Courtyard area (just the front bit)

Wonderland @ Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney
Assessment Time: 12:10AM – 3:00AM
Opening Hours: 8:00PM – 3:00AM
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 36 Blue St, North Sydney
Venue Website: http://www.greenwoodhotel.com
Promoters: The claim was 17 promoters joined in the fun to make this event. The main promoter was Syndicate Events, GTB, and Colab – the same promoters for Perfect Nights @ Pontoon Bar.
Occurrence: Once off event for Australia Day
Outside Line: There were about 5 people in front of us, but we quickly got in
Dress Code / Door Policy: Relaxed dress code. Most things were okay. Most guys wore t-shirts but girls still glammed up.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 full entry. Pre-paid tickets unknown.
Guestlist: N/A
Inside: Enter via the rear via the ramp where the register is. Pay your dues and walk down the ramp to enter the courtyard where the DJ is on the left with a standing area in front for around 100 people. There are tables, chairs and stonewalls for people to sit on to get their smoko on. The whole building looks like it could have been a little church (and it probably was), considering the large sandstone bricks that make its walls and the general architecture of the building. There are four separate door entrances along the walls to each of the 4 internal rooms. The right most room is “the clinic” room, a small room with a bar, lounges and a small dance area to hold 15-20 people. The next rooms are the chillout room and the Mashup room – mashup room has a bar along the wall and a wall cushion bench thing with a slightly larger dance area with DJ in the far corner. The chillout room is just that, with music supplied just outside from the courtyard – saloon style lounges and bar exist in here. The “Black Label” room is the largest of the rooms with DJ on the far right and dance area for a good 100 or so people.

Cloak Room: The cloak room was situated upstairs on your right, as you just step into the Greenwood Hotel courtyard. $5 for bag deposits. 
Bar Prices / Line: 3 minute wait at the bar in the mashup room. $49 for 4x Jam Donut shots and 2x Tequila shots.
Bathroom Facilities: Bathroom upstairs near the cloak room as well as downstairs by the rear of the ‘Black Label’ room. The facilities sufficed.
Eviction Count: Didn’t spot anything personally. Crowd were pretty behaved tonight.
DJs: A whole shitload over the four separate areas. There’s a picture in the gallery with the full DJ list.
Music Style: Outdoor courtyard: Contemporary RnB / Top 40, “Black Label” Room: Classic RnB / Hip Hop, Mashup Room: RnB and House mashup naturally, “The Clinic” Room: House, classic House. Overall compared to other typical Sydney clubs where you are faced with one or maybe 2 rooms, you have a choice from 4 rooms of music, but they all pretty much overlapped in terms of just playing commercial House and RnB / Hip Hop to satisfy the crowd, so if you just are a regular radio listener you would be into this kind of music.
Crowd: Mixed ages, mostly people in their 20′s – an even mix of young and slightly older late 20′s and some early 30′s characters I bumped into. A lot of people here is of Asian descent and pretty much every Asian person looked like a local Aussie Asian.  The rest (about 10-20%) were mostly Euro or locals in the area. 
Ratio: If you were to find a good ratio of women, they would be hiding out in the RnB / Top 40 rooms, rather than the house rooms. Overall it was alright, probably 65/35 female/male but it wasn’t an overwhelming feeling of sausage around.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment, though there are $5 burgers if your stomach desires it. The patties looked burnt and carcinogenic though. DJ in the mashup room was giving away mix CD’s. The CD has some choice songs on it, but the mixing was pretty horrid IMHO. 
Atmosphere: Outside its always busy with the crowd surrounding the DJ, but on the downer this area doubles up as the smoking area and I personally couldn’t hang out here for long periods of time. The Clinic room, being where most house and “shuffling” songs were being played, quickly became a mini literal boiler room, where the humidity of sweat just hits you as you walked in. It’s qutie dark in The Clinic room and you may shuffle as you wish without much judgement, if you could find some room in the cramped area. The Black Label room also fell under this humid B.O smell but only until just before it closed, as the room was larger. The chillout and mashrooms were pretty bright/well-lit and no more than a handful of people were up in front of the DJ dancing at any one time. Most people chose to sit down and have a chat/take photos here. The crowd in general as mentioned were pretty well behaved and most just wanting to dance and apparently enjoy the night.
Video: Montage of music and walkthroughs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline

Hate brings people together
“Whooa-ooa-oaa-oaa-ohhh… whooa-ooaa-ohhaoahohhh.. You know you love me.. (uh huh) I know you care!”.

Oh… if you haven’t figured it out, its a song I used to love, but now am not a fan of anymore. It’s JUSTIN BIEBER’S ‘Baby’. UGH. So when the DJ plays this song I sit down with a friend and mock-karaoke the words. The random guy next to me doesn’t like the song either and we quickly became friends over the song. I start thinking about a future friendship with him: going out, dinners, water sports together, etc.

Anyway we had some shots together! He said he was here alone only because the DJ was a friend of his. It’s like that with a lot of people who you see at the clubs and just sit down. He ran off after the shot. It was fun while it lasted.

Even when I am clubbing, I am not safe
I was chatting to a pretty girl and you know, I reckon we got along well. I started thinking about having a future relationship with her: Going out, dinners, water sports together etc.

Anyway we had a dance, and then… it goes a little something like this:
Her: I think I know you from somewhere.
Me: Where! (praying to god it wasn’t from this website)
Her: Do you live in XXXXX ?
Me: Yes, I do!
Her: OMG… I think I know YOUR MUM!!
Me: Ahhh WHAT!????????? MY MUM!!? X_X
Her: Your mum once babsit my kids a few years ago, and I remember meeting you!
Me: Oh right..

Hoolleyyy shitfucks this was way too weird.
It was all coming back to me now. I was a strapping young lad back in the day, and she looked exactly the same as the last time I saw her all those years ago. It would be weird if I went for it, and she decided to visit me again at home, so I wisely moved on.

Arrivederci
Stayed around until 3AM when everything was done.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
This was a once off event but other events at Greenwood should be definitely considered going to, especially if you haven’t been before since it’s a nice little venue.

Money Shot

“Kiwi Crawl” Pub Crawl, Queenstown, New Zealand:
Website: http://www.KiwiCrawl.co.nz
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20. Includes 6 free drinks, pizza and entry to the venues that we go to.
Music Style: Most places had house/RnB, while some places were just bars to have a drink at.
Crowd: For tonight’s crawl, we had 2 Kiwis, and the rest were Australian, except for one American.
Ratio: 2 girls to 1 guy, though there were only 9 of us tonight, as it was immediately after new years
Entertainment: Our host was a big life of the party for sure.
Atmosphere: Lots of drink challenges and random street antics as one does when inebriated.

Timeline (of the various bars)
Started in the World Bar, Queenstown. Let me tell you, it is exactly like the World Bar in Sydney! Cocktails are served in teapots and everything, but this World Bar is more spacious than the Sydney one, albeit it’s only on one level, while Sydney’s Word Bar has three levels. A strangely familiar sight it was. So we just chilled out here and the organiser came up and told us only 9 people signed up for the pub crawl – but 6 were girls. Oh yeah!!
And so it began, the 9 of us on a pub crawl. A vast difference to the 500+ people who signed up only days earlier for New Years. We did our intros and well I don’t think I was going to go far. The advantages of a smaller group was that we got to have some double shots at the venues, hooray!

