I was out tonight, and I didn’t have a job to go to tomorrow… I needed my dance fix – everything in the south CBD was pretty dead.. except for one place …. dirty old Side Bar.. here we go!

Mondays @ Side Bar
Assessment Time: 12:30AM – 01:45AM 
Opening Hours: Early in the day – 03:00AM 
Lockout: None 
Address: Right next to Central station on the corner of Pitt and George St. 
Venue Website: http://www.wakeup.com.au
Promoter Website: Self Promoted
Occurrence: Every night.
Outside Line: Upon arrival there were about 3 people in front of me, we were all let in very quickly. 
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok, any costumes were “probably” ok (there are themed nights here) but tonight everybody was just wearing their casual clothing, or smart casual. 
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: None
Inside: The Bar/Club is situated beneath ground level. Enter and walk down the stairs to enter the square floor area with large bar in the middle. On the right are probably around 12 lounges along the wall. Along the back are arcade games and a pool table. To the left is the cleared out dancefloor area, Small overhead room due to the underground nature, with the DJ in the far left corner. The dancefloor side can hold approximately 100 people.  
Cloak Room: None. I was forced to leave my laptop bag on a sofa. I came back to it half an hour later and found that someone had opened my bag had been left the zips open. Oh fuck!! I looked inside my bag, but nothing was stolen… this shit happens all the time to me.
Bar Prices / Line: The line was 1 or 2 people deep, but prices unknown as I didn’t drink tonight.
DJs: Unknown
Music Style: Indie, House, Pop, Rnb – whatever the crowd is into
Crowd & Ratio: Pretty much almost everyone here is a backpacker, while the local population are less than a handful. Most are Anglo-Saxon but there are also Asians, and Africans. Age range from 18 to low 30′s. Pretty friendly vibe here.
Entertainment: Nil
Atmosphere: The first thing I noticed was that it was as packed or more than Friday nights here, which is pretty amazing. People are everywhere, drinking, dancing, making out, etc. This is where everybody in the city went. It can get crowded and overheated near the DJ corner. The floor also has a thin layer of liquid comprised of the spilled drinks that patrons have clumsily held. As mentioned, its a pretty much party vibe here throughout the night, whether or whether not the people know half the songs being played.

Timeline

Can I borrow your hat?
The age old question for the hat wearers in the club which is complimentary yet annoying- For the non-hatters, you need to understand  - when someone asks you to borrow your hat, some things can happen to the person asking to borrow your hat (the “Enemy”):
- You end up chasing the Enemy around after they swipe it off your hat without your permission
- Enemy breaking your hat,
- Enemy walking outside of the club with your hat on, either on purpose or not on purpose
- Enemy giving it to someone else random, who ends up stealing it
- Enemy accidentally drops it on the ground and ruining it with dirt, or whatever gunk is on the floor. 
Well, dearest reader, did you know all the above has happened to me? So when this one guy asked me if they could borrow my hat, the answer was pretty simple:

Me: “No, its my hat”
Enemy: “Cmon, just for two seconds? I promise I won’t steal it”
Me: “Nahhhhh”
Enemy: “C’mon!!! Just two seconds”
Me: Nahhhhh
Enemy: Please??
Me: Fine.
He puts on his hat and is invigorated and dances around in a circle. I’ve got my eye on him. After 2 seconds he asks me:
Enemy: Can I keep the hat?
Me: No. 
Enemy: C’mon!!!
Me: Nahhh
(I take my hat back and put it back on myself)
Enemy: If you don’t give me the hat, I am going to punch you in the face. I promise by the end of the night your hat will be mine. 
(James exits)

OK, did he really want my had that badly to fight for it? Seriously? It’s just one of those hats that Bruno Mars wears. Buy one yourself if you want one. You wouldn’t punch a guy out if you liked his car, nor would a girl cat fight another girl for her shoes. what kind of world would that be? A sad one. People who directly threaten violence upon others for a hat have no lives.

Dance off
There were some professional dancers here as well and they showed off their moves which was cool. I should take up dance lessons again.

Arrivederci
I pretty much just left the place after the hat incident. 

Recommendation
There really isn’t any other Monday night choice that I can think of when it comes to clubbing on Monday nights in Sydney. It’s free entry, so why not give it a try for a dance or to meet new people I say. Be prepared for a dirty experience, so wear not-your-best-clothes.

