Studio 24 is a really good live venue these days. It has recently been revamped, including getting the PA from the now-defunct Venue, and it is easily one of the best places for live music in town. Drinks are reasonably priced and the sound is great. The place can look a little empty if there aren’t many folk there, but when it gets packed up it has a great atmosphere.

Compared to Glasgow, Edinburgh’s club scene can feel rather bland if sometimes virtually nonexistent. Many of the clubs feel innocuous with an outdated pop-dance environment or stifling and repetitive drum and bass. Perhaps it is for this reason that Studio 24 has become so well known amongst advocates of an alternative music scene. Indeed in the Edinburgh setting it does stand out.

The music varies throughout the week from diverse genres of rock, electro and metal. However Studio 24 is perhaps best known for “Retribution” on Saturdays. For a reasonable five pounds, come early and rock your head to heavy rock until the early hours. Retribution has a fairly regular clientele. Perhaps this aides the almost familial, or maybe tribal, feeling you get when you are head banging in a circle to loud metal.

The overall environment is well fitting: dark, perhaps a little dank, with loud audio and a colourful crowd. Incidentally Studio 24 does feel like a place where you can literally “let your hair down” and be yourself. Many clubs feel too image conscious with an air of coercion to dance and act in a particular fashion. Undoubtedly Studio 24 leans more towards some sub cultures than others, but there is a sort of unwritten rule forbidding those on the dance floor to scoff at others, allowing you to be yourself and just go a little crazy.

However one can’t help feeling that Studio 24 only stands out so much for lack of alternative. Within Edinburgh Retribution does feel different but perhaps benefits from the overall rather poor club scene.

None the less a different and diverse club where you can feel free to express yourself. Recommended.

Studio 24 has, i hear, got a reputation for being the place to be if you're into you're heavy death grunge hard-core mash-up metal. But if that's not your sort of thing, don't rule it off your map just yet.

I've personally never been to one of those nights (its partly just the whole dressing up the same in order to be different thing that i don't quite get), but i've rarely been disappointed with the nights i have ended up going to here. I think the trick is just to make it the kind of club you come to because there's a certain night on, rather than for it in itself.

Having said that, after its fairly recent revamp (and change of management?) the place has got a slightly new vibe compared to the grimey-cool berlin feel that it used to have.

All in all, definitely worth checking what's on here if ever you're looking for a night out - various from almost one extreme to the other.

Studio 24 is the definitive alternative music venue in Edinburgh, playing a wide variety of music, from drum n' bass / electro on Fridays to rock and metal on Saturdays.
Definitely the highlight, attendance wise, of Studio 24's week is Retribution, the heavy metal night on Saturdays. Downstairs plays an extensive repertoire of modern music, from cyber-goth to current thrash, while upstairs is devoted to cult classics from the 70s and 80s, from AC/DC to Slayer and from Led Zeppelin to Venom, everything gets played!

Once a month, Saturday's Retribution gets replaced with the Glasgow Cathouse, their DJ coming through to Edinburgh specially for this event.

As if all of that wasn't enough, Studio 24 host a wide array of gigs and shows, albeit only by local, or cover bands.

The place has a stingy, grungy underground kind of feel to it, and for all those who like the alternative music scene, this is the place to be, its only downside being the rather steep £5 entry price, and the expensive drinks.

5/5

Studio 24 is a music venue, hosting club nights, gigs and private functions of various sorts. It can mainly be described as "alternative" I suppose, as although most of the music played here is metal, there are some bizarre off-shoots, such as flamenco nights! Studio 24 is particularly gay-friendly, with "gay nights", but is also popular with straight people, too. The club is most famous amongst angst-ridden Edinburgers for it's Saturday night club-night The Mission (now renamed Retribution.) Although it appears that the once extremely popular Mini-Mission has now been ditched (a sad day for all goths and rockers under 18!) Retribution carries on the hard-rocking tradition. Some advice: only visit this place on a Saturday night if you are truly a death/heavy metal fan and a proper goth or hard-rock fan - they sussed me out immediately and made me feel pretty unwelcome! It's £5 entry and there are usually drinks offers. The venue itself is on two levels - the main dance-floor being sunk into the ground floor. The walls stream with sweat and condensation on busy nights, can't say I found that too pleasant... Anyway, for those who love the goth scene this is THE place to be, but for those who don't it's best to steer clear unless you're going for a specific gig.