Like 900 peeps turned up to Reactor last weekend for Malaysian duo Otakotak
In September the city goes turbo mode. So many events. New faces meet the lifers. Lots of street beers cause the weather is cool until it's not. Hopefully some bigger weeknight and Sunday crowds. Maybe even a club birth or two?
We know it's hard to keep up with all the parties and bookings going on every week in Shanghai. That's one reason we made it our mission is to help you and us know what's goin' on, all in one central place, every month, and to spread the word about good events. With that, here's some club news, our monthly shortlist of parties, and an intro to the current club landscape.
That said, a lot of good events don't get announced until a week or so out. As always, check out our events listings to see what's on. Some of the best nights are the ones with local and domestic acts and resident DJs.
Club News for september
Roam suddenly said goodbye in August. Photo via the venue, from its last party, "Happy Ending"
We lost one neighborhood club in August and another one is transforming yet again. After two years in the game, Roam suddenly closed last month. This came after the three-story combination restaurant/lounge/bar/small-club near Jing'an Kerry Center did some major renovation for much of May and reopened in late June.
Exit was closed for most of August. We hear that the space will reopen under the new name Doop in the coming weeks.
Another club in the neighborhoods, Exit, also closed for most of August. This space on Xingfu Lu has had several names over the decades, including DD's (in 1995!), the third LoGO, Celia, Rosa, and most recently, EXIT. We're hearing that the next name above these doors that thousands have passed through will be "Doop". Said doors are set to reopen around the second weekend of September, so we hear.
We're also hearing that Reactor will open a new secret room called Needle on the first floor during their Grand Opening party on Sept 24-25.
Aight there's a lot on this month so let's get into it.
The Shortlist of Parties/Club Nights/Raves: September 2026
Here's a quick list of some bigger and more unique events this month. This is not everything.
The clubs below are generally open every weekend, and some have events during the week too (for example, Wigwam and INS are open daily). There's lots more great nights and bookings on around town, so be sure to check our event listings, and our list of nightclubs.
Bass/Club Music/Techno/Trance
Sept 4 @ Abyss, the Shanghai techno institution turns five years young, with a stacked lineup featuring 6EJOU (live), Matrixxman, Chinese techno pioneer Ma Haiping, and Abyss residents PRYMARA, DISCIPLINE, LaGlory and Not Your Daddy.
Sept 4 @ The Drinkery (Ruijin Lu), bass/trap/club producer/DJ Böris Redwäll returns to Shanghai after many years for a free show in the neighborhood with Finnish dj Evan Wheel.
Sept 5 @ Heim, Skinny Brown (Popasuda) has a new live techno/acid project with JAAL the Machine called The House We Built, bringing old school rave energy to Heim with support from Shanghai Ultra.
Sept 11 @ Abyss, Turbo brings one of the biggest names in the Chinese hard techno scene, Meguro, up from Guangzhou for a night of relentless kick drums in Shanghai.
Sept 13 @ ILLUM, Hyperdub artist Proc Fiskal is known for cute, fun, and quirky grime tunes that pull in jungle, footwork, dub, video game music and Scottish folk. He's at the C-Park club for HUB's one year anniversary.
Sept 15 @ Heim, Sam Tbd brings back his lacuna party, which is an early night deeper house and techno music Tuesday dance party from 8pm-12am, with non-alcoholic drink specials, and lots of smoke machine. "Dance to the end and be in bed by one". Music by Sam Tbd all night.
Sept 18 @ Reactor, Randomer is a London producer and DJ who's been weaving together techno, electro, UK bass and warehouse sounds into tough, stripped-back and percussive tracks with huge drums and just enough weirdness to keep things from getting too functional.
Sept 19 @ Heim, influential Chilean-Swedish DJ/producer Dinamarca makes dreamy, emotional club music that lands somewhere between reggaeton, trance, and ambient, evoking feelings of both euphoria and melancholy. He's headlining a day and night event with stacked with nine DJs total.