Scary Canary (another backpacker joint) could be a contender but I haven’t been. Do comment if there are other events on.

Fridays @ Side Bar
(Assessment time: 10:30-2:30am)

Address: Corner of George and Pitt St, Sydney
Dress Code: Casual allowed. Hats allowed.
Entry Fee/Cover Charge: Free all night
Crowd: Backpackers from mixed backgrounds
Music: Top 40, Pop, Rock, Rnb, House – general party tunes. So some tunes you’ll like, and some you wouldn’t.
Atmosphere: It was pretty cold outside, so the place hadn’t reached capacity yet.  it was probably 40% capacity. The important bit was that there were people always dancing in the floor area.

Timeline
Feeling bloated
I just felt bloated for the first two hours so I was drinking cups of water non-stop. My dancing wasn’t on par at all. Suddenly, the nauseating feeling that comes from drinking too much earlier, had disappeared! That’s when I started to bust out the moves.

Busting out moves
I was just killing it! Someone I met tonight asked if I was part of a dance crew – no way – i wasn’t good enough. However at the bar, I was definitely the best =) A scottish girl even came up and asked for a dance with me. Later a group of girls see me and readily dance with me as well. That was fun!

Me at side bar, with my scarf

People farting
We hung out at the back, and let me tell you, its a bit annoying when you have open room but then someone lets off a fart. yuck. that’s all I have to say about this smelly matter.

Michael Jackon tributes
In the beginning, it was pretty dead in terms of people dancing. Then the DJ starts playing some Michael Jackson. He had died the previous week. People got up to dance. another MJ song, and another, and pretty soon the floor had everybody dancing. We all love this guy.

Coda
We just left due to exhaustion at 2.30am, and there was a slight risk of the place becoming a sausage fest. I would  probably only go here with friends tonight, as it was a little dead compared to other nights.

We arrive, and the register clearly has a $20 sign. However they just stamp us and let us in. Strange…

Manhattan Lounge (Fridays)
Website: http://www.themanhattan.com.au/
Music: RNB
Crowd: Asian
Entry: $20 stated. $10 was also reported, but we got in for free
Location: 50 Elizabeth St, Martin Place (Right next door to Hotel Chambers, Across the road from Verandah Bar)
Space: Walk downstairs and its about the same dance area as Bamboo/Hotel Chambers, without the outside bits. It’s long, pretty narrow small, and provides a cosy atmosphere somewhat. Again, no photos, I’m sorry.

NB: This was the last of the in-house Fridays. A new organised event is now in place for Friday’s at Manhattan, called FunkInk. www.funkinkonline.com

Timeline
Bumping into people
1/ Bumped into my uncle’s best friend. He’s almost 30 but still looks early 20′s. We have a bit of a chat. I ask if he cleanses, tones an moisturises. He confirmed it, and even had the time to exfoliate every week. I can’t wait to be 30.

2/ Bumped into a girl I met at Crystal Bar last year. We had kept in contact, but she has a very stuck up attitude. She demands I give her attention. Her view on things make me laugh and I brush her off. Later as we dance, she comes right into our circle and grinds with me. It’s hard to ignore someone when they throw themselves at you. Her friends were normal, and I actually wanted to go for them instead.

Atmosphere / Music
Given the small area, people were all cosied up near each other. So whenever you were in the dance area, it was always seemingly ‘not dead’, when it probably was. However the place and vibe wasn’t too bad at all. Music was typical RNB to keep people happy.

Family Run Bar = slow.
Took about 15 minutes to get served glasses of water. Even then, we only got half a cup full, as they were so busy. The bar looked to be run by a family, as they all looked very similar.

Coda
Friends left 1.30. I left to go onto Side Bar

Side Bar Timeline (2am-3am)

I had a bit of a boogie at Pavillion but it was dead. Went to Side Bar, and it was going off!
Entry is free
Music was a DJ playing rock, pop, rnb, house, anything for that matter.
Crowd was just full of euro backpackers.
Theme was black. All the bar staff and some people were wearing black garbage bags. Hilarious. How did I not find out about this event?

I truly danced my heart out until closing. I like this place.