Random photo with Pikachu - Beauty and the Geek theme

I already did Sanctuary Hotel last week – I do try to avoid going to the same venue twice in a row – you risk getting bored easily. The problem was that I made a promise to a friend I would come here tonight. Well, apparently it would be even more busier than last week – lets find out shall we!

Funky @ Sanctuary Hotel
Assessment Time: 9:00PM – 02:00AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM – 03:00AM (?)
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.funkybuddha.com.au, http://www.phatentertainment.com.au
Address: 545 Kent St - Corner of Liverpool and Kent St, Sydney. Behind 3 wise monkeys.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Tonight, the theme is Beauty and the Geek! Casual OK. Hats allowed. Guys are wearing a mix of casual and smart casual. Girls are mostly in dresses. I saw someone walk in with a Pikachu outfit.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 Standard Entry, $20 on guestlist. Free before 10:30PM. The only slight hope you could get in before 10:30 was to be on a birthday guestlist, and line up in the birthday guestlist line at 9PM. If you got there 9:30PM, you wouldn’t make it. We were on a standard non-birthday guestlist. We got there 9PM AT THE VERY FRONT, and we only managed to get in after 10:30PM! We just stood there as we saw birthday guest after birthday guest walk in. We even stood there watching hopelessly as people off the street just cut the line! Amazing that bouncers could not be more strict on this or have a more foolproof way of being fair on people who actually lined up. Usually lining up 9PM gets you in before 10:30 but the organisers have actually done the right thing, and let the birthday lists have priority. This is how it is meant to be, unlike other venues where it is first come first serve, with birthday people not given priority at all. Well at least cut us normal people some slack. 90 minutes in the cold – give me my $5 discount!!!

Waiting outside Sanctuary with fellow free entry seekers

Guestlist: info@phatentertainment.com.au
Occurence: Every Saturday
Inside: The entrance is not at the normal Sanctuary Hotel entrance. It is via the TAB area further along on Kent St. The room upon entry is where people can have a chat and chill out without actually going outside. Walk in further to the main area, and the large carpeted room has been converted to a dancefloor. DJ on the wall, and a 3 tier podium smack in the middle, dividing the room into two halves. Bar along the far back wall.
Cloak Room: Cloak services are located in the entry room. Standard rip off prices for the event. I think it was $4 for small bags, and $8 for large bags, possibly $5/$10. Who knows. I avoided the cloak room and placed my stuff behind the ATM on the dancefloor. It held up the whole night.
Bar: I didn’t buy any drinks tonight. Waiting time 3-4 minutes or less.
DJs: Sefu, etc etc.
Music: Mostly Contemporary RnB / Pop, with the occasional house mashup.
Crowd: Mostly Asian, and mostly teenagers
Entertainment: Last week the podium was a three tiered podium. This week it is 3 separate podiums. One podium was rectangular to hold upto 5 or 6 people, while the other two were solo podiums which could hold upto 3 people. This freed up some dance room to walk around. Also an MC to keep things up.
Atmosphere: It got pretty busy quite quickly, then it got immensely packed on the dancefloor. Lounge areas – most seats are taken.
Video: Walking around the dancefloor 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:
Not used to this attention
Being early to line up, we are early in. Dancefloor already has some people dancing, so jump in we go, doing geeky dance routines. Then BAM! 6 korean girls surround and dance with me. I really didn’t know how to handle this. So I kept doing the stupid dance. They were going to leave in 1 hour to watch the Korea vs Argentina world cup soccer match at Darling Harbour. Why they hell did they spend $20 to stay here for an hour? Anyway, one had braces but she didn’t want a photo with me, even after I offered $5 for a photo. When the official photographer came, she actually ran and hid behind her friends. That made me laugh. Watching someone literally RUN and DUCK to avoid having a photo taken. hahaha

People too lazy to dance or who cant dance watch a world cup soccer game

No dance for the man
Minute 1: The podium is empty.
Minute 2: The podium is empty.
Minute 3: James is on the podium dancing.
Minute 4: James is kicked off by security. No reason given.
Minute 5: The podium is empty.
Minute 6: Girl is on the podium.
(10 minutes later): Girl is still up on podium!!!!!
Sexists!!! I tried a further two times to get up on the podium and stay there for longer than 30 seconds, but the security dude kept pulling us down. One third and final ditch effort resulted in a girl jumping up and grinding with me. The moment she jumped off, I was asked to get off the podium again. Total bullcrap.

Free Shots!
We met a dude and he liked our enthusiam so much he bought us drinks, and kept buying us more and more. He refused to take payment from us. We can’t say we didn’t try to pay back the guy.