Dinamarca blends reggaeton with trance and ambient. He's at Heim on Sept 19
Sept 24 @ TBA, Shanghainese techno pioneer Ma Haiping celebrates the release of his new EP on the UK techno label Molecular Recordings. This one is a collaboration between SYSTEM and VACCUM, with production by eFRUITY.
Sept 24-25, C-Park club Reactor has their grand opening party across two days, with Columbian DJ/producer RUIZ OSC1 headlining the first night, experimental producer Skip Sket headlining the second night, and about a dozen other artists playing across the club's two dancefloors.
Sept 24 @ Potent, OG techno producer and DJ, HWA (fka Elvis T), returns to Shanghai for a set on Potent's excellent soundsystem.
Sept 25 @ Dirty House, Saigon-based ghettotech/hard bounce/trance producer, DJ, and Piu Piu record label member Notyuting plays this room on the fourth floor of INS.
Sept 26 @ Abyss, the club hosts Birmingham producer Rebekah, whose sets hit hard, fast and heavy, pulling from pounding techno, acid, EBM, industrial and darker warehouse sounds without too much polish.
Sept 29 @ Potent, Berlin/Lisbon based techno DJ Yonti, who plays venues like BASEMENT and Berghain, plays the Tx Huaihai club heading into the October holiday.
Sept 30 @ Heim, Montreal-based producer, composer, cellist, and DJ Ouri blends electronic music with R&B, ambient textures and her classical background. Fans of emotional underground club sounds and artists like Jacques Greene will likely dig this.
Helena Gao, the artist behind one of the year's most iconic tunes, "Laoshi", is at Illum on Sept 4
Drum & Bass/Dancehall/Reggae
Not too much in this space this month - we'll update this if anything else comes up. As far as D&B, stay tuned for dBridge on October 10 at Illum.
September 12 @ C's, three reggae and dancehall selectors from Canada hold down the basement all night: Popasuda, Dubshottas International, and out-of-town-guest, JD Zion.
September 25 @ C's, the eternal dive bar hosts the Mid-Autumn Festival Edition of the monthly party by Shanghainese dancehall boss Jado, with support from Aho.
Curses brings '80s inspired, dark romantic vibes to Reactor on Sept 4
Dark Dance Music/Electro/Goth/Industrial
Sept 4 @ Modern Sky Lab, cold wave and post-punk duo Lebanon Hanover are back in Shanghai for an 8.30pm show. We've got tickets for sale here.
Sept 4 @ Reactor, Curses returns to Shanghai. The NYC native is one of the biggest names in the modern era of dark, '80s inspired dance music that pulls from post-punk, new wave, italo, and new beat. This is a big one.
Sept 30 @ Specters, The Devil's Dancers returns for post-punk, indie, shoegaze, darkwave, and more at this punk rock dive bar.
HK rapper Takeem at Illum for How To Build last month
Experimental/Mixed-Genre/Off-Venue/Random/Just Some Fun Parties You Should Know About
Sept 4 @ a Dancehall in Baoshan,the young label 大地360 and community radio station byyb team up again, after last month's events at a classic arcade in Jing'an and a roller skating rink in deep Qingpu. This time they're at an old-school dancehall in Baoshan for a night of Asian club music, hyper KTV vibes, and bouncy dancefloor vibes. Should be an interesting one.
The 大地360 crew are throwing a party at an old-school dancehall in Baoshan on Sept 4
Sept 9 @ RIINK, The popular "No Phones Club" event returns, this time at this roller skating rink in Jing'an. Lock your phones up upon entry and enjoy the offline world for three hours. Note: the event is RSVP only.
Sept 10 @ Cedar Land, the DIY venue hosts a show by French experimental artist and composer Samuel Barbier-Ficat, who has released on PC Music and collaborated with Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. It's a tense, beautiful, and slightly disorienting sound with plenty of digital processing and negative space.
Sept 11-13 @ 889 GLO, The New Writing Supermarket is back for a whole day-until-night program of workshops, drama, activities, and dancing - including a return to the abandoned hospital which is not yet demolished. The theme is "Children's Palace". There's a "Techno Jump Rope" activity. Details here.
