I love Lee`s Palace. Its one of the best places in the city to see a band. Its grungy and outdated but that also makes it intimate and totally unpretentious. I`ve recently seen Saint Motel and Rich Aucoin here and, in both instances, it is like a private concert. For whatever reason, I find the people to be some of the nicest, most considerate concert goers of any venue I have been to. People make space, apologize when they bump into you and are all there to have fun. Even on their Halloween party this held.
Upstairs is the Dance Cave, which is also a lot of fun but very young. I spent a lot of time here back in my UofT days but definitely feel too old for the crowd upstairs now.