Too busy on the dancefloor
It was now so busy it got to the point where the only space to dance was on the carpeted area outside the direct dancefloor. Fair enough, so we danced to our hearts content here. People found it amusing and some joined the silly antics. Was fun! Most though just sat there in the lounges staring at the other people having fun. They definitely were not coming back here.

Arrivederci
All my friends left, so Marty and I went off to Shark Hotel to continue dancing into the night.

Recommendation
Much more busier tonight. Not many in theme. Very upset that a 90 minute line up did not result in free entry, while a handful of people were seen pushing in. What can you do? Atmosphere pretty good. Music is great for a contemporary RnB joint. As much as I do not like to admit it, I had a better time tonight sans the lining up trouble. If only they let a man dance for more than 1 minute on the podium…

Funky @ Sanctuary Hotel: (Beauty and the Geek)- 7.5/10

Me with one of the fans in the attempt to keep the temperature cool

It’s my birthday weekend, but I really didn’t plan anything for Saturday. A friend has invited me to Sanctuary Hotel – The last time I walked in, the air con wasn’t working correctly for large crowds and it became stuffy and overheated. Since then I have been assured things were ‘fixed’. So let’s check it out – here we go!

Funky (Buddha) @ Sanctuary Hotel
Assessment Time: 12:15AM to 02:45AM
Opening Hours: 10:30 – Unknown
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.funkybuddha.com.au, http://www.phatentertainment.com.au
Address: 545 Kent St - Corner of Liverpool and Kent St, Sydney. Behind 3 wise monkeys.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok. Hats allowed.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 standard. $20 on guestlist before midnight. 
Guestlist: info@phatentertainment.com.au
Occurence: Every Saturday Night.
Inside: The entrance is not at the normal Sanctuary Hotel entrance. It is via the TAB area further along on Kent St. The room upon entry is where people can have a chat and chill out without actually going outside. Walk in further to the main area, and the large carpeted room has been converted to a dancefloor. DJ on the wall, and a 3 tier podium smack in the middle, dividing the room into two halves. Bar along the far back wall.
Cloak Room: Cloak room is located upon entry. Not utilized tonight but I would imagine it to be the same rip off pricing as of previous nights at the previous Verandah Bar venue.
Bar: Did not utilize tonight, but the wait was a bit longer than usual. Line was 2 or 3 deep. Bar closed altogether at 2:30AM, in a safe assumption that too many fights spoil the bar.
Music: RnB, Pop and some House mashup
Crowd: Mostly Asian. Mostly teenagers or early 20′s. You can tell via the baby faces and hair styles. I fit right in.
Entertainment: Podium dancers throughout the night. It’s good enough.
Atmosphere: It’s setup to encourage lots of dancing, which is good. The humidity of the last time I was here is gone – Fans are installed and air con is setup just right for a danceable experience. People are not as friendly but what else do you expect from 18 year olds. Carpeted area gives the place a more friendly vibe as well as the second room to allow people a breather is also good. It’s also pretty busy on the dancefloor itself, enough to have your own dance, but not sardine packed.

Podium dancer - Funky @ Sanctuary Hotel

Fights: I saw two fights break out tonight. One you may see typically at a club, but two in one night is bad. Ha. Teenage angst and alcohol.
Videos:

Walkthrough of the dancefloor area. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

360 View

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:
The world cup
It only comes every 4 years. Tonight it was Australia vs Ghana. I sat for the majority of the match in the secondary room watching the game with my fellow clubbers. I know, it wasn’t utilizing the most of my $25 but I have to watch it. It was really upsetting to see Kewell red carded. Very unfair.

This definitely deserved a red card
So after the match I am trying to get through the crowd, but I face a wall of some dancers. I stand there for a few seconds waiting for a gap to open up so that I could continue on. A girl behind me pushes me. Ok, I was near their group so I step back a bit but I still can’t go through. Then, ANOTHER SHOVE from the same group, this time more violent – as if to tell me to fuck off already. HEY – IM JUST TRYING TO WALK THROUGH, AND COINCIDENTALY STANDING NEXT TO YOU GIRLS. I AM NOT EVEN LOOKING AT YOU. WHY SHOVE ME FOR?? Fuck you, fucking teenagers.

Used the birthday card
Was getting bored, and there was a circle of about 8 girls just dancing away. So I asked marty to jump in the middle and dance. He said no. I used my birthday card and forced him to go. He agrees and jumps in and dances. Great! It works and we all start dancing for my birthday. I think they were laughing at us rather than with us when we were dancing.

