New City Gas Montréal, QC H3C 1S4

Slingshotting into the poll at #53 last year as a new entry is a pretty incredible feat, but seeing is believing when it comes to this colossal club. Housed in a listed building bought in 1859, New City Gas was once a power plant that transformed coal into gas to illuminate the streets and buildings of Montreal.

These days the chemical reactions inside its tall industrial walls are of a very different kind, but equally — if not more — explosive, while a multi-layered LED wall and state-of-the-art lighting rig offer whole new levels of phosphorescence.

A big-room beacon in a city with no shortage of top-end after-hours clubs (two of which have made the poll), NCG opened in May 2012 and is all about the spectacle.

As much a live concert hall as it is a hi-tech club, its EDM-crazy crowd has gone ballistic to Guetta, Tiësto, Axwell, Ingrosso and Skrillex over the past 12 months, so you get the picture.