There's still a bit of life left in this abandoned hospital in north Jing'an – the New Writing Supermarket is back there Sept 11-13
Sept 18 @ 505 Wulumuqi Bei Lu, SYSTEM's series of pop-ups returns to this futuristic e-sports arena/theater with 8 DJs playing techno, disco, house, and club sounds across three rooms, including headliner Frazi.er, who plays techno.
Sept 24 @ Wigwam, NYC-based producer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Coulou performs a live set of cloudy, hazy, ambient jazz and left-field beats that's perfectly suited for this earthy venue.
Hip hop/R&B/Pop/Beats/Funk/Soul
Sept 4 @ Illum, Helena Gao, the artist behind one of 2026's most iconic songs - "Laoshi" - headlines this ALL AT ONCE showcase featuring Shushu, Avalon, Chiyokoo, kongbb, and more.
Sept 9 @ Wigwam, Rochaos & lyzh from record shop/dj crew/community The Melting Pot bring a bag of Soul, Reggae, Spiritual Jazz, Ambient to this earthy C-Park lounge on a Wednesday night.
Sept 11 @ LaFin, 2016 Red Bull Thre3style champion DJ Puffy from Barbados brings his next-level wordplay, party rocking, and scratching and blending prowess to the INS club.
Sept 12 @ VAS Ear, trip hop/downtempo pioneer Nightmares on Wax returns to Shanghai for a show at this Jing'an livehouse. We're selilng tickets here.
Sept 19 @ HUSH, Justin Bieber's official DJ - DJ Tay James - rolls through Fuxing Park for a night of hip hop, open format, and pop. He's been working with the Biebs since 2009 - should be interesting.
Sept 24 @ Candyshop (Ruijin Lu), Honey, the club night powered by Sugar House, returns to this new-ish venue for another night of R&B and hip hop.
Scenes from Honey by Sugarhouse at Candyshop in August.
Sept 25 @ HUSH, DJ Bobby Delta from Saigon club Piu Piu brings some hip hop, edits, and straight up party music to the INS club, played with old-school finesse.
Sept 30 @ Reactor, SHFT does a club night for the first time in a minute, with LA beat scene pioneer TOKiMONSTA headlining the night, plus Popasuda Sound taking over the Dome room upstairs for global bass madness.
Also... stay tuned for Key Glock coming to Shanghai in October for a SHFT show on October 23.
Shanghainese techno pioneer Ma Haiping celebrates his new EP release with a SYSTEM x VACCUM Party on Sept 24, plus he's playing Abyss's five-year anniversary on Sept 4
House & Disco
House of Zup, the daytime party at Zup Pizza Bar, is happening every Sunday in September. It's always a chill daytime affair with DJs playinghouse, disco, hip hop, and more from 3-9pm.
Sept 3 @ Le Baron, DJs Sai G (Gully Riddim, The Drinkery) and Kepler launch a new underground house night at Le Baron. They say, "Deep Grooves. Underground House. No big room nonsense. No Bullshit."
Sept 4 @ Reactor, veteran Bay Area house DJ/producer Solar holds it down upstairs while Curses plays downstairs, with support from SpaceReturn and Mahakali.
Sept 5 at Heim, HK producer/DJ/label head Mr. Ho headlines this night with support from Knopha. This is a great one for house fans.
Sept 12 @ Yu Garden, ALTER throws a day and night party called Garden of Misfits at the iconic destination, with a bunch of the DJs who used to play at Elevator bringing the house sounds that seminal club was often known for. Goes 2pm-2am and we have tickets here.
Sept 18 @ Wigwam, the Italian producer known as A-Tweed makes some far out and experimental but very danceable house, dub, and acid. "A cohesive journey, crafted for those who seek introspective voyages without giving up new forms of dancefloor communion".
Sept 26 @ Potent, Mexican duo Zombies in Miami bring their blend of synth-heavy house and techno that has plenty of disco, Balearic and Italo drama. They've released music on crucial labels like Running Back and Permanent Vacation.