Random bar #1 – Double free shot on entry. Bought a “Money shot” where you shake the cocktail in your mouth and it tastes like PANCAKES! Amazing

Me: hello
Her: Hello! Blah blah blah blah
Her Friend: Hey! what are you doing? Remember what we said earlier? (wiggling eyebrows in a “you know what I mean”)

Oh dear lord, a pre-prep talk to watch over each other? On a PUB CRAWL?? Puhhlease!! 

Random Bar #2 – Free shot on entry. Got a $6 NZD Jagerbomb. Choice. Played some Strip Pool against a girl and I lost.. hard.

Strip Pool, halfway through

Bar 3: Altitude Bar – Double free shot on entry. Didn’t drink anything extra. There’s a dance pole right at the front of the dancefloor. Only a handful of people are dancing here and we just dance and do poses. This place wasn’t very busy as I thought it would be. Then again its a weekday. Top 40 here.

Bar 4: The Buffalo – A shot on entry. Can’t remember if it was double. Getting pretty sloshy and friendly. This place pretty much was the only consistent place that delivered some form of crowd and top 40 music, every night. Probably the general recommendation for the backpacker in this town. It was a lot of dancing, but the dancefloor is only of a medium to small size, and it does get a little warm in here.

Bar 5: The World Bar – Yet another free drink, and the night ends here. Surprisingly there are more people here than at the Buffalo. The larger dancefloor space is much better, with a dedicated DJ booth as well. Earlier in the night there is usually a Live Band playing popular Top 40 tunes for people to dance to, but right now its House.

Arrivederci
I sustained a minor injury the other day and had to retire early. Boo hoo.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
For $20 and guaranteed 6 drinks and entry to all the clubs listed (All the clubs were free entry anyway) it’s choice. Do it.

Anyway, I asked a foreign backpacker where the place to be is at on a Thursday night. “The Rimming Bull”, he proclaims! I’m sure in proper English that meant “The Running Bull”, which is, coincidentally is across the street from where we rented our hotel. So much win! Let’s check it out!

Crowd 11:30PM

Thursdays @ The Running Bull, Riccarton, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Assessment Time: 11:10PM – 12:45AM
Opening Hours: Open during the day as a restaurant / Grill – 12:45AM
Lockout: Unknown, but there was one a lockout at 12:30 when I checked
Address: 1 Riccarton Road, Riccatron, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand. Map: http://g.co/maps/njtg8
Venue Website: http://www.runningbull.co.nz
Event Website: http://www.facebook.com/TheRunningBullBar
Promoter Website: Self Promoted by the venue
Occurrence: Every Thursday. DJ events also available on Fridays and Saturdays here
Outside Line: 2 people in front but we were in within seconds. We had to use our passports to be accepted entry. The drivers licenses were not accepted. 
Dress Code / Door Policy: Boys are pretty casual, with a handful with collared shirts with jeans. Girls in most part did wear their going out dresses and heels for a dance here. It is encouraged for guys to wear collared shirts and to not smell like B.O, and for girls to wear dresses. (According to the facebook page anyway)
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: None
Inside: Walk into the bar / dining area where tables and stools are aplenty. Bar is at the back opposite wall. This are has about 4-8 tables. To your left are some lounge spaces for 10 or so people. On the right is the “dance room” is how it is best described. It really is just a walled off room from the rest of the bar, where you can walk in and suddenly you are in a rectangular box to hold maybe 100 or so people where there are lights and a podium.
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: Didn’t drink.
Bathroom Facilities: Pretty clean.
Eviction Count: None spotted
DJs: Sole DJ tonight. No song repeats thank god.
Music Style: Mostly Top 40, RnB and probably after 12:15ish the reggae / some other esoteric music was put on. Total mood killer, but it was apparently approaching closing time so that was how it was done.
Crowd: A mix of Christchurch locals and backpackers such as Marty and I, with the Irishman and his friends as well. But definitely a majority would be locals. Ages varied but mostly we are dealing with a young crowd – teenagers, low 20′s.

Ratio: Pretty even ratio through the night and it held its ground.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment.
Atmosphere: In the room itself there was barely enough people to get “lost” in the crowd, but it was definitely dark enough to be able to dance on your own without having too many eyes look at you. The volume isn’t as loud as proper clubs so you were able to have a chat as well, but still you could dance on your own if needed. Surprisingly it was pretty damn warm in here though! A lot of times throughout the night I had to come out for a bit of a cool down and breather, so take it easy on the dancing would be my advice here. The bar is quite the oppposite where its bright and pretty friendly. It’s not hot either and there are TV screens around so you can catch up on the latest Cricket scores. If you don’t like cricket, then suck it up. It’s bustling at the bar and people are pretty open for a chat.
Video: Very short music sample and walkthrough

Click here to view the embedded video.

Arrivederci
Left at closing time, which was 12:45!! Holy shit, that was early. An abrupt ending.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
I would say this is more of a bar to have drinks and a good dance afterwards. It’s suited for anyone who wants to come for a drink or just dance, as the two areas are almost separated from each other, so you don’t get too disturbed by the loud music. If you aren’t into the modern day music or young crowd, it would be better to try Fox and the Ferret down a few blocks  (I don’t think there is much dancing there, just a live band with a small area to dance).

Dancing with some of the other shuffling locals upstairs

Wednesdays (Summer Launch Party) @ The Eastern Hotel, Bondi Junction
Assessment Time: 11:23 – 3:00AM
Opening Hours: Open early in the day – Unknown (4AM ++?)
Lockout: 2AM Lockout
Address: 500 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction, Sydney. It’s a bit hard to find if you haven’t been before. It’s on the far end of Wesfields away from the station. Google maps: http://g.co/maps/rachx
Venue Website: http://www.theeastern.com.au , http://www.facebook.com/TheEasternWednesdays
Promoter Website: Appears to be self promoted
Occurrence: Every Wednesday
Outside Line: 24 people was the headcount upon lining up. However the line was pretty fast, and we got in within 10 minutes. I like that.
Dress Code / Door Policy: A lot of people wore caps tonight – these were mainly the people who came for the hip hop music tonight. Spotted also were fedoras and cowboy hats. Others wore casual, smart casual and whatever is fashionable. It was a mix of everything here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10 flat entry. Free before 10PM if on the guestlist
Guestlist: wednesdays@theeastern.com.au
Inside: This place is made up of 4 levels. The ground floor is the regular bar and NOT OPEN tonight, while the 3 levels above are the club levels for tonight:
(1) Island Bar: Half the room is sat by the Island Bar, to the left half of the room. On the far left are booths to sit down away from the music. Theres a long light overhead along the rim of the room. The music / dancefloor is on the right hand side to hold 100 or so people. DJ booth is very small and along the same level as the dancefloor.
(2) Main Bar: On level 2, this place strikes you with the black and white patterned wallpaper as you walk in. The main bar is on the far end opposite you and is the length of the dancefloor (~20 people long) . To the left is a larger DJ booth, with lounges in the far left corner. In front is the large dancefloor for about 200 or so people. To the right are a smoking room, two further separate lounge rooms and a smaller bar manned by a single bartender. This is the biggest level by far.
(3) Pacifica: Another flight of stairs to take you upstairs to what appears to be an Asian restaurant lounge during the day. It’s very classy. Plush lounges, ambient lighting, high ceiling, portraits of what look like Geishas on the walls, Medium – Small dancefloor for 50-70 people. At the back is the bar, a small one manned by 2 staff.

