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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Fridays @ The Golden Sheaf, Double Bay, Sydney: 16th July 2010
by James on Jul.16, 2010, under Pop, The Golden Sheaf Hotel
Just finished a dinner at Double Bay, and Marty and I walk by The Golden Sheaf. So many times I have heard friends rave about this place, so lets check it out – here we go!
Fridays @ The Golden Sheaf Hotel
Assessment Time:11:00PM – 1:00AM
Opening Hours: 10:00AM – 2:00AM (Friday and Saturday)
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.goldensheaf.com.au
Address: 429 New South Head Road, Double Bay, Sydney.
Dress Code / Door Policy:
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free Entry all night
Guestlist: None
Occurence: It’s open every night. Tonights live band act is assumed to be at least every Friday. There is a DJ also on Saturday nights.
Inside: The Golden Sheaf runs over 2 levels. Enter via the bottom level into a hallway. Standard Pub to hold 50 or so people and TAB on the left and pokies room on the right. Walk through the hallway to enter the rear entertainment quarter. It’s a big beer garden and obviously recently renovated. Patio heaters, tables and chairs are everywhere. Floor space of the back end takes up about two thirds of the whole place. On the right rear end corner is the main bar, kitchen and dancefloor to hold about 80 or so people. There is a elevated podium with enough room for a 4 piece band to play. Stairs on the right and walk up to a recently renovated lounge area of about 3 main rooms and another bar, with balcony to look over the beer garden. Walls are decorated with flowery / artsy patterns. You can smell the freshness up here. However in essence the actual dancefloor itself is pretty small in size.
Cloak Room: No cloak room facilities. People who were dancing, simnply dumped their stuff in a big communal pile of jackets and bags at the front of the stage.
Bar: I didn’t buy any drinks tonight. The depth of the line was about 1.5 people deep, so you do have to wait a few minutes.
DJs / Acts: A cover band was playing until midnight – with the lead singer mentioning the crowd to look out for them on the X-Factor next month in August. Well, they hd to be at least decent. After midnight, an assumed resident DJ took over.
Music: (upto midnight) The cover band played a wide genre of songs including rnb, commerical house, classic love songs from the past decades, and pop. There was no mixing here, just songs played from beginning to end in a set. (After midnight) The DJ played a mix of RnB, Commercial House, and Top 40. Yes there was some mixing done up here. The choice of music didn’t really blow me away, and some songs left me standing there wondering why they were chosen. It was a very safe selection, and not really meant to replicate a pumping club atmosphere I suppose. It was however, good enough to get people dancing.
Crowd: One would assume mostly locals, and that’s true. There are also a small component of backpackers here
Entertainment: Tonight it was just the live band and DJ. There are two TVs on the edge of the dancefloor, playing Stephen Chow’s “Kung Fu Hustle” on loop. I have no idea why they have chosen this movie, but its pretty funny.
Atmosphere: On the dancefloor it felt pretty vibrant before midnight while the band was playing. When the DJ decided to rock up, it got a little more dancey, but it wasn’t loud thumping, but loud enough to keep the energy up. Wasn’t packed or dead – it seemed right.
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Saturdays @ Coogee Bay Hotel: 3rd July 2010
by James on Jul.03, 2010, under Coogee Bay Hotel, Dubstep, House
My friend is here tonight, and I haven’t been, so I take Marty and Derelict with me in the quest to not only visit all the clubs in Sydney but also to go forth in the search for the best chocolate ice cream in Sydney, haha, so here we go!
Dancefloor @ Coogee Bay Hotel Sydney
Saturdays @ Coogee Bay Hotel
Assessment Time: Midnight – 03:00AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: www.coogeebayhotel.com.au
Address: Coogee Bay Rd, Coogee, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual was ok tonight. Sneakers and hats allowed. Half the crowd wore t-shirts, the other half, casual collars. Only a handful of people including us were nicely dressed. I certainly felt very well dressed as I walked in tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free tonight, but these guys have the fingerprint scanners installed. I get worried when a venue has this technology as it would only mean violence has occured here before.
Guestlist: None tonight. It was a regular Saturday, and the Coogee Bay Hotel does its own promotions.
Occurence: Every Saturday bar special events where entry fee applies.
Inside: The actual club is just one section of the whole complex – similar to how The Albion is setup. Walk in and the live band room is on the right, sports bar on the left. Keep walking in to enter the large beer garden at the back, and bistro on the left. On the right is the club. In the walkthrough video below, we walk from the entrance straight into the club. The clubbing room itself has a wooden dancefloor to hold about 100-150 people comfortably. Some lounges around the surrounding carpeted areas. It feels a little bare, but the whole place is dark, so you eventually forget about the barebones setup.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Did not buy from the bar tonight. However throughout, the line was about 2 people deep. Expect at least a 5 minute wait.
Music: Non-Commercial House, Dubstep, Rnb/pop mashup.
Crowd: Mostly young people here. Teenagers and early 20′s. A handful of people in their 30′s as well, who have come for a bit of a dance after dinner I guess. Pretty much everyone here was caucasian, and probably locals. I would not imagine a non-local making the trek all the way out here on a regular night.
Entertainment: No MC, no podiums. Just the DJ and dancefloor, and some UV lights
Atmosphere: It was busy throughout the whole night. It never got too packed, so you could always have room to dance. Sometimes it got close to squishy but nothing to worry about – you could dance somewhere else – the dancefloor was large enough to accommodate - people danced on surrounding carpet areas as well. Pretty dark in some places around the floor but lighting keeps the floor itself well lit.
