Clubbing with James Tran

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a good 2 hours at Pavillion dancing then it reached around 12:30, where everybody typically leaves. It was time to find another club, but we just ended up walking around half of the Sydney CBD area checking out the typical clubs…. so here we go! 11 Quick Club reviews as seen from outside the club aka Window Shopping – 19th December 2009. (Northern Sydney CBD) Saturdays @ Star Bar on George St - Packed. However we had overdosed lately on Star Bar and its amusing crowd of non-english speaking tourists. It was a no go tonight, no matter how tempting it was to go inside there. PS. I no longer write reviews when I visit star bar, as I visit this place too much. Saturdays @ Arthouse on Pitt St (1am) - Tonight was not an ‘Asian’ night (Fame), but it was a white-crowd event. House music was playing outside, and there was no line outside – it looked pretty shit inside from the outside. There was a cover charge. Saturdays @ The Vault on Pitt St - We walked by this bar and heard RNB music playing! Whoa, we have to try it out. We walk up to the entrance and there is a smallish dance floor with about 15 people dancing on it – it was almost dead, but better than Pavillion. However the bouncer refused us entry on the excuse of ‘a private function’. We were 4 guys so it was understandable, but the private function excuse didn’t seem congruent, as there was no second person to confirm a guestlist. Whatever, it was dead. Saturdays @ Coolabar - Music is pumping out, tape and escalators are in operation to the bar upstairs. There are two people outside. It was on! We know Coolabar is a shithole, but we want to wow the crowd inside, if there was one. We run up but the two people inside tell us we can’t go inside, as the place is closed. What!?! You wonder why some places are even open at all if they are closing at 1.30am on a Saturday night. Bamboo @ Martin Place Bar - The line is shorter than usual, but there *is* a line, which is better than the other places so far. Entirely asian, and RNB playing outside, it is tempting to go inside, but all four of us were not big fans of paying $25 to go inside. People inside had santa hats on. We could see Jason the resident Korean bum dancer hogging the podium from the outside. Security came up and spoke with us. We had a short fun chat and perved on some girls walking by, you know, typical man stuff. Security was called to kick out a drunk person. Moments later he is walking out with a drunk girl and 3 of her girlfriends supporting her. haha, it is not classy at all to see a drunk girl, let me tell you that. Security tells the girls it is all ok, and wraps his arms around the two girls beside him. LOL omg he is hitting on drunk girls outside of thd club – I want to be a bouncer now!!! haha, what a sneaky sleaze. Funky Buddha @ Verandah Bar on Castlereagh St (Martin Place) Here they recently opened the trance room again (after a 3 or 4 year absence). Cover is $20, crowd is asian, music is RNB and trance. We ask some girls who left Funky Buddah if it was any good. “Average” was the reply. It was in other words, shit. There was, though, a line outside, so it must be somewhat ok. I do want to check it out as it’s been a while, and I have to see how the Trance room looks now. Saturdays @ Red Room Hotel Chambers on Castlereagh St (Martin Place) We were able to peek inside from the entrance – and even though it looked crowded, it didn’t seem like a fun atmosphere. Music was old school RNB, with a cover charge of $20 and an asian crowd. Tank Nightclub (Bridge lane) OneLove moved to the Bourbon about a month ago, and we did not know if there was any event, so we took a punt and walked here. It was, unfortunately, closed. (At the time writing, Onelove @ the Bourbon has also shut its doors)… I think I might start a new event here! ha. 20/20 @ Brooklyn Hotel (George St Circular Quay) Ever since Privilege closed for renovations a few weeks ago, promoters Hypnotize moved their Saturday event to Brooklyn and joined with Urban Agent to help out. The result is that my favourite place to go for free drunk girls and $17 Vodka Red Bulls has turned into a cover charged event full of not so drunk people. I yearn for the former glory days of seediness. I peek inside the main rnb room and it is pretty packed. I go around the back and look down in the outdoor courtyard area where they are playing house/trance. Back in the no-cover charge days, the place usually had 5-10 people dancing max, while the others sit and watch. Now with the help of the promoters, the entire back area as PACKED. Jesus fucking christ I could not believe what I was seeing – Brooklyn Hotel actually packed out! I could not see any concrete, it was just a sea of people standing up, dancing and cheering. It looked pretty awesome. The bartenders must be having a hard time adjusting to actually having to work non-stop. However my friends, still don’t want to go inside. They are pretty adamant about not going inside here, considering the crappy times they had the last few times. haha. Also, regular patrons here (i.e. the islanders) were lining up to get in, not knowing that they need to pay entry. There were some outside, thinking of other places to go. So the crowd inside was a mix of islanders, asians and aussies. Cover charge I am guessing is $20. Based on what I saw, it looks good. Sienna @ Establishment on George St We are just walking by. They’re playing house music, though I had thought Sienna was an RNB event. The crowd is dominantly Euro, and cover charge is $20. I do need to check this place out too. It looked pretty busy from what we could see Saturdays @ Ivy on George St Loud, and looking quite busy. We can’t see inside from the street but we can hear people cheering from the inside. Sounds like fun. Am definitely going to spend a night here one day next year. Saturdays @ Bar 333 on George St (2am) Bottom level was closed and upstairs looked pretty dead. Arrivederci By this time we have given up, and we have managed to end up back where we started – standing outside Star Bar. I was dying to do any form of dance, but friends were puffed out from walking up and down the CBD for 2 hours. Fair enough, but I wish they were keen for a dance!! So we called it a night. Recommendation If I had to pick a club tonight, it would be 20/20 @ Brooklyn Hotel.