Cloak Room: None found on any level.
Bar Prices / Line: Two Smirnoff Blacks and a Tequila Sunrise = $27.50. The average wait at a bar would be around 5-10 minutes. There was a bar or two on each level so it did just keep up with demand.
Bathroom Facilities: I only used the bathroom on the top level which, whose floor was pretty wet and filthy – a combination of vomit, urine and alcohol.
Eviction Count: Big fight spotted later in the night at Level 1 Island Bar, it was assumed that the people involved were kicked out, but it was quickly defused. As a side note, I saw another pissed off guy gesture a “pulling the trigger” with his finger at some girl, no idea what the back story was, but he looked mighty angry. Again, this was on the Island Bar bottom level. Also on top of this, a friend who came outside at 1AM REFUSED to come inside, because she saw quite a number of people outside the club vomiting their guts out, and she went home for fear of molestation or something else if she went inside and met more of these kids. Fortunately most of these drunks were outside the club, and not inside. The drunkards did provide for a entertaining journey back to the car afterwards.
DJs: Nacho Pop (yup, the Nacho Pop judge guy from So You Think You Can Dance), John Glover, Oakes & Lennox, Here’s Trouble, 14th Minute, Skinny, Eko, Naiki, Troy T.
Music Style: For each of the three levels:
(1) Island Bar Level: Entire time we were here, the music was rap / hip hop (NOT RnB) aka Kanye West, Snoop, Jay-Z .. that sort of music.
(2) Main Bar: Primarily House, Commercial House, and some other form of house later in the night
(3) Pacifica Room:  Pop and Top 40 with house mashup.
Crowd: Mostly a local Sydney crowd, from all over Asians, Aussies, Africans, etc. – I met people who travelled from as far as Casula to come here tonight. Mostly Anglo-Saxon for the Main Bar. At the Island Bar room (Hip Hop) it was a half mix of the locals, and the rest were people of African descent, backpackers, dancers (you can tell by the number of caps that were worn in this room) or just fans of the music here tonight. At the top level Pacifica bar it was more of a Anglo-Saxon crowd, with some local Asians. Earlier in the night this room was VIP only, and was opened up at around 12:30AM for the general public to enter, but most newcomers probably never realised there was a top level room here tonight.
Ratio: Pretty much an even ratio, or dare say at some areas of the club, even more girls than guys. For the majority of the night, there were never more guys than girls. Really there was nothing to complain about here. A healthy representation of the worlds gender ratio.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment. The week prior, LMFAO had dropped in for an unannounced visit. Missed out hard.
Atmosphere: (1) Upon entry the Island Bar level was pretty much packed. People were pretty chilled out and dancing to their own – the important part is that everyone is dancing here. Though, right in the midst of the dancing here, it does get quite stuffy and you will start to sweat easily. 
(2) Upstairs to the main bar, it was packed, but people are just standing around mingling, despite the massive tunes being dropped. I would say out of the few hundred people on this level, only 10-20 people were actually dancing next to the DJ booth here. The place stayed pretty busy until around 2:00ish when people started to leave. It became quite deserted by 2:30, and me and my friend were just shuffling around with about 3 other people on the entire dancefloor.
(3) Top level Pacifica: couldn’t get in until after 12:30, but that was pretty packed too. (This whole friggin place was packed.) Top level, is the smallest but the crowd here are the most vigorous in their dancing. Almost everyone who is standing is obliged to dance, and they are jumping and singing to whatever is being played. It’s quite the nice atmosphere, as time goes by in this room, people move back downstairs and the hardcore shufflers stay back for even more extreme dancing. It started to die down at 1:15 and I think eventually upstairs was closed at 2:00AM
Video: Music Sample, mini tour. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline
On the way here I met some people who were also going to tonight’s event for the very first time, which was pretty cool. Together we somehow found the place, and since it was raining, we walked in with our cardigans/jackets above our heads, looking like idiots.

We’re not freaks
There were in this club, 2 really really tall girls, and a friend tried to ask them for photos, but kept getting rejected everytime before he finished talking LOL.. perhaps they got that question many times before.

Arrivederci
I came with friends tonight and we stuck together most of the night. We left at closing time.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
I was definitely impressed on first impressions, and I was asking myself, why can’t more clubs in the city be more like this? This would be my ideal kind of club night. Cheap entry, packed, friendly crowd and music to suit all tastes. Definitely give it a visit with friends if you have nothing to do late Wednesday night. My only complaints are a lack of ventilation in the Island Bar, and people getting drunk too quickly – that comes with the increased numbers.

Tonight’s rating – 8.5/10

FIrst impressions of the bowl

Stereosonic Festival Sydney @ Olympic Park Showgrounds
Assessment Time: 3:45PM – 11:00PM
Opening Hours: 12:00PM- 11:00PM
Lockout: None
Passouts: No pass-outs are allowed
Address: Olympic Park Showgrounds, Homebush Bay, Sydney.
Venue Website: www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au
Promoter Website: www.stereosonic.com.au
Occurrence: Once a year since 2007, held early December / Late November, held in different capital cities.
Outside Line: Transport via train was no hassle, while lining up to get inside the stadium was pretty fast as well – I walked all the way to the right of the multiple gated entry where there was no lines.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Pretty much you can wear anything that is in good taste, but you can’t bring in alcohol, weapons, drugs etc. I was wearing a toothpaste costume.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $150 at the gate, while early bird ticket prices ranged from $110 to $135. The Sydney festival sold out a few weeks beforehand. A friend bought an e-ticket via a “promoter” and subsequently had his ticket invalidated at the gates – he was basically, conned and ripped off. he had to pay $150 at the gate for a brand new ticket. What luck. Always be careful when buying tickets not from Ticketek or Moshtix.
Inside: Think of the Easter show, and replace everything with music. Here is a map of the layout. In the stadium and some of the other smaller grassed stages, there are floorboards placed, so that you don’t stomp on the grass and get all muddy feet, in the event that it rained.
Cloak Room: There was one available but I didn’t use it today. Last year it was $3 per item.
Bar Prices / Line: I bought stuff but don’t remember prices – a can of Smirnoff red would be at least $10. These are typical for festivals.
Bathroom Facilities: At the stadium there were long lines for women, and not so long lines for the men. Outside there were plenty of port a loos for everyone (so as far as I am aware)
DJs / Artists: Armin van Buuren, Carl Cox, LMFAO, Empire of the Sun, Afrojack, The Bloody Beetroots, Avicii, Benny Benassi, Ferry Corsten, Dirty South, Kaskade, Dash Berlin, and more.
Music Style: Artists primarily reflected on electronic dance / dance culture music.
Crowd: People of all ages are here from all backgrounds to see their favourite act or to enjoy the show.

