Hip Hop
Bamboo @ Martin Place Bar: Saturday 17th July 2010
by James on Jul.17, 2010, under Hip Hop, Martin Place Bar, RnB
Bamboo was having a white party! Oh god I hate this place but it was a white party – I had to go.. and to make sure I wouldn’t change my mind, they threw in free entry all night and a free drink for anyone dressed in all white!! With the sad news that Sensation White was cancelled and no longer returning to Australia (the promotional ad had ironically told people “why wait for Sensation this year?”), this was a rare chance to whip out the good old Gandalf the white outfit, so I rounded up some friends and got this thing started – here we go!
Jesus with worshippers at Bamboo
Bamboo @ Martin Place Bar – 17th July 2010
Assessment Time: 11:00PM – 04:00AM
Opening Hours: 10:30 PM- 04:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.urbanagent.com.au , http://www.martinplacebar.com.au
Address: 51 Martin Place, Corner of Elizabeth Street Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual allowed. Half the dudes are smart casual, and the other half are just.. casual. Girls are all in dresses and wearing their faces. Lots of pretty girls. And they’ve relaxed policy somewhat – they have allowed hats to be worn inside!
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free entry all night if you wore white. Otherwise standard cover charges apply. $20 on guestlist before midnight. Free on guesetlist if you get to the counter before 10:30 (small chance), and $25 after midnight.
Guestlist: eric@urbanagent.com.au
Occurence: Every Saturday only.
Inside: Walk into a small bar to hold about 150 or so people – DJ at the front corner. Bar on the right hand side of the venue,taking up half of the floor space. 4 podiums are dotted along the length of the dancefloor, including one with a dancing pole. Small private area at back but was really open to anyone who walked in. Outdoor smoking and BBQ area on the left of the venue.
Cloak Room: $5 for all items.
Bar: I can’t remember. 3 ABC shots for $36 ?
Music: Primarily Hip Hop / RnB tonight. Top 40 and Commerical House mashup as well. DJ’s are mixing it well, keeping the crowd always active and dancing.
Crowd: Dominantly Asian. I spotted 2 white girls, 3 black guys as the minorities here tonight. There were probably a few more handful of the minorities. Age wise it varied, but most people I met were in their early 20′s. It seems as all the teens have gone to Funky. Bad news in a few years time for Bamboo as they would soon have no base.
Entertainment:Theme tonight was White. White balloons all over the place. MC to keep things going. Podium dancers, but only one or two. BBQ outside to feed your tummy. Similar to Shanghai Nights (well, it is the same promoter)
Atmosphere: At its peak, the place is extremely packed, and you would be hard pressed to find some floor space to dance – you would really need to hop up on the podiums to have your own dance action. Outside of peak periods it was still pretty busy. Most of the crowd are singing along to the songs, so pretty vibrant.
Video: 360 of Bamboo @ Martin Place Bar (at the back)
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Funky (Buddha) @ Sanctuary Hotel: 19th June 2010
by James on Jun.19, 2010, under Hip Hop, Pop, RnB, Sanctuary Hotel
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. 
360 View
Related:
Pure @ Macquarie Hotel, Liverpool, Sydney: Saturday 1st May 2010
by James on May.01, 2010, under Hip Hop, Macquarie Hotel, RnB
Macquarie Hotel, Liverpool Sydney
I’ve never been to Liverpool – There’s three clubs I know of in this area – Collingwood, NOX and Macquarie. A friend constantly raves about Macquarie Hotel, so I rounded up some local friends, and off we went – Here we go!
Pure @ Macquarie Hotel Sydney
Assessment Time: 11:30PM – 03:00AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 03:00AM
Lockout: No lockout
Website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=226724078936 , http://www.macquariehotelliverpool.com.au/
Address: 269 Macquarie St, Liverpool Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual shirts and casual shoes allowed, and is what almost all the guys are wearing. Girls are dressed up and looking pretty. Hats are not allowed to be worn inside.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: None.
Inside: Walk inside to the gaming area. Bar to the right for the area. Keep walking into the main bar area where the bar is also to the right. Bar area has various tables and chairs, and is carpeted. Following up is a strip of patch and a set of lounges. Past the row of lounges is the dancefloor, with overhead convertible roof. Dancefloor to hold about 150 people. Side room to the left for smoking, if the overhead roof was closed. There is also a secondary entrance on the right corner of the dancefloor. See video for more.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: $7.50 for a shot of tequila.
DJs: DJ Dee.
Music: RnB all night, with about 20 minutes of house/trance from 02:30-02:50AM
Crowd: The majority of people here are asian. There are pockets of wogs and other nationalities. Most people are local asian teenagers. There are some older folk well in their 20′s but were the minority.
Entertainment: MC to keep things going
Atmosphere: The dancefloor was pretty much packed the entire night, but too packed – pretty much Bamboo like. The rest of the club was also bustling the entire time. Kind of dark as well, which was good in a way. People are smoking everywhere on the dancefloor thanks to the open roof. You are unable to escape it.
