Marty, beer breath dancer and I - The Tunnel Nightclub Sydney

It’s my birthday weekend, but I’ve already had two dinners, a karaoke and meat tray raffle birthday party. My friends are getting sick me celebrating, and I still had a house party to host as well. Tonight was my clubbing choice of night out, so here we go!

Addiction @ The Tunnel (Formerly Dragonfly) Sydney
Assessment Time: 11:30PM – 03:30AM
Opening Hours: – 03:30AM
Lockout: 02:00AM ? We tried to leave at 02:30AM but was told it was lock out if we tried to re-enter.
Website: http://www.tunnelnightclub.com.au, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=166455593127
Address: 1 Earl Place Potts Point / Kings Cross, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart Casual. Hats were allowed inside. Groups of guys are allowed, and people of non-caucasian backgrounds were welcome tonight. Can you believe it?? The racist door policy of the old Dragonfly club on Fridays was no longer evident. This is primarily because tonight is an RnB event. However I do not know if their Saturdays have relaxed their door policy. Guys inside tonight are dressed mostly with collared shirts, and the girls are all dressed up and looking very good. There was a dancing girl with multicoloured boots with funky lycras and loose shirt etc, like a dancer from the fluro 80′s, and so it is safe to assume as long as you look good, you can come in no matter what you are wearing.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: I got free entry as it was my birthday, but if you submit a standard guestlist, the cover charge would be $10 before midnight. I am unsure what the standard non-guestlist entry fee is. I would assume this to be $20.
Guestlist: I sent mine to nathan@exclusivproductionz.com.au, though there are probably other email addresses as well. There is also the Facebook group.
Occurence: Every Friday
Inside: Similar to the old Dragonfly, as you walk in you are presented with lounges with a bar behind. Surrounding the bar are booths and lounges. One of these booths was mine. On the left is the dancefloor, which seems more open. The DJ booth has moved from the far left wall to the side of the dancefloor closer to the bar, to replace a booth that used to be there. In the old place of the DJ seat, is an elevated podium for the show offs to dance to the side of the crowd. A glassed off private area to the left exists as well but nobody has booked it tonight, and it remains closed off for the entire night.
Cloak Room: Yes, there is a cloak room offered (its on the far left behind the dancefloor) but I am not sure of the pricing. We just left our stuff on the booths during the night.
Bar: I didn’t drink alcohol tonight but waiting in line didn’t take long at all, at most 3-4 minutes, unless there was a big order in front of you. No more than 1 person deep.
Music: Primarily RnB and pop, with some house, Baltimore, etc as advertised.
Crowd: The crowd tonight was mostly Euro. Minority consisted of blacks, us asian dudes, some backpackers. You can’t tell who were the backpackers as they are all dressed like everyone else. Most of the crowd are young, but there are some older folk (ie myself) in their late 20′s and met some people in their 30′s.
Entertainment: There was an MC to keep things moving along.
Atmosphere: A pretty friendly atmosphere. The staff and security are pretty friendly so long as you don’t get on their bad side. No fights tonight that I witnessed.

Photo from my booth at the back of The Tunnel Nightclub

Video: 360 view from my booth

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video: 360 view from the dancefloor taken at 1:00AM

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:
Where are my friends?
This was the question asked by the promoter who was taking care of my guestlist of 50 or so people. I was with only 2 of my friends in line. The promoter had organised free entry for myself and two others as well as a reserved booth to have the entire night. I felt bad that I only brang two people so I lied to him:

‘My friends are behind me’ I reply. I really had no other friends coming. This was a hastily organised clubbing night and I really didn’t invite anyone to come along except 5 or 6 people. This on top of what was mentioned above, in that my friends were sick of my birthday celebrations

Get out of my booth! (and brithday benefits)
I look for the booth with my name on it. I couldn’t find it – all booths were taken and occupied by people! Someone has stolen my booth, but I don’t bother. There were only 3 of us anyway. So its straight to the bar for some water. A tap on the shoulder. It’s the promoter:

‘Look over there’.

He points to a booth. It was just cleared out and is now empty, with a table with four champagne glasses.