Evictions: I saw 2 dudes in total kicked out for being drunk. One was ready to start a fight on the dancefloor. The other was throwing TAB betting sheets all over the sports room and pretended nothing happened when questioned by security – paper littered all around him – hilarious.
Video: Walkthrough
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Related:
5 minutes at the Coogee Legion Club: Saturday 3rd July 2010
by James on Jul.03, 2010, under Coogee Legion Club, Retro
OK, before going into Coogee Bay Hotel, I saw a little dancefloor on the other side of the road. Let’s check it out while we are here!!
360 video:
Well this was the dancefloor. Everyone here is really old and I’m feeling very out of place. Two older women like our basic dancing. The other guys questioned what we were doing here.
The DJ looked about 40 or 50, and was playing a lot of retro songs.
Left out of boredom and shame.
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Saturdays @ Hugo’s Lounge: Saturday 2nd July 2010
by James on Jul.03, 2010, under House, Hugos Lounge
Random birthday invite at Hugo’s for some drinks. The only time I was here before was I believe on a Thursday with a friend, who happened to be a kleptomaniac that night, and so eventually we were kicked out. Tonight its a different set of friends, so hopefully I will be able to stay here longer than 15 minutes, so here we go!
Hugos Lounge Sydney Dancefloor
Saturdays @ Hugo’s Lounge
Assessment Time: 09:00PM – 11:00PM
Opening Hours: – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.hugos.com.au/
Address: Level 1, 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Appears to be strictly smart casual. Collared shirts and dress shoes for men. Dresses for women. Inside I don’t recall any non-collared shirts or guys just wearing casual. Women all are dressed very well. Hats allowed. No mohawks.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free on birthday guestlist. $20 after 10PM from what I heard from someone who was trying to get in, but I do not know for certain about this.
Guestlist: See website.
Occurence: Every Friday and Saturdays
Inside: Walk up the set of stairs to the forked entrance. Take the right stairs to visit the bar and lounge area. It’s mostly for stand and talk and drink. Take the left set of stairs to walk through the narrow walkway and into the main room. Another bar is presented along with an entirely carpeted area with lounges along the walls. An area in the middle for dancing. Overhead disco balls roughly mark the designated dance area.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Cocktails are roughly $17-$19 each.
Music: House by DJ Dolso
Crowd: Mostly older caucasian crowd. People mostly in their 20′s and older. Being more of a classy place the people are more well behaved.
Entertainment: It was just the DJ
Atmosphere: Definitely pretentious, but the people on the dancefloor seemed pretty friendly which was good. The whole place is very dark, so I guess thats a good thing for everyone.
Video Walkthrough
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KX Marks the Spot @ The Sugar Mill: Friday 2nd July 2010
by James on Jul.02, 2010, under The Sugar Mill
Empire Hotel was $20. Nope. We wanted to go to Kit & Kaboodle but we accidentally walked into The Sugar Mill and paid $10, thinking the entry fee covered both venues. Apparently not. I am really upset that I didn’t get to go to K&K, as Art vs Science were playing a DJ Set, but being asians, we just stayed here for the rest of the night..
With Fans of our dancing @ The Sugar Mill, Kings Cross, Sydney
KX Marks the Spot@ The Sugar Mill
Assessment Time: 11:00PM – 01:30AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 04:00AM+
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.sugarmill.com.au/
Address: 33-37 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual OK. Hats OK. Most wore casual. Men had jeans and collared shirts. Girls had a form of dress on.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10 standard. No guestlist. A surprise, as it was previously free for all once upon a time. They’ve caught on. Two groups in front of us were told “$10″, and scoffed at the idea, and then turned around to discuss walking away. In both cases, the bouncer and cashier respectively told them “wait”, and offered them free entry. So, what a great idea to try it as well. When we got to the cashier, we were told “$10″ and we immediately discuss the possibility of leaving. Meanwhile, I am waiting for the dude to say “wait, come in for free”, but NO, he doesnt do it! Like what the fuck. Assholes really don’t want us in their venue.
Guestlist: None
Occurence: Every Friday and Saturday
Inside: More of a bar for drinks, as you enter, there are tables and stools all around. Bar on the far end in front. DJ booth on the right. A small opening where it looks like a table or two could have been, is the quasi-dancefloor.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Did not purchase tonight. The wait is no more than 2 or 3 minutes.
Music: A mix of house, pop, rnb.
Crowd: Mix of backpacker, locals. Mostly caucasian. Mostly an older crowd 25+.
Entertainment: It’s just a pub, no extras.
Atmosphere: Average. you just come here for a drink and dance, and just happen fork out $10 in the proceess.
Video: 360 of the quasi-dance space
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$30 Entry Fees have arrived
by James on Jun.27, 2010, under Clubbing Thoughts, General
I got an email today. It has finally happened – $30 Entry Fees!!! In the poster below, not only patrons are slapped with an expensive cover charge (assumed $25 on guestlist), but they have to dance at Space – hahaha. It was bound to happen eventually, but seriously, FUCKING HELL, I am still adjusting to $25 entry fees!! Seriously fucked up. The last high entry fee event was Kink @ Arthouse about 2 years ago – that was $35 but at least it was quality music.
Unbelievable.
Meanwhile, people up in the Gold Coast, Wollongong still enjoy $10 entry fees….. In Melbourne, the max is $20 as far as i know. FUCK Sydney sucks sometimes. I hope other promoters don’t up their prices as well thanks to this action. Otherwise, it is just fucked up.
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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!
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