Atmosphere: I was at the stadium most of the time and it was pretty much packed the whole time I was there. On arrival there at around 5pm the moshpit was full, and no longer people were allowed inside. The floor of the stadium was also full and people were only being allowed to trickle in as people left. I had friends who came here earlier at 2PM and were able to just get places within the moshpit area. The crowd steadily built up through Afrojack and Benny Benassi sets so that we could watch LMFAO. The LMFAO set was arguably the peak of the numbers in the stadium, as well as my personal favourite set – simply because people were singing along and the guys were really into it. Highlights include actually popping champagne (“Champagne Showers”) onto the crowd, and the cameraman zooming into all the crotches during “Sexy and I know it” – Total gross out but hilarious at the same time. It was pretty bad that they came late 30 minutes late on stage, at the expense of shorter sets from AvB and The Bloody Beetroots. We stood around for 30 minutes just thinking.. when *are* they going to come on? Thank god that they weren’t cancelled. After the LMFAO set, quite a few people left the stadium (probably to Dash Berlin, whose set I heard was bloody amazing) – the rest of the people here were sticking around for The last two acts, or just had no idea who they were, and wanted to experience. I missed the entire Bloody Beetroots set, but got to experience the Armin van Buuren set. It was pretty good, but it would have been better if I was in the moshpit.
Video: Music Sample / Timeline

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline
Phone reception is simply atrocious
Pretty much from about 3PM onwards, I was unable to make ANY calls to ANY of my friends, just due to the amount of people here today. It totally sucked ass as I couldn’t meet up with my friends. So I just hung out with the friends I had already met earlier today. It was worse than new years eve, as new years eve call dropouts only last three to four hours – I was here for a good 5 or 6 hours! IT SUCKED HAIRY BALLSACKS.

Sydney is the biggest city, and so is this festival
Later in the evening, Stereosonic was declared Australia’s largest event in terms of attendance. I would say also probably the best overall line up in years for the general populace as well. I even had friends come out of festival “retirement” to come out for today. Never say never. You would be seriously missing out if you didn’t come out to see this line up. Like seriously. For the days upcoming beforehand, it was raining heaps, and lots of people sold their tickets, to the astonishment that today was a bright sunny day. A shame for them.

Packed to the rafters
All the main acts were at the main stadium, which was situated a few hundred metres away from the rest of the action. As mentioned earlier, this resulted in a lockout of the mosh pit area, the floor, and even a lockout of the stadium itself. I unfortunately got locked out of the stadium alongside some other folk. It was about a 30 minute wait of protesting and watching other people climb over the fence then we were finally allowed to be let in, under police supervision.

Video: The shitty side of Stereosonic (and other festivals): Lining up for ANYTHING. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

On someone's shoulders

Now I’m sitting raised on this dude’s shoulders, on the phone, looking out back at the crowd – the crowd are are all staring, cheering at me or however people react to seeing a toothpaste bottle arising into the air. My friend spots me (I couldn’t spot her) and finds me a few minutes later. That was awesome.

Condoms and other bad things
Here is a photo of one of the many condom balloons thrown around the place. Somewhere behind I could smell someone puffing on some sticky icky. A friend also got asked if he had pills. All in a typical day in a festival. LOL

Condom Balloon!

Life being a bottle of toothpaste
While a friend was being asked for drugs, people only were asking me if I had toothpaste. Then this was followed by people squeezing whatever part of my costume in order to excrete the wonderful, white, magic substance that is known as toothpaste. And the most common question I got was “where was the toothbrush?” – In my pants of course.

I didn’t get really hot until about after 3 hours, when I started to sweat profusely. It was quite disgusting, and I was glad that sunset finally arrived to cool me down.

Mixing it up with the crowd

Sticky, icky floor
Half of the time people are kicking cans away from themselves, to other people. So many people have spilled drinks in this heat, that the floor has become quite sticky. So sticky that beer cans are sticking to the bottom of the soles of my shoes. Yes, fucking BEER CANS ARE STUCK ON MY SHOE as I dance. It’s ridiculous.

Spotted by a fan?
Out of the thousands of people who came here today, surely one of them read this website. Well, someone did, and that someone found me. Haha! I was pretty amazed that I was spotted, but now that I think about it, I *was* in a Giant Toothpsate Costume

Arrivederci
Finished at 11PM. Transport out involved a long walk around the station, but we got on the first train right away, no waiting around. I was pretty exhausted and ready to go home. However, I got a call from a friend in the city….

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
A great lineup and as I said before one of the best I’ve seen that a festival pull. No idea how these guys will top it for next year, but I’m a shoe in for next year. Definitely a festival to go to.

Though I wish prices were cheaper as well as less of a requirement for people to have to be locked out of stadiums or be held up waiting for acts. I spent at least an hour of my time doing these things, when I could have listened to other acts.

Ground Level Arq Sydney

Twinkland @ Arq Sydney
Assessment Time: 4:25AM – 6:55AM
Opening Hours: 9PM – Late (apparently until midday next day?)
Lockout: None so far as I am aware of.
Address: 16 Flinders St, Taylor Square (off Oxford St)
Venue Website: http://www.arqsydney.com.au
Promoter Website: Appears to be self promoted by the venue .
Occurrence: Most Fridays. Exceptions are special events such as Fomo, the massive Foam Party regularly held here.
Outside Line: There were just 2 people in front of us when we approached. We quickly got in without any trouble, though the security was pretty strict on not letting drunk people inside. He just stares at you while he asks the standard sobrierity question “How are you tonight?”. Bloody scary.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes here. Most of the guys dancing have taken off their shirts to set the standard – don’t expect any less in a gay club.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night. Free entry policy was introduced in May earlier in 2011.
Guestlist: N/A
Inside: Arq is comprised of two levels. Ground level and Underground. (1) Ground Level: Walk through revolving doors to enter the one large floor shaped in a diamond. On the right is the bar, while in front of you is all dancefloor, with podiums in the middle and back. The entire floorspace looks like it could hold 250 people easily. Through the back door you can walk downstairs to the smoking area. Down another flight of stairs and enter (2) Underground Level, where a similar layout exists to the top room, except the bar is on the left rather than the right. It is a little bit smaller than upstairs in terms of floor space as well. There are pool tables in the corner to keep you entertained, and some lounges at the back, probably for making out.
Cloak Room: On the right, straight after you get past security. $3 each item to be stored.
Bar Prices / Line: I forget.
Bathroom Facilities: Not utilised
Eviction Count: None seen.
DJs: Scott Tanner, Kitty Glitter
Music Style: Described by most people as progressive Trance/House, with some pop, I would agree.
Crowd: Dominantly male gay crowd tonight. Ages varied from young to older guys I met, who were probably in their 40′s. Wide variety of backgrounds as well, but most of the crowd appeared to be local Sydneysiders here.
Ratio: I’d say 95% guys, but I have no idea on the gay:straight ratio. There were definitely other straight guys here I suspect.
Entertainment: Shows from Summer Salt, Millie Poppins, Ripley Waters (aka The Glamazons). MC Benita to keep things going (I didn’t see the MC tonight at this time)
Atmosphere: Pretty much up until 4:45, everybody was on the ground level. I mean, ground was more superior than underground in terms of strobe and laser lighting I guess. Then once ground level had closed, everybody moved underground, or went home. I don’t know why they just kept ground level open – it might have been for noise reasons but who knows. Throughout the entire night there were sufficient numbers of people to keep this place busy. Quite surprised at how many guys were still up and about bouncing around the place. Both rooms were pretty dark, with lots of smoke machines, so you do get that dirty club feel for sure. It did get eventually stuffy after a while though. People are also quite friendly here, well the guys are anyway.
Video: Tour and music sample

