Shanghai’s nightlife scene is constantly evolving, but there’s been some tumbling changes over the past month. Expo is over, which means foreign artists won’t visit the pavilions or have any extra shows downtown. And LOgO is history as well. It wasn’t LOgO’s fault–it was the convenience store next door selling REEB for no money at all that made us hang outside LOgO and annoy the neighbors. Thanks, convenience store, but now look what you made us do to ourselves. They should have lost their liquor license.

For the past eight years, LOgO has been one of Shanghai’s better drinking holes and a promoter of alternative music. Before LOgO it was called something else and, according to my sources, it was an equally successful bar. I am one of hundreds mourning but, as one old-timer summarized the shutdown, “Shit happens. Maybe it’s time to move on.”

LOgO’s focus on music and its community made it special, and some souls say there is no equivalent out there. For the first time in the land of reproductions, perhaps there are no copies of this one. OK, let’s not panic–you only have to walk two minutes down Xingfu to find similar medicine in the shape of Dada and Anar. Then we have the LOgO owner’s new baby, Lune, over on Xinle Lu. Many of LOgO’s DJs and bands have already relocated there. It’s not the same as LOgO, but stop whining. It’s got a kitchen, a roof terrace and toilets girls can actually sit on. And, if that’s not good news enough, a little birdie told me LOgO might reopen in a different shape (coffee bar and record shop), so there could be a happy ending in sight.

In the next few months, Xingfu Lu-lover and celeb John (Sunday Jam Session) NGuidjol will soon open a live space and DJ bar he’s calling “The Secret World Lounge” in Yangpu. In the meantime, I went in search of other dives we may have forgotten we had. Koala, Sus2 and Harley’s Bar are all welcoming local spots with occasional live music. OZNZ and C’s focus on electronic music and cheap drinks. None of these places go out of their way to attract top bands and DJs, but more promoters could come round to the joys of such dives now there’s no LOgO.

So, what other place has a management and punters both with a genuine interest in music plus cheap beer? Bingo! Yuyintang. It’s not a mecca for DJs, but neither was LOgO when it opened. It might become the answer to LOgO-addicts’ prayers. And, thank God / Shiva / Thor, neighbors won’t be a problem.

Where’s your favorite dive bar or unpretentious drinking spot? Share your recommendations below.