Pretty good - not great for some music genres (I've looked and looked but no big band/motown or decent soul nights for example), but if you want a heaving dance floor, loud club beats, cheap drinks and free entry with barely dressed girls you'll be pretty much in heaven! I wouldn't try to compare anywhere with newcastle - it's the best, no competition. Edinburgh's also pretty awesome for live music - it's much better than it was for big name bands, and admittedly will be hit badly until the liquid rooms is rebuilt (there was a fire), but there's loads of small to medium sized places to see pretty much any type of music.