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline
Feeling quite buggered
I’ve been dancing for quite a while now, and I regret not having a nap before coming out to attempt this 24 hour marathon, because I am just super freaking tired. We played a game of pool here but that didn’t help at all. I was still getting really tired. I must.. keep.. dancing!

Gay clubs – Not so scary anymore for me
The guys here are quite friendly and will talk to you, or you can talk to them. They love to give everyone a wet kiss on the ear/cheek so dont be surprised when it happens to you for the first time. I think if it was my first time at a gay club I would be freaking out, but tonight I was pretty relaxed about being here. It might have been just this particular club as it’s not as bright or smelly/dingy as other ones I’ve been to. I think the main reason I avoid gay clubs now is that there are no girls in them, rather than because there are gay guys there. 

Don’t play pokies
Killing time in the Pokies room I decided to put $2 and try my luck. The machine took my $2 but didn’t register the credits! Fucking bullshit. I hate technology so much.

Arrivederci
All I could do was yawn for the last 30 minutes. As I type this up, I am actually yawning. That’s pretty bad that you have to yawn, when you think about yourself yawning in the past. I had already been awake 20 hours, and I dont think I could do another 17 hours (I still had the 11 hour Stereosonic Festival in a few hours time), especially after all the drinking tonight. Marty and our female accomplice had pretty much given up a long time ago as well, so it was time to leave and to try the 24 hour party attempt some other time.

So we all left for some breakfast before going home. Next attempt, it will probably be done on a Saturday night, without any drinking, and with plenty of rest beforehand.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation

Arq is a pretty good club in its own right, and definitely one of the best gay clubs out there considering how it can still hold a crowd after 4AM. For free entry on Fridays its defintely worth checking out. I love progressive trance so it was a bonus too. Friendly crowd too. Though if you are not used to the gay scene, then I’ll leave that upto you to whether or not you choose to come here for some dirty late night dancing.

Score – 8.0/10

Crowd - Live Art Space (3:30AM)

Friday I’m In Love @ Oxford Art Factory
Assessment Time: 2:10AM – 4:00AM
Opening Hours: 6PM to late.
Lockout: Unknown.
Address: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, Sydney
Venue Website: http://www.oxfordartfactory.com/
Promoter Website: Appears to be self promoted. But there was probably an act earlier on in the night at the Live Art Space Room.
Occurrence: Every Friday.
Outside Line: There looks like a line but its actually a smoking area – there was no line upon approaching and entry. I’m sure though that during peak hours there would be a huge line outside.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Pretty casual. Not sure about hats – didn’t spot anyone with hats.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free at time of entry for the Live Art Space Room, but this is normal after 2AM. Unknown whether there was cover charge beforehand. Free all night in the smaller Art After Hours Room.
Guestlist: None at this time
Inside: There are two main rooms which reside below street level. (1) Live Art Space Room: Walk into this larger room where live bands can play for small crowds. A stage is setup at the front, with dancefloor for about 200-300 people, with an elevated level at the back with 4 or 5 lounges. Tables and chairs on the left while the bar is on the right. Behind the Bar is the (2) Art After Hours Room, about half the size as the 1st room, it also has the bar, and a more narrow rectangular area for dancing for about 100 or so people. 2 or 3 lounges are in here.
Cloak Room: Surprisingly no cloak room tonight. it’s hard to find dark little spots here where you can hide your stuff.
Bar Prices / Line: Asahi and Vodka combo – $15
Bathroom Facilities: You piss on a brick wall (purposely designed). Otherwise enough taps to go around with the shared trough.
Eviction Count: One eviction spotted – Marty got kicked out at the end of the night. 
DJs: Unknown
Music Style: Live Art Space Room: Hip Hop, Rap, 90′s Pop. Art After Hours Room: Old School RnB / Hip Hop / Pop / Rock. Little to no mixing performed. Pretty much nothing from the past 10 years was played at this time.
Crowd: Almost all Anglo-Saxon crowd, and mostly locals here. Ages look like it varies between teenagers to more mid 20′s to early 30′s. Hard to tell in the dark.
Ratio: It was pretty even, with a slight tendency towards guys at times, which is surprising at this time of night.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment.
Atmosphere: Both room were quite busy and near capacity. People are all into the mood, and with minimal seating, people are forced to dance. It got a bit stuffy in the smaller Art After Hours room but that comes with the extra people. After about 2:30 numbers started to quickly drop, and people were all forced to move to the larger Live Art Space room to keep the vibe going. Smart move. Overall people are quite happy to dance and mingle tonight.
Video: 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Arrivederci - kicked out
Marty and some drunk girl sat up on the stage area and she proceeded to pull him to standing up position on stage, for what was presumably an impromptu dance. Suddenly within seconds, bouncers POUNCED on Marty and kicked him out!! Hahaha oh shit. Well that was the end of the night here. The drunk girl remained in the club as we left to quickly follow Marty out. Oh the injustice of it all.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
A popular place with the locals, and with free entry and reasonably priced drinks with good classic music, I can’t see why it can’t go wrong. Despite the rain and Stereosonic the next day there was quite a big turn out. A cloak room would help though. I liked it, but Marty wasn’t so into it.