Video Walkthrough:
Related:
Saturdays @ Fever Nightclub (The Blue Note), Wollongong NSW: 17th April 2010
by James on Apr.17, 2010, under Fever, Hip Hop, RnB
Fever Nightclub Wollongong NSW (Bluenote) - taken from the corner of the dancefloor
Tonight I am in wollongong with friends to check out the clubs. We were on our way to Hostage X or Illawara Hotel for the final club of the night, after visiting The Harp, Ivory and Glasshouse. It’s already 2am and locals have told us Hostage X was dead, and that Illawarra Hotel closes in one hour. This pretty much ended our night.. except there *was* one club left still open after 3am – This club was named Fever (It was formerly known as but still constantly referred to as The Blue Note / Bluenote)… it plays RNB, and apparently gets packed once all other clubs close – so we realy don’t have a choice – so here we go!
Saturdays @ Fever Nightclub (Formerly Blue Note / The Bluenote)
Assessment Time: 02:00AM – 04:00AM
Opening Hours: Unknown (apparently opens late) – 05:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: No website found.
Address: Corner of Station St and Pacific Highway, Wollongong, NSW.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual OK. Hats are not allowed to be worn.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10 all night
Guestlist: None
Inside: Walk upstairs two or three flights of stairs to arrive to the nightclub, which holds about 160 people. Dancefloor to the far right corner, bar on the left, and lounges on the furthest left corner. Dancefloor is a flashy neon-based dancefloor. Check out the video for footage, its quite sizeable and this is where the dancing is concentrated at.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Did not drink at this venue.
Music: Purely RNB as far as I can remember. Mix of contemporary and old school.
Crowd: Mostly locals, and almost all of them have come from other clubs and bars in the area. Asians, Samoans, Aussies, Indians, Euros.
Entertainment: Big flashing dancefloor! Biggest flashing one I’ve seen in a long time. (ok, I haven’t seen that many)
Atmosphere: Dead at first, but it picks up at around 3am, when all the other clubs close, and Fever / The Blue Note is the last place within 100KM’s that is still open and belting out the beats.
Video: Walkthrough into Fever Nightclub
Video: 360 of Fever Nightclub including flashing dancefloor
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Addiction (Final Night) @ The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross, Sydney: Friday 9th April 2010
by James on Apr.09, 2010, under Hip Hop, RnB, The Bank
The Bank Nightclub
Addiction (Final Night) @ The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross, Sydney
Assessment Time: 11:00PM – 01:30AM, 02:00AM – 03:45AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM – 04:00AM (closing time uncertain)
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.thebanknightclub.com.au , http://www.meentertainment.com.au
Address:42 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok. Hats are ok. It’s mostly urban here with the guys, and the women are all dressed up.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20. Free before 10pm and discount after, if on the guestlist.
Guestlist: info@meentertainment.com.au
Inside: The venue itself is definitely suave with the feel of elegance. Dark polished wood everywhere, carpeted lounge areas. Ground level holds the narrow but long dancefloor for 150 or so people. Upstairs overhangs a balcony / 2nd tier lounge dance area but it is closed off for tonight. Bar is on the right with a shelf of alcohol which adorns side wall. So many bottles of Jagermeister 
Cloak Room:None offered
Bar: $5 for most drinks before 11pm. Standard prices thereafter.
DJs: I don’t know but at one point they had DJ’s at the same time, albiet alternatively spinning and mixing into each other’s songs instead of playing at the same time.
Music: Hip Hop and RNB, mostly on the Hip hop side of things. Usually at the RnB club , you would hear Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre west coast rap at 2am – tonight it was being blazed out at 11pm. It may not be for everyone. I do like my hip hop, but there were some songs that I didnt know either. There were multiple moments where Marty and I considered leaving the club due to a questionable or unknown song being played by the DJ, but since we already paid $20 to get in, we stayed another song. Also throughout the night a random house song would be played out as well. It was a mind fuck, and not in a good way. Also near closing time, the DJ was guilty of playing songs a second time, even thought it was a different DJ. – totally wrong
Crowd:Initially an even mix of aussies, wogs / euros, and black / african people. There are also a handful of asians. Ages were probably 20′s or older. There did not seem to be any policy or any pretension in this place. Later on in the night approaching 2-3am, the crowd becomes a ratio of 50% black african and 50% everyone else. Some of the girls left were hot so it kept us staying. Shameless.
Entertainment:MC to keep the vibe going throughout the night. No other entertainment. At one point in the night, 2 DJ’s were playing , switching songs with each other, which was something I hadn’t seen before at a club.
Atmosphere:Initially at entering at 11pm, it’s pretty good and everyone is dancing, which is bloody surprising. Hopes are up, however it doesn’t really get any busier, and stays at the busy state throughout the night, which is still good. In terms of friendliness, it was dark enough to dance on your own, but since it was such a small dancefloor cross-area, you are always under the eyes of someone as you dance.
Video Walkthrough of The Bank Nightclub
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Candy Dreams Thursday @ Havana Club Deluxe: 1st April 2010
by James on Apr.01, 2010, under Havana, Hip Hop, RnB
Asian Night at Havana - Thursday 1st April 2010
Good Friday is on tomorrow and all the clubs in Sydney are closed that day, so they are open Thursday night in lieu… Just left Space with Derelict, to meet up with Marty and some other female friends, so here we go!
