Club Soda

Club Soda was host to a wildly entertaining burlesque show by the FAM Big Band Burlesque troupe (
), with powerhouse vocals, and special guests Scarlett James (
), who is graceful and sexy, and aerial hoop acrobats, Duo Miraka (
)!
If you have a chance to see any of them in a city near you, do it!
There wasn’t a bad seat in the house, the emcee was fantastic, engaging the crowd in both English and French, and the bars were well stocked! I appreciated there was no drink minimum, as I hate when venues enforce that… most people drink anyway, so no need to push that agenda on us! The drinks weren’t exorbitant, either… a glass of wine and a vodka soda for $ 15CAD is not too shabby in my book.
As an event venue, Club Soda hit all the marks for me.

I’ve seen three shows at Club Soda — all of the folk/​rock/​pop variety — and I’ve enjoyed the venue (and the show) each time. It’s large enough to host relatively popular touring acts, yet small enough to provide more intimacy than you’ll find at some of the other venues in Montréal. The bar service is quick and friendly and I really don’t think you can get a bad view from anywhere. Even the very back of the room provides good sight lines, as well as some tables and chairs if you don’t feel like standing in the crowd closer to the stage. Although I’ve never experienced it, I believe Club Soda also hosts some non-​musical acts, as well as regular ol’ parties from time to time, which apparently receive varying reviews… I just wish more touring bands would play here so I could visit more often!

We made a mistake. I’ll start with that. We bought tickets… we had time difference issues… and we were about an hour late to our show. My bad.
It was intermission and the employees and Club Soda were like, «Well, you can try to find a seat.»
A quick survey of the venue showed a full house. Even the seats around the bar were taken. I mean, there might have been a random seat here or there but it was hard to tell. As I said, it was intermission and folks were up going to the water closet and getting drinks.
I walked around a little — up in the balcony and down on the floor. I asked about empty seats and was told that they were taken.
It was a nice venue. A nice stage. It seemed as if every seat was a good one. There were two nicely stocked bars.
So what’s the issue?
Well. We come from a land (Chicago) where we are known for comedy venues. Heck, we can easily walk to Zanies and Second City — two hallmarks. If we paid for tickets and came in late, the ushers would direct us to open seats. Not necessarily together or anything and probably really sucky views. But they would poke around with little flashlights and find us seats. After all — we paid for seats and seats we would get.
We paid for seats at Club Soda and nobody lifted a damn finger to get us seats. They were like, «You’re on your own. Good luck.»
Thanks for nothing Club Soda.

Had a great night at Just for Laughs show. The service was great and the drinks were strong.

The best part about going to club soda was the show we saw. The service was pretty awful — the show wasn’t sold out, and yet when we got there (albeit after the first act finished) the coat check refused to check our coats, (even as people left permanently and asked the person running coat check if we could take their spots and also pay). So whatever, we stashed our coats — money saved for us.
Then we got some drinks at the upstairs bar as it was less busy — to be met by an visibly annoyed bartender who was helping one server and maybe one other person with a drink. After paying for the tiniest tequila shots I’ve ever bought, served to us sans salt or lemon, she also didn’t give us back change, and returned after we served ourselves lemon wedges asking if it was okay that she assumed we were giving that change we never saw as a tip.
I know service at venues can be pretty to the point, but this may be some of the worst service I have ever received in Montréal.
Only go if there is an act you want to see. There are so many other, more enjoyable venues in Montréal if you want to check out a random show.

Je suis arrivé 10 minutes après l’ouverture des portes pour un spectacle pour lequel j’avais déjà mon billet. Les quelques places assises étaient déjà prises. J’ai les deux genoux complètement maganés et je savais qu’il y avait quantité de places assises au balcon. Le personnel a cependant refusé de me laisser monter, prétextant qu’il n’y avait pas assez de gens pour ouvrir le balcon. J’ai dû m’engueuler avec le chef de la sécurité pendant une dizaine de minutes pour qu’il me laisse finalement monter, de mauvaise grace. J’ai acheté un billet mais j’ai dû me battre pour en profiter. Je trouve celà abhérant.
Je né reviendrai pas à moins qu’ils né changent leur politique sur les places assises.

Endroit sympas pour boire un verre tout en écoutant de la bonne musique suivant vos choix d’artistes .
N’oubliez votre ticket de casier avant de partir !!!

Toujours une ambiance de folie que ce soit pour les soirs de match de hockey ou pour les concerts. Grâce à la conception particulière de la salle comme celle d’un théâtre d’antan avec des balcons tout autour de la fosse, toute la scèné est visible par tous, l’acoustique en est pour le coup très bonne aussi. Une ambiance chaleureuse pour une bonne soirée au Club Soda soyez-​en assurés!

