Club Reports: South Beach / Miami

It was great to be back in the tropical pulse of Miami again last night which presented a great opportunity to check out the local clubs. Some of the long-standing clubs are gone while some have survived. But my overall observation is that you can find plenty of techno/dance music on Saturday nights but on other nights you're going to be disappointed. There are some clubs on the Miami mainland but most of the action remains on South Beach.....either on Ocean Drive or on Washington Avenue.


Ocean Drive remains one sidewalk cafe/restaurant after another and they seem to be doing good business. Perhaps the funnest place on O.D. remains Mango's. A cool mix of Top 40, Disco, 80's and Latin Pop, the employees love to dance up on the bar and there is always eye candy no matter what your persuasion. (Pictured are staff members doing MJ's Thriller dance.)


Also on O.D. is the venerable Clevelander Hotel, where it must be impossible to sleep with the noise. No one was dancing to the 80's music being played by the band by the pool. But the nearby bars were full.


Over on Washington Avenue, Mansion is a historic club but no techno here on Thursdays....hip hop all the way. But damn...I only missed Deadmau5 by two nights!


Two of the most famous techno venues remain in business. Sadly, Cameo (Washington Avenue) was closed for renovations until September and ClubSpace (downtown Miami) is currently Friday-Saturday nights only. Both host big name visiting DJ's and while ClubSpace in particular has a bevy of big name resident DJ's.

So if you want to check out the dance music scene of Miami-Dade County and it's not Winter Music Conference week, make sure you include a Saturday night in your visit!