We have a fan from a previous clubbing night
An area in the back opened up and we go back to dance. Another dude joins us, and I shake his hand after. He says he met us last time at Macquarie Hotel! I don’t remember him at all, but if he knows where I was in the past, then I believe him. It’s been a while since I’ve been recognized randomly- I was starting to miss it.

Arrivederci
Left just before 3:00AM from being bored. The place was beginning to die down ratio wise.

Recommendation
This is not such a bad place to go, and a definite improvement on Verandah Bar. Do keep in mind its Asian teeny bopper night here if you are of the older classy type. Seeings two fight break outs in the short time I was here was a little disturbing, but that is expected in any club with young people.

Funky @ Sanctuary Hotel – 6/10

Clubs that were rejected tonight
Flow @ World Square Pub / Equilibrium:
We planned to go here tonight. There is no line outside. That’s good. $20 entry. Though as we got to the door, the internal line inside to go upstairs was packed. there was about 50 people croweded at the base of the stairs waiting for their turn to go upstairs. Oh hell no – we are not going in! So walk off we go…

Tourism @ Tao Lounge:
There was an event on tonight. The bouncer said “Don’t even bother coming in here.” We wanted to see what it was. Bouncer: “Go in for a bit of a laugh if you want. Nobody is dancing in there”. So we went in side. It was free entry anyway. There was about……….. 17 people including us 4. A guy and girl were on the dancefloor. She is standing doing nothing, and he is moving his arms up and down, like he is perforing curls on an invisible 1kg dumbell. It is ridiculous – and so is the music. We left after a wasted 10 minutes.

V Bar had cover charge so we didn’t go in, but it looked dead.

Puls8 @ Shark Hotel was dead as well tonight. (Saturdays are better).

Our final destination – random private party @ Burdekin Hotel
Continued the merry walk down Oxford St, where we strike up some ye old conversation with the patrons outside Burdekin Hotel. They were nice enough to invite us to their private party upstairs at the top level! Booyah!

Got inside – we are really the only asians here, but everyone here is friendly. Most are dancing, its cool. There’s a DJ and the room is dark and ideal for dancing. Mirror covering the back wall for a bigger impression of the room. Enough lounges for the size of the dancefloor. It’s a nice little place for a private party indeed.

There was really only one other good dancer here, but he seemed to only dance whenever I was dancing, and only with the girls i was cracking onto as well. A bit stalkerish, when a guy tails you around, but what are you going to do aye.

The other half of the time, the girl who brought us in was running back and forth from the bathroom throwing up, lol. Anyway everyone here is friendly. Unisex bathrooms provided much chat fodder as well. Met lots of people that night.

Arrivederci
I think at 5AM we were just really freaking tired, and yet people were still in here dancing their socks off. Bloody amazing. This is how people at a club should be! Would I have my birthday here? It is ok to have a birthday here, but only if there are heaps of people. The atmosphere of the floor provides more for dancing rather than socialising once the music is up and pumping, so check it out first before having an event here.

How loud is it you ask?

Here’s a video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Later at 4 or 4:30 the DJ changed to someone else, and the music was less danceable for us, and we left.

Crowd is all caucasian. At this time the place still had about 30-50 people which was amazing. Drinks are good value too.

Me and Marty were dancing crazy style, and got some dancers with us. A guy came up and insisted we dance using our middle fingers as instruments as part of the dance. So we ended up dancing around with our middle fingers in the air, around the place, etc etc. Interesting.

Oxford Art Factory is a nice place to visit for a dance, if you are into the housey/dubstep kind of scene.

7/10 only for lovers of the music genre advertised that week.  I cannot recommend for normal innocent clubbers.

So anyway, we are dancing casually, and suddenly an old asian man is dancing like a madman! His wife is looking at him with dismay, and I think.. “I like this guy – I want to be like him when I grow up”, so I joined him. Here’s the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The old man is the dude on the right. Seriously

Right afterwards, security warned us that we should take photos quicker, as they “dont like that sort of thing” (the dancing) in here. I wonder why a DJ is installed here then!

Recommendation
This place is just a bar, and nothing more. Pretty nice views though

Bounce @ Slide bar - The podium

Walked by here last month and it looked alright – Asians and RnB blasting out from the doors. Promoters said it was a monthly event, so I decided to check it out next time it was on – finally tonight the night has arrived! I got on the guestlist and brang some friends – so here we go!

