A Guide to Cardiff Freshers - Part 2

Following yesterday's compilation of general advice to making your Freshers in Cardiff go well, today's guide is a look at the biggest, best and occasionally more outlandish nights out that take up the first half of every week in this fine city. While this week many of you are probably going to stick to the larger nights described here, as time goes on you'll discover a whole array of music and crowds just waiting to be unearthed.

With this in mind, the first half of this guide, covering Monday to Wednesday aims to give you the lowdown on both the biggest night to hit the town each day, along with a couple of alternatives for those who fancy something a little more exotic. Links to the various nights can be found here as well if you want to know more!

Monday
The Big Night Out - Tiger Tiger: Despite a recent relaunch of the ground floor as Jewel Bar, the whole club is still widely known and marketed as Tiger Tiger and on a Monday night, thanks to some hefty student discounts, becomes the place to forget that the weekend has only just passed. The music is a pretty wide variety of mainstream dance, pop and electronic and despite the huge size, the place is normally fairly full, such is the popularity of the night! Definitely worth a look in at least a couple of times in your first year.

The Alternative - Bump & Grind, For those of you with at least a whiff of Gangsta (or wannabe gangsta), or for those who merely want to be learned about the evolution of hip-hop, this is the place for you. A relatively new night, coming on the first and third monday of every month and held in the dark confines of Undertone, if your sick of four to the floor beats and cheesy pop, this a place to spend a few merry hours indulging in their Gin N' Juice, while doing whatever cool new dance people do these days to a choice selection of rap, hiphop and old school classics.


Tuesday
The Big Night Out - Sync at Revs: One of my favourite nights in Cardiff, I was gutted when Mode was cancelled at Revolution, although was instantly heartened when the spirit and musical quality of the night was revived under the new name Sync. While downstairs plays an eclectic mix of various genres, upstairs plays nothing but electro and electronic dance music. Combined with the best range of flavoured vodka in Cardiff, Sync is a buzzing event, and sees Revolution filled with students from across Cardiff's universities. Cross Zedd, Knife Party, Alesso and Bingo Players and you get a fair idea of how the music sounds. If you like that sort of stuff (and I do), there's nowhere better.

The Alternative - Cartel: Despite the sinister name and fairly infrequent schedule, Cartel offers you the twin benefits of lots of free stuff (including tequila shots and whipped cream) and the ability, thanks to the occasional beer pong table to feel like you've made it into an American college movie, but without the tired cliches and piss jokes. Held at Soda Bar, a venue more commonly known for its Sunday service (more of which very soon), the first Cartel of the year is taking place this very night, so pop on down for a chance to live it up. Just don't put any dwarves in the oven!



Wednesday
The Big Night Out - The Lash: When planning this article, and the companion piece for later on in the week, the easiest big night to pick by a long way was this. Combining sports socials aplenty, bargain drinks and an electric atmosphere (along with a slightly sticky floor) by the end of the night, the DJ's at the Lash, held in Solus, play crowd pleasing music to a crowd that laps it up. The various themes, occasional foam parties and various initiations make the Lash an almost guaranteed good night. For those of you unsure of what to do this Wednesday evening, head down to the Megalash for a proper Cardiff experience!

The Alternative - The WTF / Boulevard: Wednesday offers a couple of great alternatives when it comes to clubbing, one of which I wholly endorse and one which I'm sure I will once it kicks off this week.  Retros hosts The WTF?, where a normally an over 21 venue opens its doors to students on a Wednesday and comes with the cheapest Jagerbomb I've yet found in Cardiff, coming in at just 99p. Take this, combine it with non stop 90s music and regardless of any previous aversion to cheesey music, you'll have a great time. Boulevard, being held at Full Moon Club on Womanby Street every Wednesday offers a chance for those with a love funk, disco, electro and French house to indulge in their passion. I'm going to be heading down in the next couple of weeks for a review, but all early indications seem promising.

The guide to the second half of week is coming soon, but for now, go out and indulge in the alcohol soaked extravaganza that Cardiff has on offer!