Macquarie Hotel: Bar area - Dancefloor behind the white wall

Easter Monday @ Macquarie Hotel Liverpool Sydney

Assessment Time: 10:30PM – 02:15AM
Opening Hours: It’s open all day until 3AM, but I think the DJ starts at 10PM or earlier
Lockout: No lockout I believe
Address: 269 Liverpool St, Liverpool, Sydney
Venue Website: http://www.macquariehotelliverpool.com.au
Promoter Website: Self Promoted event
Occurrence: A once off event for Easter Monday
Outside Line: No line outside. It was like this pretty much the entire night, so its good.
Dress Code / Door Policy: No hats allowed inside. There is no recommendation by promkoters, but the majority here are wearing casual clothing – t-shirts, jeans, hoodie jackets. Guys wearing t-shirts, and girls wearing simple dresses tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free entry all night
Inside: Walk inside past the gaming area (and secondary bar) to enter a large room split into two areas. “Open air” Smoking dancefloor at the front to hold 120 people or so. DJ out at front and bar at the back, where you stand.
Cloak Room: No cloak room tonight
Bar Prices / Line: $11 for a can of Smirnoff Double Black. $5 for a glass of house red wine (it was pretty bitter). Early and later in the night there isn’t much of a line, but during peak time the line is about 4 people deep – so approximately a wait of 15 minutes, but I didn’t even try – just head over to the other side in the gaming lounge where the smaller secondary bar is – there are usually fewer people so you may have a chance of getting your drinks sooner – however the choice is more limited here. BUT… they did give out free pastries and pies from the kitchen. We helped ourselves to a handful of these delicious goodies to go with whatever you are drinking. It took us a good 2 minutes to convince a group of girls nearby that the pies were, indeed, free.
Eviction Count: None that I saw. Crowd looked well-behaved tonight anyways.
Music Style: From the start to about 1:30 it was primarily commercial RnB with the house mashup song thrown in. 1:30-2:00AM it was very trancey with some rock song remixes thrown in, just to mix it up. The crowd didn’t seem very receptive to the unknown trance songs (no vocals), and the rock songs such as Kings of Leon, were so-so. From 2:00AM until close, it was pretty much entirely American hip hop / rap / West Coast, whatever you wish to call it. I’m familiar with the songs and dance to it but friends are not familiar with these songs.
Crowd & Ratio: Initially composed of visitors who were here earlier in the day, the ratio is 50/50 Asian and European/Middle Eastern guys here. Ages varied wildly between early 20′s to late 40′s. I am pretty sure I saw a woman here who was at least 40 or 50 – probably here for a birthday. However don’t be surprised if you see a much older crowd here. Mostly though, the crowd would be in their 20′s. Ratio wise, I would be saying 65%:35% at its best during peak.
Entertainment: An MC to keep things going. I must note he was pretty good at his freestyling and keeping the crowd alive. I might have just probably paid more attention tonight to him, but MCing isn’t an easy job, that is for sure.
Atmosphere: 10:30-11:00PM it was still building up, so not much dancing to be had, but by the time 11:00PM came around, the dance floor was pretty busy, but you could always find yourself some space to dance around – we found a spot at the front and danced our merry way without much problem. Again the front here is considered an open area, because of the open roof (which was pretty much closed due to the rain), and so smoking was more than welcome here. I dislike cigarette smoke muchly, but such is the venue. To alleviate the smoke smell as well as possible overheating issues, mists of water are sprayed down on the crowd occasionally, which is pretty cool (ha!)
Video: Walkthrough and music montage

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pies on the house

The turn out

I think in general it wasn’t going off as it does on the weekend, but for a Monday night it is quite the extraordinary turn out I must admit. It also helped that there was no event going on at Nox nightclub down the road; all locals have to come here.

Western Sydney is awesome
I met someone who was from Adelaide – she said tonight was better than ANY club in Adelaide! Are you kidding me? That’s hilarious, to have this nightclub an hour away from the city bigger than anything in Adelaide – but I have to see it for myself. I think a trip to Adelaide is in order …

Arrivederci
Left at 2:00AM. Friends looked a bit tired and aren’t fans of the West Coast Rap music. (I personally like it)

Recommendation
It was alright during its peak time, but I wasn’t too excited. A once off so no score given.