Bounce @ Slide Bar
Assessment Time: 10:30PM – 02:30AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM – unknown (probably 4:00AM)
Lockout: We left at 2:30 and were advised of lockout. Safe to assume that lockout is at 02:00AM
Website:
Occurence: Once a month. Check facebook for details.
Address: 41 Oxford St, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Standard collared shirt for guys, though it is ok to wear shirts. Stated that no hats were allowed to be worn, but I did see people wearing hats tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free before 11pm if on guestlist. $10 before midnight. $20 Otherwise.
Guestlist: I found the facebook event and added myself to the Facebook guestlist.
Inside: This reminds me of a similar layout to The Bank at Kings Cross. Walk into an open floor to hold about two hundred people. The floor includes an elevated dance platform in which the tiles light up and change colours. Bar to the left. DJ in the far right corner. Overhanging the bar is a balcony for private functions and what not, to hold about 60 people.
Cloak Room: Cloak room available but was not utilised tonight.
Bar: Did not use the bar tonight.
DJs: DJ Slim, Edo, Bonniez
Music: RnB, Korean Pop.
Crowd: A rare night where everybody is Asian. Dominantly Korean. A mix of locals and international students.
Entertainment: Runway modelling show, and a dance off on the elevated podium area. MC Jayddup to keep things going.
Atmosphere: Initially on entering there wasn’t anyone dancing on the podium. Around midnight it picked up quick and stayed pretty busy the rest of the night. It got very packed at around 1-1:30AM. Dark atmosphere adds to the mood and the crowd was pertty into most of the songs. It was pretty good.

The Korean crowd looks down to the dancefloor during the fashion parade segment

Video: 360 View Taken during peak time, and everyone chants along:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Awesome photo with promoter brace buddy

Arrivederci
We left, as some friends were a bit tired. I would have happily stayed the rest of the night.

Recommendation
If you like all asian events, with the occasional K-Pop song thrown into your RnB music, then this is a good place to go. Friendly vibe and entertainment segments to keep things interesting as well. I never thought Slide Bar could be done so well but it has, and I’m happy for it.

Bounce @ Slide Bar – 9.0/10.

119 @ St James Hotel

Friend has a farewell party and I’m a lucky 3rd invite. Unluckily the chosen event is 119, which has moved to St James Hotel, from the old location of Space Nightclub. Tonight is the opening night. So here we go!

119 @ St James Hotel Sydney
Assessment Time: 12:00AM – 04:00AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM – 04:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.infinityproductionz.com (At time of writing the website is not operational yet)
Address: 114 Castlereagh St, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok. Hats ok. People here are wearing mostly collared shirts and dresses.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 Full Cover Charge. $20 on guestlist before midnight. Free before 10:30pm if on guestlist (usually only the first 10-15 people in line manage to get in before 10:30 for any of these type of promotions)
Guestlist: info@infinityproductionz.com
Inside: St James comprises of 3 levels but tonight’s event was only held on the top level. Enter via the middle level for the bar and chillout area, where there are tables and stools aplenty. Upstairs walk to the main carpeted area, where there is a wooden dancefloor to hold about 100 people. A DJ in the far corner. More lounges around the place to sit down and chat. Bar on the opposite end of the dancefloor.
Cloak Room: $5 per item.
Bar: $21.50 AUD for three shots of absinthe. The wait was about 5 minutes.
Music: Contemporary RnB tonight
Crowd: One of the last remaining places where every single person is asian. Usually there is one or two unlucky white people who either have yellow fever or accidentally walked into here, but none could be spotted. The crowd is a half mix of locals and internationals. You can spot the fobs by their fobby hairstyles.
Entertainment: No MC, but a photographer. My favourite photographer Will the Kill was here tonight. He’s surprised that there are so many non-local fobby asians here tonight.
Atmosphere: If wasn’t that good. Previously when Urban Agent promoted, it was packed out like sardines and hot as hell. Tonight, it wasn’t that packed. I would say the dancefloor was pretty much filled out the entire night, and the lounge seats were taken, but you see, the dancefloor and seats only took up half the entire floor space, there was lots of standing room, and, only a few were standing around. Despite this, there were enough people here to warrant staying here the rest of the night. Still, there was something in the air that didn’t make it a lively atmosphere, it was kind of muted – it wasn’t as wild as you would expect a crazy club to be. It might be that there wasn’t an MC.
Video: Walkthrough to the main room

Click here to view the embedded video.

Picking a girl up
I’m with a friend and one of her female friends. She has a boyfriend, but I was not foretold of this. Of course, me being me, I tried to get my grind on with no luck. So I figure, ok she doesn’t want to dance, so lets do something fun. I bent down, wrapped my arms around her knees and stood up, lifted her above the ground and I span around the dancefloor.

