You know the old saying — if you want to learn something properly, find someone who is actually good at it and ask them to show you the ropes. That is exactly what happened when we sat down with Duane Mendes, Creative Director, musician, and the founder of Out of Place — the music initiative that champions emerging live artists.

We covered a lot of ground, but one thing he said stayed with me: live music venues have quietly become Dubai's true hidden gems. Want a DJ set? You will find one in minutes. Want actual live music? That is a different story altogether — one that takes patience and, even then, doesn't always pay off.

So, to make sure you aren't the one doing all that digging, Duane put together his own curated list of Dubai's rawest and coolest live music gems. They keep it local, keep it loud, and never compromise on the magic of experiencing live music up close. Enjoy and save these spots!

Location: Courtyard by Marriott Al Barsha, Dubai

It is a bit like a parlour game. Tell me you know Oak Live Bar, and I can guess one thing about you with total confidence: you love rock. And no, that isn’t me moonlighting as a psychic — it is simply that Oak Live Bar is one of the few rock-first venues in Dubai, with the whole identity of the place built around it (plus a fair dose of metal, punk, grunge and alternative on the side).

That doesn't mean you are walking into the same night every time, though. Far from it. One evening might be a live band, the next a jam session, then karaoke or a themed night. What ties it all together is Oak's philosophy: rather than filling the stage with cover bands alone, it gives original artists space to perform their own music alongside the classics.

That spirit is probably at its best on Mondays. While the rest of the city is busy surviving the start of the week, Oak turns Monday into the night everyone looks forward to. Musicians arrive with their own instruments and jump on stage with whoever else happens to be there. It is spontaneous, full of improvisation, and exactly the sort of place where the local rock scene comes together.

Location: The Mall, Ground Floor Citymax Hotel

Dubai's nightlife is so saturated that surprising a regular club-goer feels almost impossible — but HighSo Al Barsha manages it by simply refusing to play the nightclub game. Instead, it puts live music first, bringing together bands, DJs, karaoke and themed nights under one roof.

Walk in and you are hit with flashes of Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong all at once — neon everywhere, samurai and geisha murals on the walls. But while the interior certainly makes an impression, that isn't what makes the place special. Here, the music isn't an afterthought, as it is in so many bars; it is the whole point, carried by live bands and resident DJs who clearly know how to read the room.

And if listening isn't enough, Sundays flip the whole concept on its head — instead of just watching, guests get up and perform themselves. It gets messy, sure, but messy is exactly the point.

Location: Alserkal Avenue, Warehouse 20

If the previous two spots leaned more towards music venues, this one is a community at heart. It started as Charicycles, a side project turning old, abandoned bikes into one-of-a-kind rides, before growing into a café with a guiding question stitched into its identity: what else can be made good for both people and the planet? Music was never the headline act, but somewhere along the way, it became part of the soul of the place.

Rather than booking proper gigs, KAVE has quietly built a name as one of the most laid-back, grassroots music spots in Dubai — the kind of place where musicians simply turn up and jam because they feel like it. There is no stage, no spotlight — it genuinely feels as though you have wandered into someone's home and they just happen to have instruments lying around.

Sundays are the one to know, though. That is when KAVE hosts its Open Mic Mashup — musicians, singers, poets and comedians all sharing the same slot, the same crowd and the same energy. It has a bit of that "everyone's secretly brilliant at something" feeling, like one of those teen musicals where the whole school suddenly bursts into song and, somehow, it just works.

Location: Alserkal Avenue, Warehouse 5

Dubai moves so quickly that even photos from ten years ago can feel strangely unfamiliar. Go back 20, and the city is almost unrecognisable — which is what makes The Fridge such a remarkable place. Founded in 2007, before Alserkal Avenue became the cultural landmark it is today, it didn't just witness Dubai's creative scene taking shape; it helped shape it.

Despite the name, The Fridge is not a bar pretending to be a venue. It is a talent agency, production company, rehearsal space and concert hall rolled into one — and, more importantly, a place built around musicians rather than around the idea of nightlife.

In 2009, it launched the Fridge Concert Series, at a time when local musicians had very few places to perform their own material. It is a space built for music first and everything else second, which is probably why so many UAE-based musicians played some of their earliest serious shows there.

Over the years, it has grown far beyond gigs, hosting theatre, circus acts, orchestras, choir festivals, dance performances and cultural events.

Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai, Business Bay

Compared to the rawer, grittier spots on this list, PizzaExpress Live is by far the most commercially polished — but that isn’t a knock. Not everyone wants the loud, messy gig-room energy; some people just want to sit down and actually listen, and on that front, PizzaExpress delivers.

Its United Kingdom roots go back to founder Peter Boizot, a genuine jazz fanatic who opened a jazz club beneath a PizzaExpress restaurant in Soho back in 1969. That musical DNA never really left, and the Dubai venue has clearly run with it. Today, the line-up swings between jazz, soul, funk, pop, acoustic sessions, tribute shows and jam nights, depending on the week.

Unlike most restaurants that just hire a background musician and call it a night, PizzaExpress programmes entertainment almost every single night — live bands, tribute acts, touring artists, the works.

And in classic Dubai fashion, where everything has to be "the most" something, PizzaExpress Live earns its bragging rights here too: it runs one of the city's longest-standing jam nights.