Candy Dreams Lingerie Party @ Havana Club de Luxe
Assessment Time: Midnight – 02:30am
Opening Hours: 10:30pm – 03:00am
Website: http://www.havanaclub.com.au, http://www.teamhkr.com
Address: 169 oxford st, Darlinghurst Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok. I had dress shoes, a vest and collared shirt on. Others wore t-shirts and some girls wore corsets tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25. $20 on guestlist before midnight. I employed use of my free pass from the last week I visited Havana.
Guestlist: See promoter website
Inside: Walk upstairs two flights of stairs to the top level of the building, where Havana is. Main dancefloor for 250 or so people, with 3 bars on 3 sides, and DJ on the 4th wall. Lounges and carpeted areas surround the dancefloor.
Cloak Room:$4
Bar: Didn’t drink tonight
Music: RnB with the occasional House mashup
Crowd: Mostly asian with a mix of the others such as euro, aussie. Mostly local.
Entertainment: Podiums in the middle in front of the DJ and next to him. Dancing poles are not installed tonight.
Atmosphere: It was a Thursday, so it wasn’t as packed as a typical Friday night, nethertheless it was still busy enough to keep it away from the status of ‘dead’. Later around 2am it did die down considerably.
Video - 360 View of the main floor around midnight
Related:
Satisfaction @ Tao Ultra Lounge / Mr B’s Hotel Sydney: Saturday 27th February 2010
by James on Feb.27, 2010, under Hip Hop, RnB, Tao
Dance Floor area - Tao Nightclub
Just finished watching Mardi Gras. Time for a dance! A friend of a friend has a birthday at none other than Tao, where I had a good time last Saturday for their ‘Satisfaction’ grand opening, so let’s try it again – here we go!
Satisfaction @ Tao Ultra Lounge
Assessment Time: 11:00 – 03:00am
Website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288588253950
Address: 396 Pitt St, CNR Goulburn St (Old Mandarin Club)
Dress Code / Door Policy: Dress nice. Tonight even crossdressing asians were allowed. On entering, the security guard warned me to keep my hat off inside. I managed to keep it on inside without being told off.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free for ladies before 11. $10 before midnight on guestlist. $20 full cover charge fee.
Guestlist: Email Satisfaction.saturdays@gmail.com or SMS 0438 889 892
Inside: Beneath the former Mandarin Club (Now Mr B’s Hotel), Tao Ultra Lounge/Bar is a small area split into even smaller areas – A carpeted area where most dancing occurs. It holds 50-80 people. There are two lounge areas on either side of the dancefloor. A DJ is along the wall next to the bar on the wooden area. The wooden floor area is the general ‘lets stand around and chat each other up’ area with bar and some tables and stools.
Cloak Room: $4 per item
Bar: $19 for 2 Carlton Draughts and a Corona. Current promotion is $5 drinks and $16 jugs of beer before midnight.
DJs: Xcentrik, R*One, Normz, Edo, Day-Day
Music: RnB and some house. DJs tonight are MASSIVELY guilty of repeating songs twice over. Even some house songs such as ‘Riverside’ got repeated later in the night. I like that song, but you can see whoever was here earlier for the first iteration of the song stop dancing, and silently groan that they’ve heard this song before.
Crowd: Almost entirely asian. There were handful of white guys with yellow fever (disgusting) and a white girl looking a bit lost, but that was all from what I could see. Asians were all English speaking Australians.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment, just the MC.
Atmosphere: Overall it was a pretty good atmosphere. People are dancing on the carpeted area, and its dark enough to be a bit private. Lounge areas are dark, and the bar is bright for people who just want to mill around. Most importantly its busy, but not sardine packed. It’s a good balance.
360 Video
Keep reading for my encounters with the various girls in here
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Hello! I'm James. This subjective blog serves to post every dance event I attend to. I go out clubbing once or twice a week. I may include some stories as well. Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments - Thanks for dropping by!
James' twitter
- bought the last 4 kettle chips at the north sydney 7-eleven... bwahahahaha
- train died at waverton indefinitely. too many people at north sydney, so catching a bus home. weeeeee
- i have had a strange day today, and i don't feel real at the moment. I am, however, full of Habibs chicken!!
- OMG YOU ARE SO F*CKED UP. I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY SECRET. BUT YOU HAD TO OPEN YOUR BIG MOUTH!! YOU TOLD EVERYONE! NOW EVERYONE KNOWS IM SEXY
- Look for me at Haymarket Hotel this Friday and Verandah Bar this Saturday
- Asian lesbians, what a concept! And what an excuse to cancel dinner on me.
- they changed my street name from a PDE to RD.. how strange
- you made a bad move trying not to sit on me, and your left buttcheek made big contact with the armrest. was it worth it? Nup I bet it hurts.
- I love finding lost things in my pocket!!
- youtube notes to self: double rainbow, masterchef, cityrail, pirates ... watch this space over the next few months!