She is literally beating me and screaming at me. Haha ok, after a few seconds she is placed back down, and she runs about 5 metres to the corner off the dancefloor. It was like she saw a ghost. Wow. I had to apologize, and I was then told she had a boyfriend and that she loved him very much. I could still dance with her, but I was no longer allowed to touch her. LOL.. wow, I cannot even touch her – that is a request and a half! You are serious, right? Yes, she was.

Shot virginity broken for our dear friend
James: We are having shots. Want one?
Friend: Sure!
James: Here (hands over a shot)
Friend: What is this?
James: It’s called absinthe. (Friend: never heard of it) Try it.
Friend: ok!
You can imagine the look of disgust on her face. Oh its hilarious seeing people’s reactions to absinthe. She took the shot down entirely like a champion, but pretty much was in a funny state rest of the night.

Lots and lots of dancing – good that there is space.
The good thing about a club that is not at capacity is that you have room to dance and do your own thing. It was too dark for many people to notice our awesomeness though. I think near the end of the night we had some guys join us for a mini dance off but they were just men.

“We’re leaving the club now”
That is what the girls said as I keep hitting on them. 3 hours later when the club closed, I spotted them outside. Cold!! I’m James Tran, man.

Arrivederci
We did leave at closing time.

Recommendation
Hard to tell how this event will go in the future. I don’t know many events that have lasted the distance at St James Hotel. I know that I won’t be coming back here. I still hate paying $25 for entry, and despite what was mentioned earlier, the atmosphere just was not there for me to enjoy a good time. Just a few more people, some podiums and an MC.. and tonight may have been more decent. I only stayed as I met a lot of my friends here, who are probably sick of the other clubs on offer, lol. I have a feeling they will not be coming back here either.

119 @ St James Hotel – 4.5/10

Sin City Nightclub Gold Coast

It was panic after booking the plane tickets – Clubs in Sydney were closed on Good Friday. But what relief to find out the clubs in Surfers Paradise all opened after midnight – score! So off we went to Sin City nightclub – here we go!

Easter Good Friday @ Sin City Nightclub
Assessment Time: 12:30-3:00am
Opening Hours: 12:00am-5:00am (Special opening times due to Good Friday)
Lockout: 3:00am
Website: http://www.sincitynightclub.com.au
Address: 22 Orchid Ave, Surfers Paradise Gold Coast, Queensland Australia
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15 standard. $10 or possibly cheaper on guestlsit
Guestlist: See website. They have events everyday to which you can submit guestlists to.
Inside: Walk in with a bar on the left with podiums for girls and tables. On the right is the main dancefloor and DJ area. Dancefloor holds about 100-150 people. Elevated platforms around the columns. Balcony like area, and second bar as well on the far end. VIP lounges in the back corner. Everything is carpeted except for the dancefloor.
Cloak Room: None offered.
Bar: 12 Tequila sunrises and 12 Chatreuse shots for a total of $243
Music: A mix of modern rnb and commercial house. There is also some top 40 music.
Crowd: Being surfers paradise, mostly backpackers or people holidaying this weekend up in the Gold Coast. Most are of caucasian background.
Entertainment: All the waitresses are dressed in corsets and really short skirts / lingerie. Enough said. There are also permanent podiums for dancing on.
Atmosphere: Considering it was Good Friday, did not expect a big turnout, but since it *was* Surfers Paradise – there were a billion backpackers looking for a place to party!
Video: 360 of Sin City

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:
No Photos of the waitresses
I was so excited that the waitresses were wearing lingerie so I took a photo of a waitress and she SNAPPED at me. “No photos, you have to ask” she yells at me. Fair enough. I deleted the photo and asked for a photo. “NO” she says curtly. How did I not expect that answer. So anyway, always ask before doing

My hat is popular with backpackers
I am dancing with my friends, and not even 1 minute on the dancefloor, two girls have already asked to take a photo with me. Seriously, why? I am just wearing a hat. Well I seem to be the only one wearing one in here, but I found it strange they wanted a photo with me. It might be their pick up line, but they didn’t want to talk to me after the photo. Really really strange.

Later throughout, random people just pluck the hat and put it on and dance with it. It’s for me to give out to others, not for you to pluck! Way too many men chose my hat for my liking that night.

