Morten Andersen prizes a room built for listening, and Dublin has few better than this. The Sugar Club is a tiered, seated venue on Leeson Street where the booth is angled at the stage and the night is shaped around the music rather than the bar queue.
The Sugar Club stands at 8 Lower Leeson Street in Dublin 2, on the stretch that runs down from St Stephen's Green. It has held the corner since 1999 and seats around 350 across raked tiers, a layout closer to a small cabaret theatre than a standing club (The Sugar Club official site). The booth seating is the signature, and it changes how a gig feels here. Where a standing room pushes the crowd forward, the tiers hold everyone at a sightline, so the back row sees as much as the front and the night stays civil.
The programme is the draw and it is deliberately wide. Visit Dublin lists an eclectic run of live music across indie rock, jazz, funk, ska, blues and Latin, with regular DJs, comedy and world cinema folded in (Visit Dublin). One night is a brass-led soul revue, the next a documentary screening, and the room suits both because every seat faces front.
What to order leans to the unhurried, because you will be sitting for a set. Take a glass of wine or a whiskey for a jazz or cinema night, or a cold lager for a funk and soul bill. Table service to the tiers is part of the appeal, so settle in rather than crowd the counter. The wine and cocktail list is fuller than a standing club would bother with, which suits the slower pace of a seated set. Morten's note: book a tier seat for a name act, order at the table, and let the brass section do the work.
Who it is for is the listener who wants a chair, a clear sightline and a programme that rewards turning up for an act you have not heard of. It suits a date built around a gig and a measured drink, and it is wrong for anyone after a loud standing rock night. For the harder end of the city's stages, our guide to the best live music bars in Dublin covers the rest, and The Bernard Shaw is the looser counterpart across town.
Best time to go is a Thursday through Saturday for the main billing, and earlier on a seated night so you claim a good tier rather than the back. Pair it with dinner near St Stephen's Green and walk down for doors. Avoid arriving late for a sold-out seated show, because the booths fill on a first-come basis for general admission.
The Sugar Club is the Dublin room to choose when you actually want to hear the band, a quarter-century of jazz, soul and film served from a velvet tier. For a seated night with range and a measured drink, it is the Leeson Street call. For the wider city, start with our Dublin bar guide, and for a standing gig instead see Whelan's.
Sources: The Sugar Club official site; Visit Dublin listing; Ticketmaster venue page.
