This is a great place to enjoy live music outside. Egle is near the Town Hall square – Rātslaukums – with the famous Backheads houses you see
on almost every postcard from Riga. There is a Christmas tree made from pieces of mirror (because Riga is the birthplace of the tradition to decorate a tree on Christmas), Souvenier shop with a big black cat next to it called 'Riga Cat' and then there is cafe 'Egle' – open air leisure venue with live music every evening from 8PM. Traditional music, classical rock songs, jazz, popular Latvian rock and pop bands – all kinds of music.

www.spogulegle.lv/intro.php?lang=en
Oldtown, Kalku street 1a,
+371 25505268
Google map: bit.ly/qdqdSv

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This is one of my favourite places. No Problem has a nice atmosphere and good live music –
rock, jazz, sometimes country. And this is the place which with it’s music quite often makes people to move from their chairs and dance. Also the prices here are really reasonable. Sometimes it’s too crowded to find a place to enjoy the music there which is its only downside really.
It’s a perfect place for your evening – right in the heart not only of Riga, but also of the Old Town. For me this is the place to come at the end of working day, this is the place to meet friends and really forget all your problems.

nekaduproblemu.lv/intro.php?lang=en
Tirgonu street 5/7, Riga, LV-1050
+371 22 006 800
Google map: bit.ly/rhzmQL

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Livu Square (Līvu laukums) close to the Freedom monument (on Kaļķu street) is full of summer cafes. Near the terraces like 'Kaļķu vārti, 'Mad House', 'Blue Cow' and others you will find a place called 'Zelta Fīlings' (Golden Feeling). Taste one of 36 sorts of local and world famous beers they offer and enjoy latino and jazz!

Kaļķu iela 17, Riga, Latvia LV-1050
+371 26 656 368
Google map: bit.ly/oRHvQX

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Forget the Sydney Opera bar, Scubar and the party buses driving you around Darling Harbor.
I’m taking you for a day out to the alternative and indie kids paradise, Newtown. Although only one station from Central, backpackers and tourists tend to miss this lively area.

Here is my guide to a place often forgotten for the Bondi sunshine and lifeguards. So put away you boardies and pick your favorite pair of skinny jeans.

Newtown is amazing for food. Every time I went to Oz, I ended up piling on the pounds because I lived so close to so many delicious places. I am actually slightly drooling when I think of it. Get me there now.
To start the day right, one of my favorite places for breakfast is Café Sophia on Erskenville Road. You have to try their banana raspberry melon smoothie with salmon and eggs benedict or their French toasts. Actually try everything. Just go every morning for four months like I did.

For lunch, I would generally go for one of the many Thai restaurants on King’s Street, Newtown's main road. Most of the places are vegan/vegetarian and although I'm neither, I did get a little bit addicted to the fake duck, pak choi and rice $6 lunch boxes.

To walk off all this food, shop around! Newtown has lot to offer when it comes to retail therapy, whether it’s one the many vintage stores or young designers’ outlets, you will find everything you need to look like the Sydney hipster crowd.

Then head to the art gallery “Oh really?” on Enmore Road. Oh really? is a collective/magazine/gallery presenting the latest street artists around. They regularly organize openings and you could find yourself having a beer with artist Ears while nodding to some breakbeat. Check out what’s going on at ww.ohreallymagazine.com

Then it’s time to wind down. Head down for a cold long neck at The Court House (“The Courtie”) on Australia Street. Cheap drinks, a lovely beer garden decorated with fairy lights, a lively atmosphere and very important, a pool table.

Then move on for some cocktails on the Zanzibar Roof. You will find a cosy terrace and the staff there are always lovely (and not too shabby looking either).
If the schooners have gone straight to your head, then it’s time to go and pull some shapes on the dance floor. I have to say this is not in Newtown. On a Friday I’ll head to Mum at World Bar in Kings Cross to watch live music and listen to the latest indie-electro. Check the coming up MUM nights on MusicFeeds. On any other night check out Sydney promoters and all around cool kids UPTOOUR HIPS for the best nights in town (seriously).

And there you go, I can assure you this will be hell of a good day.

Now there is a lot more to discover by yourself in Newtown and around. But it would take way too long to tell you all about it and I have still things left to see myself. It’s alright; I’ll be back very soon. I’ll see you at The Courtie.

PS: If you were still to be hungry on your way home, stop by Saray’s on Enmore Road for a pite (also called Laknore) ,a filled bread from Kosovo with lemon juice on it. Delicious.

Cafe Sofia: 7 Swanson St Erskineville NSW 2043, +61(0)2 9519 1565
Oh Really? Gallery: 55 Enmore Rd Newtown, +61(0)401 919 624, www.ohreallymagazine.com‎
The Court House: 202 Australia Street Newtown, 2042, +61(0)29519 8273
World Bar: 24 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, +61(0)2 9357 7700 www.theworldbar.com‎
Saray: 18 Enmore Rd, Newtown, 2042, +61 (0)2 9557 5310

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