‘Thats your booth, and the champagne is free on us’

This guy has just kicked everyone out of this booth and given us free entry and bubbly. Jesus Christ, *now* I feel really bad to bringing two people, but free alcohol!! WOOT!

Reserved for James Tran - Addiction @ The Tunnel

After this write up I would not be surprised if was not offered any more free champagne, free entry or booth reservation.

Continuous assault of women at my booth
So there is 3 guys in a booth which could seat 15 or so people. So what does the promoter do? He sends 3 girls to our booth and asks if we mind if there are extra girls here. “Oh, I guess I dont mind them”. Far out brussel sprouts! I just want my own personal booth for my birthday. A few minutes later here comes another girl, then another.. until there are about 8 girls in my booth – their bags and jackets strewn everywhere. WHY? I don’t want them invading my space. Well I did, but not really.

Don’t trust me with your jacket
Girls were not friendly, even if they were invading my booth. In fact, one walked right up to me, picked up her jacket next to me, and moved it further away from me. Say What? Don’t trust an asian guy sitting next to your precious jacket?? Did I really look that dodgy?? I look like freaking justin bieber right now – I am totally trustworthy!! AGH! This was upsetting, so I left my booth to dance – as there was no room in the booth to dance due to women sitting down with their legs in their way.

More dancing
It’s a bit dark in here, so its hard to take over the dancefloor. The best way was to get on the side podium where everyone could see you. Sadly though it was packed so we had to wait until later in the night when we could actually jump on there and dance.

Danced on the upper podium, and got people videotaping and taking photos of us. I have no idea what they are going to do – put it on facebook? I am moving so fast I would just come out as a blur, especially in the darkness of a club. Found a drunk girl who danced like one, and her breath stank of alcohol. Total turn off. She was fun to dance with. Oh look theres a picture of her at the very top of this post.

Also got stalked by an Indian dude. Everywhere we went , he would follow us, or he would pounce on a girl we were not chatting to. It was kind of creepy.

It sort of died quickly
People started to leave from around 1AM and by 2AM it was pretty dead. You know its dead when I am able to do multiple cartwheels on the dancefloor.

Arrivederci
We are kicked out at closing time. At closing time there are only 4 or 5 people left in the club. Security tells us ‘come back tomorrow.Its busier on Saturday’. Hahaha, every promoters nightmare.

Recommendation
Despite the recommendation by security to visit on the busier Saturdays – it was like comparing oranges and apples as Saturdays are their house nights. Anyway nice clean crowd, danceable music and new refurbished venue makes for a good night out here. It is a safe place to bring friends who may not be into dancing but are happy to drink (ie for a birthday). If people stayed here longer it would have also been good.

Addiction @ The Tunnel - 7.5/10

I haven’t been dancing friday/saturday and I had real itchy feet. Danced with a guy – and he loved it, he was dancing out back so we went to the front and danced with.. more guys, who were also loving my dancing. Girls weren’t very willing to dance with me for some reason.. hmm

I found an empty spot on the floor and did some dancing. A bunch of women  nearby were impressed. But instead of dancing with me, they cheered me on. I wanted some grinding damnit! This was the case most of the night, and we just got tired and left 1.30am.

This is a good place for pure dancing on a Sunday night – since everything else is closed. Possibly Moulin rRuge would be the alternative for dancing but I have yet to check it out on a Sunday.

To my surprise, we are stopped before we even reach the line – “Are you on the guestlist?” Of course not.. “sorry, can’t let you in”. At least they didn’t wait until we lined up to get rejected for wearing too much Asian. Meanwhile, a bunch of other men just walk up past us and line up uninterrupted, then get in.

So Plan B:

Moulin Rouge!
Location: 39 Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross, New South Wales 2011
Website: http://www.moulinrougesydney.com.au/
Inside: Entry takes you down a set of stairs to a well decorated set of rooms. It is exactly as it is.. a moulin rouge like lounge, down under beneath the street. A nice venue, but a little small dancefloor size wise.