Fight!
We are hanging out in the dancefloor and suddenly a fight broke out, right next to us! Usually in a fight you step back 5 or 6 steps. This one turned from a fight of 2 or 3 people to a 5-8 peron brawl, requiring as many steps back as possible. It was going off for a good 20 seconds before security jumped in to save the day. It was one of the most vicious brawls I’ve seen in a nightclub, probably because we were right next to it. A minute later, everyone is happily dancing again.

Sexism

Ladies only on the podium - SEXIST!!

This sign says it all – total sexism!! Well, I got up anyway, for a photo.

Take THAT you sexist nightclub!!

Arrivederci
We left due to too much drinking.

Recommendation
Atmosphere of this place is very good, and the crowd is pretty friendly. Good music for everyone here also adds to the atmosphere. Cheap entry too.

Sin City Fridays – 8.0/10

Mixing in with the Crowd at the "119" event at Space Nightclub

Before you ask ‘Why are you here at Space??’ Well, I got free entry. If you haven’t been to Space before, well read on!!

119 ‘Chocolate Party’ @ Space Nightclub

Assessment Time: 11pm-12:30am
Opening Hours: 10:30pm-3:00am
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.club119.com http://www.infinityproductionz.com (as of April 2010 the websites are not up yet)
Address: 127 Liverpool St, Sydney (as of April 16th 2010 the venue has moved to St James Hotel)
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual OK. I had dress shoes, a collared shirt and jeans
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 Full cover charge. Tonight I got free entry.
Guestlist: Info@infinityproductionz.com
Inside: Take the elevator to the third level of the building. Doors open and you are now looking into the chill out room. It’s fairly large and there are tables and stools, and lots of standing area. A bar is in the middle and on the otherside is the main DJ/dance area. In this room there is a room/hall to hold a good 750 people or so. Almost as big as the main floor at Home Nightclub. Minimal lounges around the walls.
Cloak Room: Yes, there was one offered. Pricing unknown.
Bar: One bar to service the whole club, which was enough.
DJs: Edo/Normz/Jun/D-Kutz/Siera/Kai
Music: Contemporary RnB and some Hip Hop
Crowd: Everyone here was asian. Mix of local and fobs
Entertainment: Just an MC to keep things going
Atmosphere: Chill out room was dead. Main floor was reasonably good and busy. Initially as we got in, it was dead (11pm) but it picked up a bit later.

Video: Walkthrough of Space

Click here to view the embedded video.

Main Room Space Nightclub (only half the room is shown here)

Timeline:
No Easter Love
We came, we saw a handful of women in bunny ears, and nothing more. No chocolate eggs, no easter bunny, nothing. What a shame.

Super long train conga line
Theres 3 people running around in a conga train line. Now that’s an idea! Jumped on, dragged two friends and there were now 6. Anybody we chooed on by, we got them to jump on, and after a few minutes, our train was probably 30 people long!! Then suddenly it all died. That’s amazing stuff to get 30 people in a conga line!

Big circle in the middle
There is a big circle in the middle and theres a white guy and Asians battling it out. Pretty cool. Note to self: take up dance classes again.

She got kicked out
Special K got kicked out – not sure why. Please fill me in! I think it was for dancing too awesome.

Arrivederci
Most of the time was spent dancing with a girl here. I had to leave her to go to Havana to see friends.

Recommendation

Hard to tell as I was only here a short time. Previous times at Space I have been disappointed but the setup here is a little better tonight. The new promoters have kept it simple with just one Dj the whole night, and no trance DJ. The crowd turnout is respectable for a Thursday night as well. It is these factors above that lead me to giving 119 @ Space Nightclub a 6.0/10 tonight.

Star Bar 19th March 2010

Friends of Marty have forced me to go to Star Bar, after leaving the dismal Shark Hotel. I have only 3 passes this year to visit Star Bar as part of my new years resolution, and after tonight, I will only have one left. So Marty and I go in for a dance.. here we go!

Saturday – The dancefloor was busy the whole time we were there. The surrounding areas of stools and lounges weren’t so busy.

Puls8 (Friday) @ Shark Bar - Peak Time.. pretty not busy.

Walkthrough Video on a Friday – Very dead

Click here to view the embedded video.

Previous incarnations of clubbing nights at Shark Hotel bring back memories of a dark room at the back, full of people dancing, and ALWAYS ending up in a fight, complete with chairs and tables being flung in a multitude of directions. Will tonight be the same? Keep reading to find out…

Friday’s Timeline
Dancing with the crowd
Firstly, as we arrived, there was only one guy up there dancing on his own. A sole warrior. A European version of me. Marty and I jump up for a dance. There are now 3 losers up on the dancefloor at 11pm. Later some other people who were gutsy enough come up .. and it was alright with the 6 of us now. It didn’t really get much more than that.