Score: 7.5/10

View of the Bar from the Dancefloor - Scubar Sydney

Dropping by: Fridays @ Scubar
Assessment Time: 1:05AM – 2:30AM
Opening Hours: Open through the daytime – 2:30AM
Lockout: None
Address: 4/11-23 Rawson Place, Sydney (near YHA Central)
Venue Website: http://www.scubar.com.au
Promoter Website: Self promoted
Occurrence: This place is pretty much open everyday until late. Most popular nights are Mondays and Tuesdays (apparently)
Outside Line: There isn’t anyone outside lining up upon entry.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual is okay to wear in here, and is normal. Some are even wearing hoodies.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free entry all night
Guestlist: None.
Inside: Walk underground to face the dancefloor to hold around around 60 people. Bar is on the far left, and around the walls and in between are dotted tables and chairs. There are the occasional sofas in dark hidden crevices of the bar. Some disco balls hang down from the ceiling. Standard lightfare is around the place.
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: $7 cowboys. There was only really one or two orders in front at a time, and it wasn’t very packed at the bar. You were going to get timely service at the bar.
Eviction Count: None seen, not many are sloshed tonight
Music Style: A Mix of Commercial RnB, Top 40 and past hits from different genres. Typical stuff you would hear at backpacker places – songs played in most of their entirety with minimal transitioning. Regardless we had a good time dancing to the tunes tonight.
Crowd & Ratio: The crowd is almost entirely made up of backpackers, so you have nationalities from all over the place. Ages vary as well. Mostly Caucasian / European backpacking crowd though. Ratio was more men than women, especially at the front. There was about 50 or so altogether including patrons at the bar side. Not many of the girls chose to dance here tonight.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment
Atmosphere: It’s quite dark on the dancefloor side of the venue, while at the bar it is much more lighted up. But back to the floor – at this point in time people are in the mood for love, with various people around making out with strangers that they met that night. Considering past experiences with backpacker nightclubs such as Scary Canary and side Bar, you would expect the floor to be pretty dirty, but suprisingly it’s clean!! I am truly amazed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Arrivederci
Left at closing time, 2:30AM. Surprised the closing time wasn’t 3:00AM.

Verdict
Things are pretty cheap here, crowd could do with a few more girls, but we did rock up at 1:00AM++. Though most people like Side Bar better for a dance, as it is bigger and closes later at 3:00AM. I would try this place on the famed Monday/Tuesday nights instead of a Friday, where I’ve seen lines out go pretty far.

Crowd shot Underground - 1AM

Fridays @ The Marlborough Hotel (aka The Marly) , Newtown Sydney

Assessment Time:12:50AM – 02:30AM
Opening Hours: 10:00AM throughout the day with the underground dancefloor closing at 2:30AM. I think the general ground floor closes at 3:00AM
Lockout: None
Address: 145 King St, Newtown
Venue Website: http://www.marlboroughhotel.com.au
Promoter Website: Appears to be a self promoted evening.
Occurrence: Every Friday and Saturday night
Outside Line: No line upon entry, just a few people catching up on their cigarette break.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Pretty much anything within reason was okay. Considering it was winter most people, both men and women, wore casual. T-shirts galore, while some girls wore singlets and jeans – some people even kept their warm casual jackets on tonight. I wore a t-shirt and jeans and casual jacket straight from university – very lazy of me ( there’s a picture of me later )
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night for both ground and underground.
Guestlist: N/A
Inside:  Walk in to enter the ground level where there is a small raised platform in the corner. This is where the band usually plays. This is actually a 3 level venue but tonight only the ground level and underground levels were open. I’ve been told on other nights, that upstairs would be open too. Under ground, walk into a small-ish dancefloor room – Bar on the right, and dancefloor the left with a central column which has been covered in mirrors. Some flashing lights on the ceiling in combination add to the effect of the room tonight. Down at the back are lounges and mirrors that line the walls, to give it a bigger impression of space. 
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: Didn’t drink tonight
Eviction Count: None spotted
DJs: Unknown
Band: Wilcatz
Music Style: Ground level: The Wildcatz were playing, whom are known for covering an assortment of well-known rock songs. Underground level: This appeared to be a mix of top 40 both contemporary and over in the past. I don’t even know if there was a DJ here mixing things up as there was minimal mixing/transitioning. It sufficed for the crowd.
Crowd & Ratio: Ground Level: A mix of old and young who appreciated their rock music. Mostly Caucasians here with a handful of Asians in here too. Appeared that most were locals.
Underground Level: A mix of everything tonight. Australians and International Students from Indians, Caucasians, Europeans, Asians in the underground club room. The ratio was pretty much mostly guys at around 70% at best, but as the night wore on it became more like 80% guys. People of all ages are here. Generally younger than the crowd upstairs.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment.
Atmosphere: Ground Level: Pretty small crowd here but most people are up and jiving about and singing along to the music, so it was a nice cosy atmosphere to say the least.
Underground Level: Being a mixture of everything and being underground it was a bit dirtier and considering the small size also a little warm. Well lit areas removed any potential dark nightclub factor here. It was pretty normal atmosphere for a club. Though it is full of people, I will give you that, so it did have something going for it. 
Video: 

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Timeline
In General
I probably spent an equal amount of time upstairs as well as downstairs. Some songs that were being played downstairs were ones I weren’t familiar or probably didn’t like as much, so I would head upstairs with another friend who was definitely into his rock. When the upstairs band finished at 2:00AM we headed downstairs to finish up what was happening.

Which came first?
A friend had inspired me with this video of an Indian party – with a trance track overlaid on top of the audio. (I highly recommend watching it here ) The main protagnoist of this short clip has an assortment of amazing dance moves and I borrowed one of them,  the one where he is flapping is arms akin to a chicken. I was ready and now I was about to test to see if I get some chicks to turn into chickens. Oh yeah, I said it.

So I’ve started flapping like a chicken and slowly approached the girls
James: <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>
Girls: ….
James: <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>, <flap>
Girls: hahahahahhahahaa

They may have laughed at me – BUT This has not deterred me.. I must fight!!
<flap>, <flap>, <flap>…
…. Slowly… but surely…….
… as sure as the day follows night,
… as sure as honey is sweet and gold is precious,
… and as sure as as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
… they slowly they started to flap their arms as well… Hahhahahaa… Success!!

My friends are pretty much laughing at this point at this ridiculous sight, and they join me for a big chicken / dance session. I think I’m going to use this move more often.

Practicing the chicken wing flap dance

Arrivederci
And thus after lots of dancing the night was ended at 2:30 when everyone is evicted.

Recommendation
A good local night for a dance at a place where there is an actual dancefloor. It is a shame that upstairs wasn’t open, as that would be also a great spot to get your dancing shoes on.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here, but if you are in the area and a bit lazy to head to the city (or a bit lazy to dress up in proper dress attire for that matter) just want a free dance without much fuss of music choice with a friendly crowd, definitely come on by here. Otherwise for classier places  try someplace else.

Dropping by: Fridays @ Star Bar
- We got in at around after midnight. The dance area is upstairs on the top level , while the  ground and underground levels are more drinking areas with no dancing at all going on
- Cover Charge / Entry Fee: Free all night
- Lockout: None
- Closing Time: 3:00AM
- Website: http://www.starbar.com.au
- Address: 600 George St (Opposite the Event Cinemas complex)
- Outside Line: 3 people – the line progresses pretty quickly.
- Dress Code / Door Policy: No large groups of guys, Dress neat casual or smart casual. Do not dress daggy. If the bouncers ask if you are on the guestlist, you haven’t met their requirements for entry. Most people are dressed casually or smart casually.
- Inside (top level dancefloor): Nothing has changed. The dancefloor holds 200 or so people with surrounding lounges. Podium at the front for the girls and two podiums at the back for the paid dancers. Two bars supply the beverages for the crowd tonight
- Cloak Room: None
- Music Style: Pop, Top 40. The DJ plays music videos that play on the big screen. There is very minimal layering/mixing , and songs are played for their entire duration.
- Crowd & Ratio: A mix of everything. I would say half the crowd is International Asian. The rest consist of Indians, Africans, Caucasians, and some local populace. Many people here are backpackers or travellers who have no idea what is a good place to visit, and plonk into the first free entry place they see on George St, in this case being Star Bar. The ratio was definitely more guys than girls in here, but pretty much all the girls can’t speak English. 
- Entertainment: They’ve added professional podium dancers now! I was very impressed with that. They dance at the back to the entertainment of the crowd. 
-  Atmosphere: Pretty busy on the dancefloor. However it does become stuffy on the dancefloor. This combined with the constant spilling of drinks on the floor, the lack of lighting and dominance of guys in here added to the somewhat seedy atmosphere. Nothing has changed.