About Moulin Nights
Music: House
Crowd: Mixed. Asians, Euros, Aussies, Backpackers
Dress Code: Casual
Cover Charge / Entry Fee:  $20, but me and Henry got asked for $15. Weird as we didnt claim a guestlist.
Occurrence: Every Saturday
Atmosphere: Packed. Loud.

Timeline + Early Coda

1. the birthday girl left to go to another club and didn’t join us at Moulin!?
2. everyone paid $20 to get in, except Henry and I.
3. These guys weren’t much into House music, especially this non-commercial/non vocal house.
4. A very small dance pit area.

This pretty much meant that we left after 30 minutes. Disappointed.

We ended up going to Shark hotel (There was literally ONE drunk guy dancing. I danced with him for a bit much to the amusement of the entire audience of 50 men and 4 women), then Cheers afterwards (Smelly as usual)

NB: This was my second time here. First time was during xmas 2007, but was not blogged about.. I had a general good time and pretty much stayed the entire night.

Out with Han, looking for a club. A man passes us a flyer to Dragonfly. Free entry. Han was wearing dodgy shoes… but somehow we got in! Sunday must be relaxed ..

[ Promiscuous Disco @ Dragonfly ]
Cover Charge – Free
Door Policy – Relaxed
Music – House
Crowd – Young, dominantly white, no flouros.
Atmosphere – Good, busy

[ Timeline ]
This was my first time clubbing with Han. He totally dissed my brand new (Ben Sherman!) shoes and wasn’t too eager about peacocking with the sunnies. I forced him wear the silly sunglasses and in a few minutes he had a random girl ask to take a photo. He didn’t want to give back the sunglasses back to me after that.. he was walking around like king dingaling dancing with everyone!

So we spent most of the night just dancing away. It was quite packed for a club on a Sunday.. though it was the holiday season. I only managed to dance with some guys as far as I can remember.. Han was doing much better. I think the crowdiness makes it more difficult to meet people here – Too many dancers and not enough drinkers.. fun times!

I took a rest in the side room with the sunnies on and saw the bouncer guy walk in looking at me. I made sure I started tapping on the sofa to prevent an exact repeat of what happened at Martin Place Bar during ‘Karma 3‘ – I was kicked out for sleeping that night.

Coda]
Half an hour later Han calls me from outside Dragonfly. He had got kicked out for sleeping.

On my way out one of the security personnel told me I was not allowed to wear the sunnies inside the club. Mueh.

This is still probably the only packed club to head to on a Sunday if you want to do an all nighter.

Han .. Kicked out but still smiling ~ 3am

Website – http://www.dragonflysydney.com.au/

Bars – On the left of entry door is a inner room with a bar, and on the right is another bigger bar to service the loungers. You didn’t have to wait long at all for a drink. Service wise was good on the packed night.

Drink Pricing – $16 for a gin on ice and a vodka lemonade (small glass cups).

Food – Nil

Description – On entry is the rear dance floor. The DJ is on the left. The floor holds about 100 people, and occupies about 20% of the entire real estate. The first thing that catches your eye is the countless number of shiny disco balls along the ceiling.

The entire ceiling space above the dance area are shiny balls. It’s horrendously sexy. . The rest of the club is carpeted lounges, chairs, and along the walls around are elevated sit in areas for private functions. It is a one roomed club, about the same size as Havana.

About Taboo

Cover Charge – $20

Music – Commercial house throughout the entire night.

Crowd – Aussies and Euros. Even number of boys to girls. Everyone here was pretty.

Atmosphere – Crowded and fun. Big party atmosphere.

Repeat ? This is a weekly event.

[Leadup]

I was going to attend to the Retro Hotel with some guys that night. Amy messaged me to ask if I would join her at Dragonfly. To hang with guys or girls? I’m sorry guys.

Getting past the bouncer

(History) Dragonfly is easily one of the most difficult clubs to get into. To gain entry into the club, you basically need to have a bevy of girls to come in, or be ridiculously good looking. Single or groups of guys are not allowed in. Last time I tried going alone, I was given the “you’re not a member of the club” excuse after I failed to show my ‘membership card’. I’ve even read a story where a sole black guy with his friends was rejected during line up because he wasn’t a “regular”. I felt disgusted reading that, but it was part of Dragonfly’s exclusivity.