Club 269 @ Macquarie Hotel

Assessment Time:12:00AM – 01:30AM
Opening Hours: The Hotel is open throughout the day, but the club event begins later in the night beginning around (probably 9:00PM or 10:00PM) until close at 03:00AM
Lockout: No apparent lockout
Address: 269 Liverpool St, Liverpool, Sydney
Venue Website: http://www.macquariehotelliverpool.com.au
Promoter Website: Self Promoted event
Occurrence: Once a month on a Saturday. However every Saturday it is basically the same event but with a different angle to it.
Outside Line: Maybe 5 people in front, but they were let in pretty much right away, so we didn’t wait long at all.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual is ok, and so its pretty much okay to come here wearing what you are comfortable with, so long as you’re not in your daggy Adidas trackpants that you can unbutton all the way up on the side.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: None
Inside: Walk inside past the gaming arera (and secondary bar) to enter a large room split into two areas. Dancefloor and DJ out at front and bar at the back, where you stand.
Cloak Room: None available
Bar Prices / Line: I didn’t buy any drinks tonight, but waiting with a friend there was only one , or two orders maximum in front of us.
Music Style: Primarily Commercial RnB tonight
Crowd & Ratio: Most people here are of the young Asian Australian type. Possible Teeny Bopperss here, but they all look the same. I would say at least half to 75% of the people here are Asian. The rest are a mix of Islander, Indian, Caucasian, etc etc.
Entertainment: Just the MC to keep things going.
Atmosphere: Primarily contemporary Pop/Rnb that you hear on the commercial radio. Occasional house song thrown in. It’s your normal RnB night tonight. It isn’t as packed as the Pure nights, probably because Future Music Festival was on tonight. So, I was surprised to see the venue at a less than optimal capacity. It was still alive, but not as much as other typical Saturday nights. It’s also an open smoking area on the dancefloor so you can get some whiffs of ciggie smoke onto you.
Timeline
Straight to it then
I can’t remember what happened but I did say hi to someone, we got along well.. maybe there was a spark there… then suddenly we get massively got cockblocked by her friend who appeared out of nowhere to save her friend from a lifetime of happiness. The CB pretty much almost whacked me. Too bad.

A free 4 way drink
Some birthday girls me and a friend spoke with earlier came to us.. and had bought a drink for us to share! It was one drink with 4 straws in it. Two straws for us and two straws for them. I wonder where this was leading too. Anyway, this wasn’t some huge as glass to drink out of – it was the tiny small ass glasses that a first time drinker would have. So we ended up having like 50mL’s each of alcohol. haha I didn’t see the point. After that instead of them hanging around for a chat.. they walked away. Interesting.

FIRE ALARM!
It’s about 1:00AM and the music is cut off, replaced with the sound of BEEP.. BEEP… BEEP… (meaning get ready for a possible evac) soon turning quickly into a WOOP… WOOP… WOOP. It was a fire alarm telling us to ‘GTFO!’. However looking around, everyone looked like stunned mullets not knowing what to do. And where WERE the proper fire wardens for this type of emergency? It wasn’t a fire drill. Most of the crowd were looking at the MC, who probably was just as shocked as everyone else. So I put on my metaphorical hat and told two reasonably good looking girls to follow me out, so they did.. sadly though the alarm stopped, and they ran back onto the dancefloor to resume dancing.

Arrivederci
Pretty knackered, and I wanted to go back home, so we left. Place was beginning to die.

Recommendation
The Pure Saturday nights are better, but I would solely contribute the lesser crowd due to Future Music Festival being held tonight. Also disturbed about the lack of fire wardens at a possible fire situation, but I would imagine the same response would happen if the fire alarm went off at any other club.

