If you find yourself in Nigeria&#8217;s largest city, Lagos, this December, here’s where some of the hottest parties may be happening.



The vibrant and pulsating heartbeat of Nigeria&#8217;s nightlife scene is Lagos, the country&#8217;s largest city and a melting pot of electrifying energy. In December, the city transforms into a kaleidoscope of dazzling lights and infectious beats, offering a nightlife experience like no other. From the upscale lounges of Victoria Island to the rhythmic streets of Ikeja, Lagos boasts a diverse array of hotspots where the night comes alive with an unmistakable Nigerian flair.



Venture into the trendy district of Victoria Island, where high-end clubs beckon with sophisticated vibes and A-list DJs spinning the latest Afrobeats tunes. The glittering skyline provides a stunning backdrop as revelers dance the night away, embracing the city&#8217;s opulent side. For those seeking a more grassroots vibe, the bustling streets of Ikeja reveal a different facet of Lagos nightlife. Here, you will find open-air bars, live music joints, and spontaneous street parties, creating an authentic and immersive experience that captures the spirit of the city.



December in Lagos is a celebration of life, music, and community, making it the perfect time to explore the diverse nightlife spots that define this metropolis. Here are some of the top ones:



The New Afrika Shrine: Closer To Fela&#8217;s Legacy



In the vibrant heart of Ikeja, Lagos State, The New Afrika Shrine is a living testament to Fela Kuti&#8217;s enduring legacy and his vision for a cultural haven that transcends boundaries. As Femi Kuti, Fela&#8217;s eldest son and torchbearer, says on its website, &#8220;The New Afrika Shrine is probably the most important thing I have ever done, aside from my children.&#8221;



The roots of the Shrine trace back to Fela&#8217;s inspiration from the Mbari Artists and Writers Club, a cultural hub in Ibadan, founded in the spirit of post-colonial optimism. Fela&#8217;s cousin, Wole Soyinka, co-founded Mbari, influencing Fela&#8217;s belief that a space could be both a performance venue and a progressive salon. The original Shrine, Fela&#8217;s home until his passing in 1997, became a symbol of community empowerment, offering jobs and opportunities to the urban poor, or as Fela affectionately called them, the &#8220;sufferheads&#8221;.



Unable to revive the original Shrine, Fela&#8217;s family, led by his daughter Yeni and son Femi, crafted The New Afrika Shrine in 2000.



With no entrance fee for most events, &#8220;its doors are open 24/7&#8221;, welcoming everyone, regardless of nationality or socioeconomic status. Femi performs regularly with his band, The Positive Force, and Seun, Fela&#8217;s younger son, graces the stage with Egypt 80.



Femi emphasized the positive revolution the Shrine embodies, breaking down societal barriers. &#8220;The poor people sit with the rich people, the white people sit with the black people, and nobody feels different,&#8221; he said, echoing the sentiment of his latest album, One People One World.



The New Afrika Shrine is a thriving community hub that fuels the local economy. Femi noted, &#8220;Before it opened, the area around it was all bush. Now there are buildings everywhere. There are clubs, hotels, event centers. We have created a prosperous little city.&#8221;



The Shrine&#8217;s allure extends beyond Lagos, drawing a diverse array of global icons, from Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill to Anthony Joshua and Naomi Campbell. Even President Emmanuel Macron of France, reliving his Lagos days as a junior diplomat, graced the Shrine in 2018.



As Femi Kuti summed it up, &#8220;The Shrine for me is all about positive revolution,&#8221; and indeed, the beat of positivity resonates within its walls, creating an atmosphere where, as the saying goes, &#8220;You never know who you might bump into at the Shrine. You do know you are going to have a wonderful time.&#8221;



Secrets Palace: Luxury Meets Entertainment



Situated in Lekki, Lagos, Secrets Palace defines itself as a &#8220;high-end nightlife establishment&#8221;. Celebrating its two-year anniversary, the venue has become synonymous with luxury.



&#8220;At Secrets Palace, our mission is to create a refined and sophisticated haven for gentlemen in Lagos, Nigeria, where they can unwind and indulge in adult entertainment while experiencing the epitome of luxury and class,&#8221; says its website.



Step through the doors, and you are welcomed into a sumptuous and exclusive ambience where opulence meets comfort. The venue&#8217;s decor is all elegance and style. Patrons are assured privacy and discretion and &nbsp;it’s a popular destination in Nigeria’s nightlife circuit.



Quilox: Luxury, Style And Celeb-Spotting



For a decade now, Quilox Nightclub with Bar, sited in Victoria Island, Lagos, prides itself as the epitome of Nigeria&#8217;s elite nightlife.



&#8220;We have hosted the hottest parties in Lagos!&#8221; it declares on its website, inviting patrons to immerse themselves in a world where style and luxury converge. The venue is adorned in a striking red, gold, and black theme. A space for dancing, dining, mingling, and networking, it’s a regular haunt for A-listers and celebrities. Quilox also hosts private events with the capacity to host parties ranging from 40 to 400 guests.



Cubana: High-Profile Leisure



With locations in Ikeja and Victoria Island, Cubana has become synonymous with high-profile leisure.