(Tonight) Looking at the line, it was a lot of women. Nobody was getting refused entry. Maybe it was like this on a Saturday. I saw an asian couple lining up. I was expecting refusal, but they were let in as well. Maybe it was dead inside. The bouncers were, however, still trying to keep the quality of people to a high, and telling people in line that they were only letting people in with nice shoes. I looked down at my trusty sneakers. These were the only ones that let me dance without getting sore feet. The shiny leather shoes I have at home get too uncomfortable after an hour or so of dancing.

Our group was 3 guys and 3 girls. We should be okay if everyone passed the dress requirements. I was just worried about my trusty shoes. We got to the front of the line. Everyone showed their 2 forms of ID (yes, two) and the group was ushered in, except me.

I was stopped while the other 5 went inside that big door. I was secretly cursing my trusty shoes for failing me. I was waiting for their rejection line, but it didn’t materialize. They just told me to wait! I was dressed quite okay. I had a newly ironed shirt, my new Kenji jeans, and my trusty shoes on. In fact, I was probably the best looking guy in line (ha ha). Someone popped their head out of the door and told the bouncer I was with their group. The bouncers asked if I was with them. Hell yes I was with them ! I was granted entry past them big black doors.

[Experiences]

First impressions (Just before midnight)

Past the second set of doors you get to basically see the whole place. It was a party atmosphere for sure. People were dancing and drinking. The floor was packed. It was just before midnight.

Jamesie goes to Hollywood

So basically the group took some seats. There was no room for me. I put on the neon wayfarer sunnies I obtained earlier that day and put them on. Then I ran to the floor. Holy crap did the sunnies cop a lot of attention or what!

1. I was on the floor for about 10 seconds before some random guy asked to put them on. He ran a lap around the central bar with them.
2. Random girl asks to put them on. It was her 22^nd birthday. Couldn’t refuse.
   
3. Random girl #2 asks for the sunnies. It was her friend’s Hen’s night. I got pulled right into a circle of adoring women. Did a mini grind + photo with the bride to be. I really didn’t know how to take it from there. Staying in the circle would’ve been weird, being skinny and the only guy there. I wasn’t a stripper and I wasn’t certainly going to play their little games. Maybe they were just using me for the sunnies. Fuck I’m such an overanalyst.
   
4. Compliments from two girls: Helen and someone, lol. Had to take the photo with them, the photoslut I am.
   

Amy takes a facebook application to real life

Vampires and Warewolves. A fad right now going around in facebook. By about 1am, Amy had way too many smirnoffs and was all giddy.

If you chose to become a vampire or warewolf, the point was to bite and as many people as possible. Amy took a variation and decided to bite as many times as possible on the one guy. Luckily it wasn’t me, it was poor old Ernie* (I forget his name, but we shouted each other drinks and he was a pretty cool guy).
Ernie hated every bite, and Amy would chase him to bite him, even after being told off not to do it. Ernie suffered about 9 visible bite marks to his upper chest.

My precious is stolen

I was getting too much attention. I put the sunnies on my head.

Suddenly I felt a *pinch* on my head as someone takes my sunnies. I turned around to see which chick wanted to wear them. I saw nobody looking back at me. I only saw people dancing. I spotted someone was walking away from me. It was probably him who took them, but he didn’t turn around. Fine, let him wear it. I’ll get it back later.

A few moments later, I turn around again. He’s nowhere to be found. I walk around the place, and I can’t find him!! How fucking bullshit is that.

Where ever you are: I hope you get fingered by the new-age fluoro haters when you wear those sunnies. And I hope Captain Hook is one of them. F*ckface.

[Coda]

We left after Amy had one too many. I got lost and I couldn’t find them outside the club, so I went back in, danced for another few hours and left 5am. It was surprisingly not dead at the time I left. People were really making the most of this long weekend.

Amy the drunken vampire on the left.

[Summary]

Recommendation

It’s a suave, stylish and sexy place to go, if you can get in.