Timeline
Slip and Slide
The floor was so wet we were able to slide around and glide without having to lift our feet off the floor. Where were the cleaners? Anyway there aren’t many dirty places where you can do that on a dancefloor, so me and this random guy made the most of it, pretending we were ice skaters.

Spotted her again
Once upon a year or two ago, we saved a girl from the advances of a sleazy guy. She clung onto us and, to be honest, she wasn’t someone I wanted to hang out with, but somehow it happened. I spotted her again tonight, but this time decided not to say hello to her, lest she latch onto me as last time.

Manhandled by a manwhore
I am standing in the back of the dancefloor doing my business, and I felt a hand grab my arm and YANK me out of the way. It could only be a bouncer pushing me out of the way of a fight. Turned around – there was no fight! It was some freaking random Indian dude who just pushed me out of the way so that he could hit on some lucky Asian girl… what the fuck! As he talks to the girls, I marched right in and after a few seconds I ended up dancing with the girls – both simultaneously saving them from creepy guy and giving them a taste of a dance with me. Win-win. Haha. Anyway take that, rude creepy Indian guy! You could see this creepy guy doing the same with other people too later in the night.. ridiculous. Dancefloor Etiquette needs to be part of the school education - no no.. just normal etiquette of walking around a person instead of pushing them would be enough.

More dancing
Let’s play a game of dancing with a girl. So it was done. A girl was found, then one of the guys passed her on to me, and after a song she danced with some other guy. She was pretty drunk.. and at least 40 years old. (This is Star Bar). It turned out she had a boyfriend the whole time. There is no moral to this story.

Recommendation
There are some friendly people, but there are a whole lot more creepy guys. Oh, its free, so there is nothing to lose, except your dignity. Still, definitely give it at least one visit, so you can appreciate what other clubs are like. You might even like it here if this kind of atmosphere excites you.

Central dance area (2:30AM)

Easter Saturday @ Fusion Nite/Night Spot, Cronulla
Assessment Time: 12:15AM – 02:45AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 03:00AM
Lockout: Unsure, but likely to be enforced due to the attentiveness of RSA staff here
Address: 84 Cronulla St, Cronulla
Venue Website: No official website that I could find (I am sure I found it). FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/FUSION-NITE-SPOT-Cronulla/234586068300
Promoter Website: Self Promoted Event
Occurrence: Every Saturday. Fridays are also open under a different event name.
Outside Line: About 20 people in front of us with a waiting time of about 10 minutes.
Dress Code: No hats are allowed in side. Anything goes here, and most are locals dressed up in casual gear – shirts, jeans etc. I met a guy inside with long dreadlocks so there you go. Girls wear whatever makes them feel sexy. I particularly very overdressed just wearing collared shirts, let alone with ties, dress shoes and blazers to match, but better than underdressed, right?
Door Policy: “How many drinks have you had?” – The standard sobriety question. At this place, the guy asking is very particular – if you look even slightly drunk then you’re denied entry. Speaking to another patron of the club, she did say it was a 50/50 chance of getting in, whether you had been drinking or not. It’s a massive clamp down here, as there probably were some incidents in the past.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10 for the entire night. Let it be noted that there are no stamps given on your way in – That’s fine, but guess this – there are no stamps on your way out either! Huh? Yes.. why would they do such a thing? I was wondering the same thing – it turns out that every time you exit and want to re-enter the club, you need to pay an additional $10. Shameful! Does it keep the patrons inside though? Sure does.
Guestlist: None can be submitted. These guys don’t have a contactable email address that I could find.
Inside: The Fusion Nite Spot is situated on the upper level of its residence. Walk up the stairs and enter via the Southern side to face the middle of the room. On the SW corner to your left is a small bar to service the small lounge area to hold a small party of 20-30 people. Smoking area to hold about a handful of people along here as well. During busy times, there is actually a queue to go to the outside smoking area – it’s that small – and since people are not encouraged to leave.. you have to wait it out. On the NW corner is a second bar, to line up for 5 or 6 people. On the North wall is the DJ area, which is defined by the platform the DJ set stands on. On either side are lounges. To the NE corner are two pool tables and more tables and stools. This general area is a standing / drinking area. The SE/E corners is where the main bar and bathrooms area. There are also lockers and lounges. Right smack in the middle of it all is the dance floor – In the middle of this is a very thick mirrored column about 2×2 metres in the middle. Around the column is a tier of elevated podium dance area about 1 person wide, surrounded by the main dance area about 6×6 metres. This area is bordered by tables and metal poles, so the areas are pretty well defined, but there is nothing stopping you from dancing in other places around this central dance area. No drinks are allowed on the dance floor here, similar to Sting Bar’s policy. Cronulla must be the only place that I have seen purposely created signs that disallow patron to bring beverages to the dance floor.
Cloak Room: None, but I did spot some women using the lockers. I didn’t ask staff about the lockers so I am not sure if they are open to the public, but I would be guessing so, but I have no idea how the mechanism works.
Bar Prices / Line: The bar on the Eastern side is most busy, wich people constantly there placing orders. You would wait about 5 minutes for your order, which isn’t bad. If even that is too long, just hop on to the other side where the two other bars are usually less crowded and you will hopefully get an order faster here. Throughout the night there are also time-outs of 5-10 minutes, where alcohol is not allowed to be served to patrons.
Eviction Count: I saw someone nearly got kicked out, but after lots of negotiation managed to stay inside I believe.
DJs: Anthony K / Louise Love (sax)
Music Style: In the main proceedings of the night mostly a mix of Contemporary Commercial RnB and known commercial House track mash ups was being played here. Later nearing the end of the night it was more of a Hip Hop style of music, typical of a closing night of an RnB club – they even played Sexual Healing! It’s been a while since I’ve heard the clubs play that near the end of the night. This was definitely a club that fostered romance.
Crowd & Ratio: Like the other places around here, the entire crowd is pretty much local. Local Caucasian Australians are dominant here but there are also a tiny handful of islanders and Asians. Most of the guys are beefcakes though. Women are generally pretty well dressed, and looking pretty fine. Everyone here is pretty young  - ages range from teenagers to 20s… with a few late 20s early 30s too. Also some of the crowd that we saw at Sting Bar also made the trip down here later in the night. The ratio was quite okay here. It was probably on par or just slightly more guys for most of the night. Also there were plenty of people here so your options weren’t that limited.
Entertainment: No MCs or extra entertainment
Atmosphere: Pretty much all the crowded dancing action was here. Most of the people making out in the club were in the middle as well. Throughout the night it was constantly packed, so it was a bitch trying to dance well here – one can only manage to secure their own little spot and bob up and down. You actually had better luck going up on the central podium area as at least you only had two people next to you on either side, instead of being surrounded by people. Outside the immediate dance floor there was generally space for which daring people could dance here at the observation of the drinking crowd. The eastern side was quite busy with an extreme abundance of men particularly in the pool table corners. The other side was more balanced, but there were fewer people than that of the side with the main bar.