For starters I’m a bit biased, since I saw my favorite band here (theres no way it could have been bad) but I was pleasently surprised by the intamicy of the place. I got there late and i was still close to the stage. It’s pretty small, so you feel like you’re a part of the action no matter where you’re standing. There’s also a balcony that goes all the way around the place, which probably gives you a great view if you’re not a mosh pit kind of person. Theres not a bad amount of seating around the bar area, which is elavated, so you still have a good view of the stage.

Was relatively undouche-​y considering that (a) it’s a big club downtown, (b) it was New Year’s Eve and © it was open bar. Bartenders were getting swarmed but they all worked pretty quickly.
Good lightshow and the upstair area does offer some privacy and a place to rest for a bit. Or a good vantage point to toss your underwear onto the dancefloor… just saying, is all…

Mon chum n’aime vraiment pas perdre son temps. Donc quand on a des billets pour un spectacle de musique, ou bien qu’on fait une sortie au cinéma, on doit débattre l’heure d’arrivée. Moi j’aime bien arrivée tôt pour me trouver de bons sièges, prendre le temps de jaser un peu et pour voir le premier acte ou les annonces des films à venir. Lui, il veut simplement arriver pour l’acte principal /​le film en question.
À notre première visite au Club Soda, j’ai gagné. Woohoo! Et je pense né pas me tromper en disant que tous les deux on a été content d’arriver plus tôt. On s’est pris des sièges dans le «mezzanine» sur le côté tout près de la scèné. Nos bancs étaient confortables, notre vue parfaite et une serveuse est venue nous voir régulièrement pour prendre nos commande. En plus, le premier band était vraiment bon. Pas autant que celui qu’on voulait voir, mais assez pour qu’on «Shazam» certaines chansons pour s’en souvenir plus tard.
Somme toute, on a passé une super belle soirée au Club Soda… et je né dis pas ça seulement parce que j’ai gagné le jeu de «qui décide l’heure d’arrivée!»

Went here for a concert… terrible acoustics and awful sightlines to see a show. The amps made the instruments sound like jackhammers and fuzzed out boom boxes from the 80’s. The sightlines to the stage were narrow and easily blocked by tall individuals if they passed in front of you.
On a pseudo-​positive note, the bartenders were friendly… but they poured heavily watered-​down cocktails. Stick to bottled beer if you get dragged here with friends for some reason.

Really loved this venue during Jazz Fest. We got here a bit late (my bad — I figured shows would start late as they typically do in SF) but we still managed to be able to see the show.
We saw Eliza Doolittle (catchy pop songs with an incredible voice for a young woman!) bang out the tunes in this intimate venue. They set some tables up from so it was easier to see in the back. The sound was just right and the lighting too.
Upstairs they had seating that went around the venue. Wish we would’ve got there earlier to get some of those seats!
When we come back to Jazz Fest (which we hope won’t be too far in the future) we’ll definitely look for some shows at Club Soda.

One fine August day, a couple friends and I were walking down Ste. Cathrine looking for something to do.
What appeared to be tour buses and metal roadies behind a large run down brick building were exactly that.
We went over, asked them who was playing and were astonished.
It was Necrophagist, Into Eternity and a host of others on the Canadian Summer Slaughter Tour (2008).
Tickets were only $ 25, so we bought 5 for all of us.
The place wasn’t overly huge but the perfect size for a metal show.
The moshes were unlike anything around the Boston area, much more intense, more people and throughout the whole song.
Luckily, this is Montréal so everyone was like child size to me!
All in all, I plan on coming back here, and planning a vacation around a metal concert if possible!

Club Soda isn’t much of a venue, just a medium sized stage with an open floor. The bars were unimpressive, and the lights and sound system could use a makeover. There’s a balcony that wraps around the sides of the building which would be great for watching a concert, but useless for a dance club unless you just want to sit and people watch. There is only one bathroom per gender, and they’re small and not well placed.
I was there for a New Year’s Eve party, which I’ll review elsewhere as it was a separate promotion.
Regardless, I wouldn’t come back to Club Soda unless there was a really good band playing.

This is the top venue for underground music scene in town. Underground music was not my style but I went when I got a free ticket from a lottery. It was a british band playing, apparently pretty famous in the 90s (again in the underground music world). This place is like the Middleeastern in Boston, except it is bigger, a bit nicer (no bear bottles on the ground), good sound. I guess if u r into punk, u will like it