Fridays @ Soho Assessment Time: 2am to 4am Website: http://www.sohobar.com.au/ Address: 171 Victoria St, Potts Point Sydney Dress Code: Casual ok. Hats ok. Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20, Free on guestlist Guestlist: I am not sure – there are promoters on facebook. Check the website as well. Inside: The former bottom level YU has been closed and merged into  and it’s all now Soho, combining the both Cloak Room: None Bar: 2 bars on the bottom level, and 2 bar serving the top level DJ: 1 DJ upstairs and 1 downstairs. Music: Funky House, House. Crowd: Mostly aussies from what I could ascertain. Mixed ages of young and old. It was the christmas work party season and as such there would be some people here Entertainment: No extra entertainment. Atmosphere: Usually clubs at 2am start to die down, but Soho was still very busy downstairs.. it was also pretty hot and humid considering the amount of people and how long it has been since it opened. Overall it was a pretty good atmosphere for a club at 2am. On top of that, we had just left Favela, which was really crap, and so this just blew everything out of the way. (continue reading…)

Homebake Sydney 2009 @ The Domain Assessment Time: 15:30pm – 11:00pm Opening Times: 12:00pm – 11:00pm Website: http://www.homebake.com.au Address: Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney. Dress Code: Anything goes. I wore an orange jumpsuit. Everybody else was pretty casual, and being summer, it was lots of shirts, hats and skirts. Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Tickets were $99 Inside: Four or five areas. Most of the big acts were in the two main areas – the Main Stage and the Big Top, which is just a huge tent kind of thing. Food stalls inside, and a merry go round swinging thing. In the middle is a huge grass area to sit down. Plenty of toilets. Cloak Room: $5 Bar: $10 smirnoffs. Lines were extremely long today. Food: Rip off. $5 bottles of water. $7 hot chips, $5 Hot Dogs, $12 Salt and Pepper Squid Acts: Powderfinger, Jet, Hilltop Hoods, Eskimo Joe, Sia, Daniel Merriweather, Midnight Juggernauts, Sarah Blasko, A Special Best Of Performance By Tim Finn, Closure In Moscow, Short Stack, Phrase, Decoder Ring, Bumblebeez, Tumbleweed (Original Line-Up), Eddy Current Suppression Ring,  The Funkoars, The Middle East, The Aston Shuffle, Sugar Army, Record Producer, Shockone Music: It’s all Australian music today. Entertainment: The merry go round provided entertainment, as well as some of the small stores for tattoos or typical carnival like things. In between acts on the main stage, the TV screens would play some funny clips of people rendering their versions of popular songs. Crowd: Dominantly White Australian. I probably spotted a total of 7 or 8 other asians the whole day. Atmosphere: Throughout the day the good weather provided a very good atmosphere. This was a sold out event so there were just people everywhere, walking around, doing their thing. There was enough room to find your own spot in the grass and relax as well. The atmosphere at the two main stages was always pretty packed. I would say it was more intense in the Big Top than the main arena – it could have been because the Big Top had more acts which were ‘dance’ or crowd oriented. People in the Big Top were likely to dance and jump up and down. The Main Stage.. people just stood around singing along. (continue reading…)

Fridays @ Star Bar Assessment Time: 22:45pm – 01:45 Website: http://www.starbar.com.au Address: George St, Sydney Door Policy: Casual dress ok. Outfits are ok. However groups of guys are not ok. At its peak it is hard to get in, but after 2am, you should be able to get in wearing most attire. Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free Guestlist: None required. However if you don’t match door policy, you will get the ‘guestlist’ treatment. Inside: 3 levels, but only the top floor has a proper setting for clubbing. Medium-large round shaped dancefloor surrounded by lounges. DJ booth at the front. The middle floor has a DJ as well, but the volume of the music is laid back. There are also pool tables on these bottom two floors, and extra lounges. Cloak Room: none. Bar: 2 bars top level. DJ: Video DJ for the top level, and normal DJ middle level. Music: Rnb, house, pop.. all the typical top 40 tracks. Crowd: Mixed nationalities, a mix of backpackers and locals, and mixed ages. Entertainment: Glowsticks were being thrown out by the security guy onto the stage. Atmosphere: Pretty average to good. (continue reading…)