The general mood in the middle is party party with the darker lit atmosphere, lights and smoke machines helping out with the club feel tonight. The crowd seemingly are enjoying most of the songs being played tonight. Generally here the crowd is either quite friendly or tolerant, thought there were some aggravated blokes towards Marty at one time. I can’t blame them after he pretty much danced nearby near their little private space, right next to the dance floor. Besides that people were nice here. Some of the ladies were 50/50 friendly and cold.

Video: Walkthrough and Music Montage

Click here to view the embedded video.

one of the last photos with beloved jacket

Downside to wearing a nice jacket

I wasn’t sure on door policies tonight, so hence why we dressed up in blazers and all. I had my favourite blazer on tonight – bought it from overseas. Anyway someone came up and complimented how nice my jacket was, and asked if he could feel it. Strange, haha, so he felt it, and wondered if it was real velvet. Strange again! Gave my reply and he was happy.

It warmed up and I left my jacket next to where my friend was sitting. Half an hour later, my friend was still there in the same spot, but the jacket wasn’t. The jacket had pretty much been stolen! Only in Cronulla you going to guarantee your shit is going to get stolen. This on top of having the bunny ears stolen just an hour earlier really did not bide well with me, and I was pretty upset that there are people out there like that.

Is it coincidence that after I had been asked about my jacket, that it got stolen?

Arrivederci
Left just before closing time, when there were pretty much guys left in the place. The place closed in stages with the outside bar areas closing down, and finally the central area.

Recommendation
This is pretty much the only decent club around here. Sting Bar doesn’t have the populace and Northies is more of a watering hole. Carmens @ Miranda Hotel, down the road, I’ve been told has “gone down the drain” since I last visited. Strict alcohol rules here keep the venue safe. Fair entry price but no stamp policy is silly. Good tunes keep the friendly crowd going. Shame that someone stole my jacket. Next time, I would come back here with items of clothing I am okay with being stolen.

Fusion Nite Spot, Cronulla: 6/10

Click here to view the embedded video.

With a fan of the ears before they were stolen

Arrivederci

Bartender has advised us there is actually a local proper nightclub spot down the road, so we leave. It has unfortunately not picked up much patronage, and as it was midnight, the lockout was in place and nobody else was going to come in anyway.

Recommendation
This looks like another simple watering hole for the older crowd who don’t want to deal with the youngins at Northies, with a dancefloor to boot. Come for a drink, it’s a good atmosphere for that – but for the dance atmosphere – I wouldn’t come here for a dance.

Sting Bar, Cronulla Sydney
- Bar aspect – 6.5/10
- Club aspect – 2.5/10 The potential is there… but the music needs more work to keep the crowd going and in place. 12AM cut-off doesn’t help the cause either, but I am guessing it is what is enforced upon this venue for now.

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.

DJ, Floor and lounges - one third of the front

Timeline
Yay a dedication
The Dj didn’t have many people to play to. Whoever went up for a dance got a dedication. After the DJ was finished hitting on these two girls, I got the next dedication “to the guy in the grey jacket dancing and having a good time”. Hooray! He then came up to me and we had a chat. He just came back from a 20 year adventure in Japan. He hadn’t lost his Aussie accent at all.

Arrivederci

Well the rest of the night was spent drinking and then we left.

Recommendation
Only if you wanted a drink here. Not for dancing. Apparently the back was better dance-wise, but I was never a fan of it on my previous ventures to V-Bar.

Fridays @ Stonewall Hotel, Oxford St, Sydney
Assessment Time: 01:30AM – 02:30AM
Opening Hours: 09:00PM – 04:00AM
Lockout: 02:00AM
Address: 175 Oxford St (Next to Live / Havana), Darlinghurst Sydney.
Venue Website: http://www.stonewallhotel.com
Promoter Website: Self Promoted
Occurrence: Every Friday and Saturday.
Outside Line: There was no line as we appeared.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes here. Singlets allowed, drag of course as well.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Appears to be $5 all night. When I was here a few years ago, it was free entry, but $5 is still ridiculously cheap. It’s not even the price of a drink.
Guestlist: No guestlist applicable
Inside: Stonewall is pretty much the largest gay friendly club in Sydney AFAIK. 3 Levels – Bottom level consisting of a seated table and stool area for 30-40 people. A Bar in the centre area, with a permanent stage/podium to hold 10 people or so. Further in is more standing room but it’s very limited here. Head to the middle level where it is more of a lounge area. Lounges everywhere and no much of a dance area at all here. Bar to service this level to hold about 60-100 people comfortably. Top level is the proper dancefloor area where there are smoke machines, lights, podiums along the wall and a DJ booth in the far corner. The main room would hold 50-100 people for dancing, with a smaller back room holding lounges and a bar with standing room for 30 or so patrons.
Cloak Room: $3 an item. Great.
Bar Prices / Line: I didn’t drink tonight. However there was always a spot at the bar for you to be served.
DJs: Unknown
Music Style: Tonight I was only at the top level. Gay anthems were primarily being played, with various pop songs from Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, and the occasional house/trance song as well thrown in. An eclectic mix to say the least. Most songs were played in their entirely with little mixing done.
Crowd / Ratio: Mostly local gay men of caucasian background. There are some girls, and it would be a safe bet that most if not all the girls here were straight, just to keep away from the sleazy straight clubs.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment
Atmosphere: I don’t know if my memory served me wrong, but tonight the vibe wasn’t that good. Bottom level wasn’t too busy, middle level was completely dead, and the top level was starting to die – we easily found room on the dancefloor in front of the DJ and we didn’t have to make room for other people to pass by us. Very dark upstairs as well – it’s definitely a club atmosphere here.
Video: Walkthrough the middle and top levels – its very dark and fast so don’t expect to see much:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

She found someone
Well most of the time up here we just danced around various spots around the club. There was a girl all alone, walking around. One of my friends knew her and said hello. Then she went off to wander around. About 5 minutes later we decided go downstairs, and we saw her making out with some random dude. Yup.. two randoms meeting up and making out in a gay club. What are the chances.

Arrivederci
So buggered, we all left after only an hour. The place was dying quickly anyway. 

Recommendation
Well its a nice place to go. Seems to cater for straight and the gay crowds, and everyone seems friendly. Also there is room to keep to yourself if you wanted to, unlike some of the other bars where you would be forced to interact with others. Could do with a few more people though. Was it the cover charge? The other gay bars appeared to have free entry and were more busy..  but I don’t know. If you decide to do spend a night here, come earlier to make the most of it.

Fridays @ Stonewall Hotel – 4.5/10