The Current State of Clubbing
Shanghai's nightlife is heavily concentrated in two malls right now: the chaotic commercial clubbing zone known as INS near Xintiandi, and the underground-focused C-Park just a bit south of Zhongshan Park. That said, outside of these two we've still got a few clubs scattered around the neighborhoods, bigger touring acts are playing at livehouses more and more, and some promoters throwing cool parties in off-venues like warehouses, museums, e-sports arenas, and other locations.
C-Park, aka "Underground Music Park"
People have been calling this place "the Underground INS". Located near the Yan'an Xi Lu metro station out west in Changning District, the basement of the C-Park mall is like a ma la tang of clubs, bars, livehouses, food stalls, and more, and it really encapsulates a good portion of what's happening right now in Shanghai with underground music, culture, and fashion. The place is crowded every weekend with young, mostly local ravers, rockers, punks, cybergoth fashion kids, skaters, chillers, and party people. It's a super cool yet friendly and approachable vibe, and still somewhat low-key. There is no cover to get into C-Park.
Illum, Shanghai's new home for Chinese underground sounds and fashion
The mall itself was designed by Gensler, the same firm that did the Shanghai Tower and JFK Airport. Beijing-born chill club Wigwam opened here in 2024, but the whole basement zone really took off at the beginning of 2026 with Yuyintang, Specters, Illum, Reactor, Sympathy Angel, and more all opening within a couple of months. Mall-ism aside, the place is fun, and I've been here most weekends in 2026 while trying to resist its magnetism and support venues elsewhere as much as possible too.
INS, aka "Into Nothing Serious"
Shanghai's main commercial clubbing district is a young, messy, crunk, and insane place in Fuxing Park called INS, aka Demon Town. It's a six-floor mall set up like an amusement park, with different entry passes and dozens of venues and attractions inside, like hip hop/pop club La Fin, trap/rage/hip hop club Hush, house/techno small club Dirty House, and K-Pop boys fantasyland Culture Club. Everyone should experience INS at least once, and it's one of the best places in Shanghai for people watching (posting up with a tall boy on the bench is a strong move, and free). You do have to pay a cover charge to enter the building.
Club Lawson at INS
The place is packed on weekends, and the crowd leans local, but there's a heavy international contingent as well. It's a younger crowd that prioritizes fun over music – lots of people wandering in and out of clubs, trying to find their friends or colleagues, hollering in the elevator, etc. The place stays busy even on weeknights. One friend called the INS venues "chessboard clubs" because of how difficult it can be to traverse their dancefloors. History is looping: Fuxing Park was also a major commercial clubbing destination 20 years ago, with era-defining clubs like Muse Park 97, Richy, Cashbox Partyworld KTV, and Guandii. INS plans to open a second complex called "INS Sea" down by the Lupu Bridge later in 2026.
Night Places in other Neighborhoods
Shanghai's home for harder, faster techno and more, Abyss
In Tx Huaihai, you've got Shanghai's house of hard techno, Abyss, and popular-with-boys two-room club Potent, which has pop in the main room and techno/house/electro bookings and a bangin soundsystem in their second room. Heim - which is back at the corner of Shaanxi Nan Lu and Changle Lu, in Green Station - is a diverse, community-oriented club where bouncier, more textured and melodic house and techno (not hard techno) form the club's core sound.
As mentioned above, basement club Exit in Changning is currently closed and aiming to reopen as Doop in a few weeks. Just down the road from that is C's, an eternal dive bar born in the year 2000 that many of the city's DJs started out at; programming is diverse, the cookies are delicious.
La Social
On the general pop and international side of the spectrum, you've got La Barra, REVO, and Le Soir in Jing'an, and the second iteration of Parisian club Le Baron upstairs at The English Corner in Xuhui. They're doing 98rmb open bar these days. For Latin music, you've got bar/club La Social and restaurant La Diosa, which are a quick walk from each other. For big room EDM, MAX is a big sensory-overload kinda commercial EDM club on Huaihai Lu. And down on The Bund, once a major nightlife destination, there's a commercial club called KEV where Bar Rouge used to be and also the rooftop lounge club Sky Dome.
Have fun in the streets, get home safe.
