Inside Rolling Stone’s First Rooftop Bar

From the rooftop of the Telegraph Hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia, the city twinkles in the distance with a restless glow, almost too unbothered to catch you staring. An impeccably dressed crowd laughs and mingles, pausing their spirited conversations every now and then to groove to the funk and disco beats pulsing in the background. Glasses of champagne, Spritz, and Negronis line an endlessly looping island bar, their reflections setting off a kaleidoscopic chain reaction on the ceiling. These are the sights that greet you as you make your way to the first Rolling Stone rooftop bar. 

A first-of-its-kind live music and entertainment venue in partnership with Rolling Stone and the Silk Road Group, the newly unveiled space buzzes with a local-meets-global community of music enthusiasts, art connoisseurs, business titans, and history lovers. Envisioned as an immersive sanctuary of sound, the Rolling Stone Rooftop Bar celebrates music as both legacy and living pulse, honoring the timeless influence of historical icons, while spotlighting the voices redefining today’s sound.

As you walk through the minimally designed club, the Rolling Stone stamp is hard to miss: splashed across the walls, emblazoned on a gleaming pool, and cheekily branded onto the burgers. But the real showstopper is the music curation: the opening night features the high-voltage multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Nik West, renowned for her collaborations with the likes of Prince and John Mayer.

The bass virtuoso owns the stage with pure electricity, leaving the crowd leaping, stomping, and clapping as she rips through funky grooves laced with jazz undertones and rock-fueled bass riffs. Accompanied by her band—singer-songwriter Teneia Sanders, keyboardist Lorenze Campese, drummer David Collum II, and guitarist Stef Delbaere—West belts out stompers like “Forbidden Fruit,” “Boom Baby Boom,” and a special cover of James Brown’s “Get On Up,” that she previously performed with Prince.

Reeling from this energy, the night refuses to let up, as DJ Hazy Pockets takes over the Rolling Stone deck inside, spinning full-throttle beats dipped in nostalgia as the city sleeps below. What makes this space even more intriguing is its location. Perched atop the Telegraph Hotel in the heart of Tbilisi, this building was once the city’s central post office—a nerve center connecting locals to the outside world during the Soviet era. Now transformed into a sleek 239-room hotel, it carries forward that legacy of connection, this time linking people through music, culture, and shared experiences.

And that’s not a happy accident. As George Ramishvili, Founder of Silk Road Group, points out, this location was an integral piece of the puzzle and chosen with utmost intention. Restored by architectural firm Neri&Hu, the structure clings to its Soviet modernist facade, while the interiors lean into contemporary minimalism. Lodged somewhere between ancient history and a modern outlook, a passage between the East and West, it now welcomes visitors with warmth and probably several glasses of wine. 

Every deliberate detail at the Rolling Stone rooftop bar feels like a balancing act of international flair and Georgian pride. Nik West, who is married to a Georgian, performed with her in-laws and godparents in the crowd, adding a personal touch to the night. The night before, the hotel also opened its doors to a new underground jazz club, Tatuza, named in honor of the Georgian jazz man Tamaz ‘Tatuza’ Kurashvili. Here, legendary jazz bassist Stanley Clarke, one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion, joined forces with powerhouse drummer Dennis Chambers, best known for his blistering speed and groove-heavy versatility across funk, jazz, and rock. Together with Georgian pianist Beka Gochiashvili, they served up a set filled with nimble bass runs, clamoring drum solos, and fluid piano improvisations, further demonstrating the Telegraph Hotel’s potential as a crossroads for global and local talent. 

With more world-class acts lined up, the Rolling Stone Rooftop Bar is set to stake its claim as a boundary-pushing international music stage, where every night feels both epic and intimate.