UPDATE – Best Live Music Club in Canada Announced

Phog Lounge in Windsor, ON has been named Canada's best music club in the CBC Radio 3 Best Live Music Club competition. Personal favourites the Aeolian Hall and Call the Office in London perservered until the end and despite my daily voting were defeated.

Concert-goers were asked to submit the names of their favourite music venues that held less than 1,000 people last month. More than 100 were submitted and rounds of voting narrowed the competitors to 20 and then ten finalists. The winner was announced by Grant Lawrence live on Wednesday.

Phog Lounge will receive a live concert from CBC Radio 3 with a "nationally recognized act," a Sirius satellite radio and subscription, CBC Radio 3 loot for its owners and staff, a plaque and a trophy.

The venue which holds about sixty people opened in 2004. This contest will no doubt put the club on the concert map. Congratulations to Phog Lounge on the win, although next year, (and I’m saying it now) the title will come to London where it rightfully belongs.

Exercise Your Civic Booty and Vote

CBC Radio 3 Narrow Down Best Live Music Club To Top 20

Following another round of voting, CBC Radio 3 has eliminated another 30 venues from Best Live Music Club competition, and Canada’s top 20 clubs have been revealed.

And this is your chance fellow Londoners to put us on the CBC map as Call the Office and the Aeolian Hall are still actively in the running. Other live music contenders such as Hugh's Room in Toronto and Zaphod Beeblebrox in Ottawa remain, with legendary clubs like Toronto’s Horseshoe and Vancouver’s Commodore officially getting the boot.

The top 20 list comes as part of the latest edition in CBC’s Searchlight series, which for the last several weeks has been asking listeners to vote on which club they think is the country’s tops for live music. Last week, the venerable broadcaster announced the top 50 venues and plans to whittle the top 20 down to the top 10 on February 18 and finally down to Canada’s number one live music venue on February 25.

To weigh in on this contest, you can vote over here on CBC Radio 3’s website.

Here’s the complete list of the top 20 best live music clubs in Canada:

Baba's Lounge - Charlottetown, PE
The Capital Bar - Fredericton, NB
George's Fabulous Roadhouse - Sackville, NB
The Blacksheep Inn - Wakefield, QC
Aeolian Hall - London, ON
Call The Office - London, ON
The Ford Plant - Brantford, ON
The Grad Club - Kingston, ON
Hugh's Room - Toronto, ON
The Phog Lounge - Windsor, ON
The Starlight Social Club - Waterloo, ON
The Towne House Tavern - Sudbury, ON
Zaphod Beeblebrox - Ottawa, ON
Lo Pub - Winnipeg, MB
Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club - Winnipeg, MB
The Royal Albert Arms - Winnipeg, MB
Amigo's Cantina - Saskatoon, SK
The Dream Café - Penticton, BC
The Duncan Garage Showroom - Duncan, BC
Habitat - Kelowna, BC