At the heart of the island location is Club Pablo, a 1,000-person capacity luxury night club.



The Grind, a rooftop restaurant and lounge enveloped in steel and glass, offers an indoor-outdoor dining experience. Here, Cubana redefines the traditional open-air bush bar with its contemporary twist, known as Cubana Hut ‘n’ Grill.



Cubana spans major Nigerian cities, with branches in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Owerri.



&#8220;Anytime you are in Nigeria, check us out, and I bet you, you will not regret it. Enjoyment is our business,&#8221; asserts the club, inviting guests to experience Cubana Lounge, located in the heart of Abuja.



Afefeyeye Restaurant And Bar: A Culinary Haven



In Ikeja, Lagos, Afefeyeye Restaurant and Bar is fast becoming a testament to the intersection of gastronomy, culture, and vibrant entertainment. Affiliated with Kunle Afolayan Productions&#8217; KAPHub, this culinary gem has been igniting taste buds for over two years.



Nollywood actor and producer Kunle Afolayan, the visionary behind Afefeyeye, shared his passion during the opening, stating, &#8220;This is a brand born out of pure love for food, culture, and a good time.&#8221;



The restaurant&#8217;s Yoruba name translates to &#8220;lavish leisure&#8221;.



The menu reflects both African and intercontinental cuisine. Afolayan invites guests to experience a culinary journey infused with passion and creativity. Afefeyeye is a destination where culinary artistry and cultural richness converge.

Young men and women dancing against illuminated red spotlights at nightclub

Dancing Into 2024: Lagos’ Top 5 Nightlife Havens

They’re all closed.



Movie Theaters. Bars. Nightclubs. Arenas. Cafes. In New York, Broadway and museums are shuttered. In San Francisco it’s even more dire. Across the country and the world, cities are shutting down, leaving humans from Seattle to Shanghai without traditional ways of finding distraction.



The mandate for social distancing that has proven essential at slowing the spread of the coronavirus will cut about $12 billion of entertainment revenue from the U.S. if the shutdown lasts until July,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/03/16/cdc-all-americans-should-avoid-gathering-in-groups-of-more-than-10-people/#255b6cb5283d">as President Trump signaled</a>. Billions more are not being spent on creating new content as film and television production is frozen.&nbsp;



Things could get a lot worse.



“This is definitely unprecedented and turning everyone&#8217;s lives completely upside down,” says Ryan Borba, managing editor at concert tracker Pollstar.



The concert and live event industry brought in $34 billion last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/concert-event-promotion-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to market research firm IBISWorld</a>. Simple math suggests that a three-month shutdown at this time of year could cost that industry $7 billion of lost revenue. Any longer and it starts to cut into the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2020/03/06/as-coronavirus-cancels-sxsw-coachella-could-be-next-as-music-industry-braces-for-a-cruel-summer/#24e8eb076886">popular summer concert season</a>, which for LiveNation, the world’s biggest concert promoter, is when 70% of its attendance begins passing through the turnstiles. That’s bad news for the producers, songwriters, technicians and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/concert-event-promotion-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">269,025 concert employees</a>, including janitors, security personnel and ticket collectors. That’s not to mention the world’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2019/12/06/the-worlds-top-earning-musicians-of-2019/">top-earning musicians</a>, all of whom make the majority of their money performing.&nbsp;



“We’re beginning to see it affect the entire music ecosystem,” one prominent artist manager who <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2020/03/06/as-coronavirus-cancels-sxsw-coachella-could-be-next-as-music-industry-braces-for-a-cruel-summer/#20fa6f7d6886">told Forbes</a> on the condition of anonymity. “We’re getting calls from our agents about promoters canceling individual shows. Songwriters and producers have canceled flights into L.A. for sessions, so it’s starting to trickle down to the songwriting and production communities as well.”



On New York’s Broadway, where all 41 theaters are closed, the hit could be about $600 million, based on the amount they pulled in between mid March and July of 2019. During the 2016-2017 season, those theaters also supported more than 87,000 jobs and contributed $12.63 billion to New York City’s economy, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.broadwayleague.com/research/research-reports/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Broadway League</a>.



The effect on movie theaters is far more drastic. A complete shutdown across the U.S. will mean a $4 billion hit on the box office if they remain closed until July. On March 18, less than a month into the crisis, the national association of theater owner&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/734c2aad0321b93811a13273c112d21f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">requested a bailout</a>&nbsp;from the government.



“From the point of view of studios they are hemorrhaging money on the movie side,” says Mike Bloxham the senior vice president of global media and entertainment at research firm Magid.&nbsp;“There is a lot of money disappearing in China while 70,000 theaters are still closed.”



Once they do reopen, distributors will begin battling to squeeze a large number of films into a limited number of opening dates, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/03/12/hollywood-braces-for-coronavirus-slump-the-movie-releases-pushed-back-so-far/#3be198ba2bed">some major releases</a>&nbsp;that include the latest&nbsp;James Bond&nbsp;movie, Disney’s&nbsp;Mulan&nbsp;and Marvel’s&nbsp;Black Widow, all of which have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/03/12/hollywood-braces-for-coronavirus-slump-the-movie-releases-pushed-back-so-far/#ad8a4d02bed6">pushed back</a>.