Club 269 @ Macquarie Hotel : 4.5/10

Dancefloor view from the front

Pure @ Macquarie Hotel, Liverpool, Sydney
Assessment Time: Midnight – 04:00AM (Due to daylight savings, 2AM jumped to 3AM)
Opening Hours: 09:00PM – 04:00AM (It usually is 3AM but daylight savings was not included)
Lockout: I was told of lockout at 02:30AM when trying to leave
Address: 269 Macquarie St, Liverpool, Sydney
Venue Website: http://www.macquariehotelliverpool.com.au
Promoter Website: Self Promoted
Occurrence: Every Saturday. Every first Saturday of the month. Macquarie Hotel is actually open for clubbing every Saturday with the same music and crowd, but goes under the guise of a different name every week. 
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual allowed. Most guys here were indeed wearing casual t-shirts, runners etc. Girls were half dressed up half casual. Surprisingly hats are not allowed.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: No guestlist, but they were supported in regards to obtaining free drinks if your birthday was held during the month of the event.
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. Also if the roof was closed and when the main dancefloor got too hot, overhead pipes would release a light spray of water. 
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: Unknown. Lining up did not take long, there would be only one person in front of you most times of the night. At peak there would be 2 or 3 in front of you.
DJs: Unknown.
Music Style: Contemporary RnB, with occasional House mashup
Crowd: Pretty much everyone is asian and local to the Liverpool / Cabramatta area judging by how many are dressed casually. Mix of older fobs, and Australian born Asian teenagers. There are also pockets of other Caucasian nationalities – its assumed that they were also local to the area.
Entertainment: MC to keep the vibe going.
Atmosphere: On walking in at midnight, it wasn’t as busy as I expected it to be. I was able to walk around the dancefloor without having to forcefully pull people apart, but it was pretty busy nonetheless – just not as busy as other nights I had attended in the past. Later on the night it did pick up and got pretty squishy. On the dancefloor not as many people were smoking, which was odd. It was either this or the misty rain was brushing the ciggie smell away. It didn’t matter, because at the end of the night I did smell like cigarettes. Hate.
Video: 360 of the dancefloor

Click here to view the embedded video.

Toilet Paper
Here is a photo of a roll of toilet paper someone brang onto the dancefloor to kick around at the end of the night.

Roll of toilet paper, so lonely

Arrivederci
We are all removed from the premises at closing time.

Recommendation
For people who can’t be bothered making the trip to the city and don’t want to bother paying entry. Do keep in mind the crowd here as you could easily feel out of place if you aren’t Asian, aren’t a local, aren’t of the younger ages or aren’t dressed up  here. A generally good atmosphere, but also be prepared to come home smelling like cigarettes.

Pure @ Macquarie Hotel - 6.5/10

Macquarie Hotel Sydney Liverpool Dancefloor

I am celebrating a friends birthday at Macquarie Hotel, so here we go!

June Babies @ Macquarie Hotel
Assessment Time: 10:45PM – 03:00AM
Opening Hours: 09:00 PM- 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.macquariehotelliverpool.com.au/ , http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121829681183563
Address: 269 Macquarie St, Liverpool Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual allowed. Most guys here were indeed wearing casual t-shirts, runners etc. Girls were half dressed up half csual. Surprisingly hats are not allowed.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: Pointless as it was free entry. People who were born in June were encourages to create guestlists to be entitled to 6 free drinks. I sent a guestlist of one person (me)
Occurence: The birthday event is Monthly, but Macquarie Hotel in general is on every Saturday with the same crowd regardless.
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.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Shots can only be ordered at the main bar before midnight.
Music: Contemporary RnB for most of the night.
Crowd: Mostly Asian, mostly teenagers. There are a handful of older locals in their late 20s and 30s but these are the minority. I met someone who was celebrating their 18th here. Also my other 18/19 y.o clubbing friends were here. The birthday girl tonight was 22/23 – I can’t remember.
Entertainment: There’s an MC.
Atmosphere: Vibrant, busy and packed on the dancefloor. Way too packed. People openly smoke on the dancefloor as it is open air. Otherwise everyone here is into the dancing / jumping up and down here.

Timeline:
Securing the free drinks
On offer tonight for people born in June were 6 free drinks! Amazing, because I was born in June. A few days before, I asked a promoter what the conditions were. The only thing I had to do to was spam all my facebook friends to tell them about the event. I said I would think about it (no). Well, in any case, a guestlist event in my name was created in my name, with zero guests. Apparently this ws good enough to score free drinks anyway, which I happily got from the MC at the front. The MC actually CHECKED that I was born in June. Never in the history of guestlisting has my birthday been verified until tonight.

World Cup Fever
People are still on about the World Cup. What luck that tonights match was Argentina vs Some Team, where Argentina won 4-0. So while people on the dancefloor are happily dancing away, the rest of us who can’t dance just stare at the soccer match. About half the night was wasted watching the match.