No people = No shoes
It’s so dead that there’s 3 of us. The 3rd person, a girl, has taken off her shoes to dance, and no security has come up to tell her off. It’s pretty relaxed in here.

She left her shoes on the podium to go barefoot. Shoes did not get stolen nor was she told off.

Mistaken Identity
Me and Marty are out tonight, and we’re wearing similar vests. Marty is wearing his hat and he steps off the floor and it’s just me. A girl who was dancing with Marty turns around and asks me “wheres your hat?”. oh.. my.. god… did she think I was Marty, the guy she was just dancing 5 minutes with?? She wasn’t kidding, and she really thought I was Marty. Oh my god.. WE DO LOOK THE SAME!!

We totally look the same

Saturday’s Timeline
Reviving a dancefloor
On Arrival, there are two guys dancing up on the dancefloor. Once again, Marty and me jump up and join in… nobody joins us and it takes Beyonce’s “single ladies” to get about 8 women up on the dancefloor, which is a great result for Shark Hotel.

Photographer loves us
Early on, the photographer takes photos of us and loves us so much he gives us a free drink each. Oh, score! It was Yager Beer time!

Photographer loves me! Last known photo of my hat.

Jagermeister promotions

There’s a Jagermeister stand, giving out merchandise per Jager shot taken. Keyrings, shirts and bandanas were up on offer. I got a bandana and keyring bottle opener

Jagermeister stand - shot of jager for a free item!

Hat gone
I’ve lent my hat to a girl Marty was dancing with, and then she left. My awesome hat is gone. NO. Marty I want you to get my hat back!

Having to fend off sleazy men
I’m with a friend, and she’s heavily tipsy. You leave her alone for one minute and some guy is grinding with her. So really I have to run around and fend off anyone. I think at one point, we were in conversation and a guy comes up and asks me if he could talk to her for ‘just a sec’. Like hell no, shine your dick away from me! Barf. He didn’t even offer me a bribe or anything.Another guy comes up to us in the bar and grabs her crotch. Barf again. My cousin is hit on heaps as well, but she was able to take care of herself, despite her calling out for me for help. LOL. Note – all these sleazes were euro dudes.

Arrivederci
(Friday) Pretty much after 1pm the whole place had died and we left for Star Bar
(Saturday) Left at 3am, there were still some people dancing.

Recommendation
I would avoid coming here on a Friday night. However Saturday nights here are much better, theres more people and the dancefloor is busy enough to have your own private dance without being stared at. If you want a clean place with cheap drinks, and a quick dance, check this out. But only come with friends. You may not enjoy it here on your own. In comparison to the old clubbing nights a year or so ago – the DJ is better and the place is no longer full of drunkards – no longer you should be worried about getting smacked by a wooden chair or glassed in the eye thanks to plastic cups- one can also have a chat and play some pool as well.

Puls8 (Friday Night) @ Shark Hotel – 2.5/10
Puls8 (Saturday Night) @ Shark Hotel – 6.5/10

A female native american indian - Future Music Festival Sydney 2010

All week it was raining. Forecast was raining. We bought tickets months ago, but on the day.. HALLELUJAH! Big old sun was out and about, kicking clouds’ ass. I put on my American Indian outfit, got some pre-drinks at a friends place and off we went – here we go!

Future Music Festival @ Randwick Racecourse Sydney

Assessment Time: 4pm – 10pm
Website: http://www.futuremusicfestival.com.au
Address: Royal Randwick Race Course, Randwick, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes. Everybody wore sunnies. I wore an American Indian outfit.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $100 FR, $120 SR, $145 FR for GA Tickets
Inside: 7 or so massive dance areas. It’s a freaking racecourse. Well its not the course itself, but all the pavillions and surrounding grasslands.
Cloak Room: There was one but I was too lazy to walk to the other side of the course to put it in there
Bar: $10.50 for smirnoff ice cans. They’ve upped it from $10!! Dodgy. Both times we waited about 10-15 minutes for our drinks. Limit of 2 drinks per person.
DJs/Acts: Prodigy. Most epic set I have been to (I havent been to many). I was pretty much situated a good 200 or 300 metres so from the stage, and the whole area was still jumping up and down like a moshpit through all the songs. I missed every other main act, but they included David Guetta, Empire of the Sun, Sven Vath, Boys Noize, Dubfire, and Booka Shade from memory.
Music: House, Trance, Electronica
Crowd: Mixed bag of everything. Mostly caucasians if you wanted to classify.
Entertainment: Roller disco, Rides, free shots of drinks, and lots of other stuff we didn’t discover that day.
Weather: Sunny all day. Perfect.
Atmosphere: very good. The weather was great and provided for a good mood for everyone involved.

