Summer 2008 Nightlife Update

Now that summer is (in theory) upon us, with a bunch of new places to check out- where does the avid nightlifer spend an evening?

Summer weekends tend to be a little quieter than in winter, as many Muscovites head for their dachas or on vacation, but there's still plenty of great places to party!

In a round-up of the centre elitny clubs, the most reknown Summer roofdeck is that of Krysha Mira, and historically there's no better place to don sunglasses, watch a 4am sunrise, drink in hand, and keep on partying- whether dancing in the glass-enclosed upstair dancefloor, or reclining on the lounges and cabanas on the roofdeck.

The latest challenge to Krysha, however, is Soho Room's newly opened roofdeck, complete with swimming pool. The party here, combined with a killer breakfast menu (Eggs Benedict or stuffed French toast anyone? (Only from 4am-12pm- WTF?)), will be a strong late-night contender.

The newly-opened Famous is packing in the crowds, but it's not very big space, so Opera around the corner is still going strong. Vanilla Ninja (located in the same building), open only on Thursday nights will challenge Opera's long-unchallenged Thursday night dominance!

Soho Room's Disco Room is the hottest ticket in town for Fri & Sat, but Rai continues to slide, with the new club offerings putting real pressure on them to fill the club with a quality crowd (although softer Feis Kontrol).

On another note, the increasing modesty of the high-end Moscow clubs so well noted by Moscow commentator MDBIT continues. The depraved ridiculousness seems to have peaked with Rai, where absolutely any form of behaviour can and does seem to be sanctioned, and no topic can possibly be found that can't have a soundtrack and a bunch of mostly naked girls wrapped around it on stage. While many people may breathe a sigh of relief at this, I personally lean(ed) towards the sheer fun of Dyagilev and Opera, which while elite clubs, don't take themselves as seriously as Soho or Most. Let's see how Famous evolves (the sign's aren't promising).

Moscow is still waiting with baited breath for Sinisha & Co's latest offering to replace Dyagilev, but the old Billionaire space is reported to be close to opening as a bar.