Security still hustling people around
Last time we were here, security were bossing people who were mingling around areas where you are not meant to mingle. Mingle areas include the bathroom, the strip of path between dancefloor and back area, and the bar, if you were not buying a drink. It does keep the people and flow going well though, I have to admit.

Meet my niece, and my fiance
Woo! So I am chatting to a 30 something year old local girl. She’s engaged. Her fiance is here as well at the club. Amazing. So is her niece. Bam! She is hot. Auntie tells me to go for it. Ok, so I strode on up and did a boom boom pow dance (you can imagine the moves), and fiance steps in and pushes me away! He said no, no, no. Auntie didn’t tell someone it was ok. Oh well.

He just turned 18 tonight, Gemini power!

Arrivederci
We left at closing time, and went for a pork roll at the 24 hour place at Cabramatta.

Recommendation
If you are honestly too lazy to head out to the city and live in the area, do check it out. It is the only decent RnB place out west (besides albion in Parramatta), but only if you are prepared to hang out with a young (and potentially dangerous, but I did not witness any fights) crowd.

June Babies / Pure @ Macquarie Hotel – 6.5/10

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:

I’m not a teenage dirtbag
One of our friends is 19, and when she walked into the club with us, probably every 3rd person she saw said hello to her. Far out, this was land of the teens, and there was no end to it. Most of the asians here looked underage or barely legal, but luckily I have braces to fit in, ahaha. But yeah, this place is Asian Teen Central!

Back when I was your age
It was only a few years ago when people were allowed to smoke in clubs. Here, I was surprised to walk in and see people smoking in the middle and around the dancefloor! What the ?? Of course, I look up and the roof is partially open – it’s enough to warrant the area to be an outdoor area and to allow smokers to smoke, and more importantly, stay inside the club. I absolutely hate it because at the end of the night my skin and clothes are drenched in the smell of cigarette ash.

Security is everywhere
There is security everywhere. Was this place prone to fights? It’s a possibility, considering we had to be scanned to get in.. as well as the crowd being asian teens, and the locality of this place, being in Liverpool.

We are only allowed to dance on the dancefloor
We are having a little dance at the bar. Security man comes up and warns us that we are not allowed to dance here, and that we can only stand up normally at the bar. Man, far out! This place is strict.

So between the dancefloor and the bar area behind, there is a strip of tiled patch about 1 metre wide. We dance there instead, but within secondsm we are shooed away by the security personnel and told to dance on the dancefloor. My god, there is actually a dedicated security person to shoo away people from this little narrow path! I have a good look at him for 5 minutes and that is all he does the entire night – telling people to get off the tiled floor. He waves his water bottle around as his instrument of shoo-ing. Amazing job, but someone has to do it. Given, this area would have been way too packed to move around if that path was not there, not that it’s not packed enough already as it is.

Video: A very packed crowd singing along to Justin Beiber: (shameful)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo with DJ
DJ Dee actually came down and put her headphones on me for this quick pic. Awesome.

DJ Dee at Liverpool club Macquarie Hotel

Not allowed to touch her ass
Chatting to 2 fat girls at the bar. One fat girl told me off for touching her friends ass. Now I swear to whoever god you believe in, I did not touch her ass. I had no reason to! 5 minutes later, the accuser is randomly making out with a random horny dude, and he is touching her ass. DOUBLE STANDARDS BITCH!

Jockeys can dance
Near the end of the night there was a tiny bit of room for everyone. We met a white Aussie jockey and he danced with us. He was a tall jockey, but still shorter than me =) He wanted to go to Collingwood or NOX afterwards. Tempting, but I have friends to drive home. Booyah.

with Jockey man, M

Arrivederci
Left at 3:00AM where they kicked us all out.

Recommendation
It appears that this event is only promoted every few weeks, so do check if it is on before coming, otherwise you will catch Macquarie on a ‘dead’ night (so I have been told) and not enjoy your night. Otherwise if you are in the Liverpool area and can’t be bothered to go to the city for your rnb fix, it’s worth checking out, and since it’s free entry, there is nothing to lose. Probably the big downer for me tonight was the open smoking policy inside. This can’t be helped, as I assume that if the top roof was closed, then the place would have been stuffy as hell.

Pure @ Macquarie Hotel – 6.5/10