“No one can precisely predict when public life will return to normal, but it will return,” Patrick Corcoran, the president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said in a statement on Match 17. “When those titles are rescheduled, they will make for an even fuller slate of offerings than normal as they are slotted into an already robust release schedule later in the year.”



Last year, entertainment companies spent $121 billion to create original content and they were expected to spend even more this year as new platforms, like short-form video platform Quibi, emerge and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime continue to plow through cash to produce new shows that lure in subscribers. Disney, Netflix, Universal and a number of other studios have all but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/03/13/hollywood-studios-disney-netflix-halt-film-and-tv-production-amid-coronavirus/#327ea2195d28">shut down U.S. production</a>. In California alone, that activity supported more than 722,000 jobs and $68 billion in wages, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. In New York City, television and film production support about 10% of total employment, whether directly or indirectly, and generates almost $9 billion each year.



“Right now, we’re working to keep everyone safe, support the industry and find ways to help it come back stronger than ever,” a spokesperson for Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment said.



The sentiment mirrored that of Colleen Bell, the executive director of California’s Film Commission who said, “The entertainment production industry in California has overcome challenges in the past, and it will endure this sudden shutdown. Until the COVID-19 situation improves, the focus is rightfully on the public health crisis. After that’s behind us, the industry will once again thrive here in the Golden State.”



While those logistics will reverberate widely across show business sectors, consumers may be in for even bigger, long-lasting changes.&nbsp;



For TV shows, the near-term effects could be disappointing for fans looking forward to fresh episodes of their favorite shows. FX’s&nbsp;Fargo&nbsp;has shut down production and will have to delay new episodes. More series are sure to follow. Streamers have already changed the way we watch TV—introducing binge-watching and slowly eliminating cable subscriptions—and the more that cable and broadcast series are delayed, the more likely we will continue to move away from the appointment viewing of television’s past.



In film, a far more dramatic shift just happened: consumers may no longer need to fight crowds at movie theaters on opening nights. Universal Studios announced Monday that it would begin releasing films like&nbsp;Invisible Man, Emma&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Hunt&nbsp;available for in-home, on-demand rentals despite the fact that these films were only recently released, blowing up the entrenched windowing schedule that gave theater chains exclusive rights to show movies first before they were released to in-flight entertainment, rental platforms and then television. Sony followed, releasing Vin Diesel’s&nbsp;Bloodshot&nbsp;for digital purchase only 11 days after its theatrical release.



Others will likely do same and if they do, it could&nbsp;lead the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oscars-keep-rule-requiring-movies-to-have-theatrical-release-to-be-nominated-2019-04-24" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">change their theatrical-release&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oscars-keep-rule-requiring-movies-to-have-theatrical-release-to-be-nominated-2019-04-24" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rule</a>,&nbsp;which only allows films that open in a theatre and stay there for seven days to be considered for Oscars. It may also prompt Netflix to tighten its grip on the entertainment business with the purchase of a theater chain of its own. In 2018, the streaming giant looked at buying Landmark Theatres, but Cohen Media Group beat Netflix to the arthouse chain.



“If this continues for a long time, that will cause a change in how we consume content and allow newer titles to get to home video much faster,” says Asaf Ashkenazi, the COO of Verimatrix, a technology company that works with distributors in Hollywood. “If it’s a new title, you can delay it, continue to follow the traditional system and just wait. Or you can be more experimental and go directly to selling or renting online, which will allow more people to access it and get the revenue now.“&nbsp;



Other businesses are also turning to streaming, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2020/03/18/zombie-jamboree-for-a-struggling-livestream-startup-coronavirus-lockdown-offers-one-last-chance/#7811d2e15e24">concert-streamer StageIt</a>. The startup, which offers concerts from the likes of Jon Bon Jovi and Sara Bareilles, is on track to have revenue of $250,000 this week—about the same as its best month until now—and added&nbsp;10,000 subscribers in two days while hosting virtual festival “Shut In &amp; Sing.” Even New York’s Metropolitan Opera is in on it,&nbsp;<a href="https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-to-offer-up-nightly-met-opera-streams/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">streaming nightly performances</a>.



The stars themselves are also shifting their approach to how they entertain and communicate with fans. “Together, at Home,” a new series of online concerts presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Citizen, has recruited Chris Martin and John Legend to give casual concerts from their living rooms via Instagram Live, taking requests from fans and singing songs like David Bowie’s “Life on Mars.” Using Instagram, pop star Lizzo led a meditation, Frozen’s Josh Gad read kids a story, and, on Twitter, Yo-Yo Ma played a “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/YoYo_Ma/status/1238572657278431234" target="_blank">song of comfort.</a>” Entertainers have already <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/style/celebrity-phone-numbers.html" target="_blank">fully embraced </a>this kind of direct connection with fans and the pandemic may only accelerate that.



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/">Madeline Berg</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/media">Media</a>

Tag: Nightclubs

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