Future Music Festival Sydney Videos:

Me doing drunken cartwheels

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Read on for more heaps more videos and the Timeline

Pod Room 360

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The crowd outside
There are just people freaking everywhere you go.

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Green Room 360

It’s a small room, i think sponsored by an energy drink. Anyway we were so freaking thirsty from the alcohol, we took whatever energy drink we could. Nice.

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Starfuckers stage 360 + “I Gotta Feeling” Black Eyed Peas

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Silent Disco Area (a bit redundant as the camera is outside listening range of any of the music)

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Prodigy were the only act we managed to catch the whole day. The rest of the day was spent just walking around the whole place. Needless to say, the entire set had the crowd constantly jumping up and down, and even though we were about 200 metres back, where we were.. it still felt like we were pretty close to the stage. Pretty awesome. Whatever energy we had left was all spent after this. I tried to go closer to the stage, and cut off a girl. She got pretty angry at me, grabbed my headpiece and threw it to the ground.

Prodigy – “Breathe”

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Prodigy – “Omen”

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Prodigy – “Invaders Must Die”

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Timeline
Hey! How are you? Hey! How are you?
The above title was my greeting for everyone I met today. Someone at the bus stop saw me and had blessed me with it. Love it. I’ve come dressed as Chief Breaking Wind, the dancing native American Indian.

Lining up
As with any festival, unless you’re in the VIP line, you’re thrown in with everyone else. At first glance the line appeared huge, but thanks to 6 entry gates where we were, the line up only took about 20 minutes. I must say though for bathrooms – Future Music Festival has some of the shortest lines for any festival. There were even some areas where there was no line at all. Amazing. They had portaloos everywhere you go. It’s amazing, and a job well done for Future Entertainment.

Losing friends
Initially it was 6 of us. After about 10 minutes, we got split and it was just me and my buddy Crabs left. Despite the constant SMS back and forth ‘where are you’, “i am here”, we never found each other for the rest of the day.

Apparently not the last Mohican
Honestly I thought I would be the only one dressed up as a native american, but what I forgot was the fact that Empire of the Sun were playing.. and if you don’t know, Empire of the Sun LOVE wearing their Indian American Headpieces. So, the fans were out in force:

Die Hard Fans of Empire of the Sun

Another American Indian Friend of Mine

Roller Disco with two randoms
In my drunken haze I grabbed a woman and danced with her. We became friends, and she had her guy friend as well. So it was us 4 (including Crabs), and we decided to go to the roller disco! It was awesome fun.

Everyone fell, except me:
I have never been on roller skates, but I used to rollerblade when I was a child… and I can hold my own with ice skates, so skating around on skates was ok for me. My friends though, STACKED IT HARD. Hilarious.

Here’s a poster we found on the ground:

This is how we roll!

Crabs loses his shoes
We returned to the shoe area. The way it works is that you leave your shoes under the chair and skate, then come back. Well, once we came back, Crabs shoes appeared to be missing. We could not find them – someone had stolen them!! So I urged my friend to steal someone elses shoes, which he did, and thus the chain of shoe thieving continued.. hahaha

Getting Married
My friend Crabs has a priest outfit. He married me and a girl in the Silent Disco room, but she refused to kiss. what kind of marriage is that? Later I married a guy in the same room, but I don’t remember this – it is only what Crabs has told me afterwards.

We got married by Crabs the priest

We also missed the entire David Guetta set cause were lost track of time, but apparently one of the speakers in the back had stopped working, so people standing at the back had a shitty time. Meanwhile, we were dancing it out hard in the Silent Disco room!

Dehydration
Drunk, Tired, and we had only been drinking alcohol. Bad recipie, cause i was so freaking parched. Once I got my hands on a tiger woods gatorade outside the venue I gulped that thing down so fast it wasnt funny. Neeless to say there was a water station somewhere, but the place is so big we didn’t walk by it.

Arrivederci
After the Prodigy set everyone was kicked out. The lines were too long for a bus, so we walked to The Entertainment quarter (Fox studios) where taxis were dropping off party goers for the Mardi Gras party at Hordern.

Recommendation
Pretty good. Nice weather, nice crowd, nice music.. everything nice. Wish the bar prices were cheaper.

Future Music Festival Sydney 2010 – 9.5/10

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.