NOVA @ Mr Tipplys

On October 4, 2014, in Commercial, EDM, House, Mr TIpplys, by J T

The event ‘LKF’ has been closed at the Civic Hotel, and thank god for that. The promoters have moved their Saturday event to another venue, Mr. Tipply’s under the new moniker “Nova”. Time to check it out!

12:50AM peak time on the dance floor.

12:50AM peak time on the dance floor.

NOVA Nightclub Saturdays @ Mr. Tipplys (Formerly City Hotel)

Nova has been running since September 2014 on a Saturday weekly basis. The promoters aim to keep out the riff raff by promoting the event as for VIP only (i.e. Men with money to spend on alcohol) and promote attractive waitresses for “one on one” service. Kind of borderline sexual. The promoters directly target the Overseas Chinese crowd in Sydney by bringing in popular Chinese celebrities or DJs.

Essentials:
Opening Hours:

10:30PM – 4:00AM

Address:

349 Kent St (The old City Hotel)

Parking:

There is nearby street parking on Kent St or at the Kent St carpark with weekend flat rate.

Venue Website:

www.mrtipplys.com.au

Event Website:

http://www.novasydney.com

Promoters:

Mizuya Entertainment, Dynamic Entertainment

Occurrence:

Every Saturday since September 2014

Dress Code / Door Policy:

Smart casual at minimum, but I got away with running shoes, a hat and t-shirt. (I had just returned from the Hardwell concert) To be sure, we asked the promoters and security if it was okay to get in looking like poor uni students. They said it was fine.

They let me in like dressed  this.

They let me in like dressed this.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:

Tonight it was a full blown $30. It’s finally happened outside of Marquee and Ivy. Massive hole in my wallet.

Passouts: No passouts before midnight.

Guestlist: See website for details

Cloak Room: $5 initial reservation and $2 for bag re-checks. Standard for an Asian club.

Bottle Service / Table Service:

There are ten bottle service areas inside the club. Any object that resembles a table is converted to a bottle service table. The pricing per table is unknown, but typically you are looking at for a few hundred dollars per bottle. Each table has a bottle or two and some champers glasses Tonight:

Assessment Time:

Midnight – 1:40AM

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Friends have ditched me at Room 18, and have told me to join them at Spark. I say goodbye to random new friends made and get a taxi to Taipei 101 building. The next place is Spark Nightclub, so here we go!

Saturdays @ Spark Nightclub (Taipei 101 building), Xinyi district, Taipei City

Essentials:

Bar - 1:45AM

Bar – 1:45AM

Opening Hours:
The place is open everyday of the week, but the clubbing nights are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

Address:

B1No. 45, Shìfǔ Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, 110
Pretty much just walk towards Taipei 101, and run around until you see a set of stairs. Go down and around to the left and that’s the entrance to Spark Nightclub.

Venue Website:
http://www.spark101.com.tw/101/

Event Website:
Website or https://www.facebook.com/spark101

Promoters:
Self promoted

Occurrence:
Every weekend since opening in 2009

Dress Code / Door Policy:
Most guys wore collared shirts, and girls wore dresses. However the dress code isn’t strict at all. Hoodies were allowed, and I was wearing my dirty sneakers. Inside the club it’s so crowded and dark nobody is going to see what shoes you are wearing anyway.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Unknown tonight, I just scored got free entry from a friend

Passouts:
Unknown

Guestlist:
02.8101.8662 or refer to Facebook page

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I was at Shark Hotel and I heard music coming from the club upstairs! I had to check it out..

Back view of the floor at 12:30AM

Naked (Thursday nights) @ Space Nightclub (Shark Hotel), Sydney

Essentials:

Opening Hours:
9:00PM – 4:00AM

Address:
127 Liverpool St.
You need to enter Shark Hotel first on the 1st floor, and from there take another flight of stairs to the 2nd floor, where Space is.

Venue Website:
http://www.spacevenue.com.au

Event Website:
http://www.facebook.com/nkdthrsdys/

Promoters:
http://www.tarantulamusic.com.au/

Occurrence:
Every Thursday night since October (was at another venue prior to this)

Dress Code / Door Policy:
Anything goes. Casual is okay, everyone (almost everyone) is wearing t-shirts or whatever is comfortable. Singlets everywhere. Saw a guy in a bear costume as well as a backpacker wearing a pair of thongs. I had sneakers/jeans/shirt/jacket.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Free entry all night.

Guestlist:
See facebook page for info

Cloak Room:
None

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From the ashes of Cave nightclub of 10+ years ago, The Star has opened a new nightclub – Marquee Sydney, sister club of the original Marquee in Las Vegas. I have heard stories of many people being turned away from the door for various excuses – Bad shoes, bad attire, too many guys, not enough people, too many people and the unspoken one of too many ethnics. Tonight seemed like the best bet to try to get in. Dressed our best, so here we go!

Crowd Shot

Saturdays @ Marquee Nightclub Sydney (at The Star (City) Casino Complex) 
Assessment Time: 11:15AM – 4:00AM
Opening Hours: 9:00PM – 4:00AM
Lockout: Unknown, but there are no pass-outs / re-entry once you leave. 
Address: 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont. It’s within the Star (Casino) Entertainment Complex. Walk in through the main entrance on the Eastern side, and the entrance to Marquee is immediately to your right.
Venue Website:  http://www.star.com.au 
Event Website:  http://www.marqueesydney.com , http://www.fb.com/marqueesydney
Occurrence: Every Saturday (and Friday)
Outside Line: Arrived at 11:15PM with about 60 people in the general line. The line has people regularly going through, but just not fast enough. The guestlist line is a separate line altogether, and people are actually legitimately being expressed through to the club without wait, as it should be. It took just over 30 minutes lining up here, quite long. Keep in mind though that tonight is a resident DJ night. If you wanted to come where when a huge DJ/band/act was playing, expect to queue up for 2 hours plus.
Dress Code / Door Policy The door policy is probably the strictest or, if not, one of the strictest that I’ve been to ever. Dress Code: Guys – You really need to have at least dress leather shoes with collared shirts to have a chance of getting in. Avoid sneakers or simple shoes . Girls need to dress up pretty well. Smart casual you can probably get away with for both sexes on a normal night. Now that you have clothing sorted, the ratio is the next thing – you need pretty much an even ratio of guys to girls with your group. A group of 3 Caucasian guys and 1 girl were rejected (I couldn’t guess what the reason was) . We were let in with 5 Asian guys, 4 Asian girls and 1  attractive Caucasian girl. Door Policy: No bottles, sharps or whatever. They even checked my keychain, and I had to throw away my compact swiss army knife into the bin, which was understandable, but sad for me. After being patted down you get a photo taken and your ID scanned into their computer system in case you cause trouble. It felt like  walking into a well dressed prison. 
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $30 is the standard cover charge on a regular resident DJ night. If you are lucky/unlucky enough to hit a night where there is an International DJ or Popular local act playing, the entry fee will easily jump higher. E.g. The weekend Avicii played, entry was $60, Above and Beyond were $50.  In the future they will have a pre-purchasing system for tickets. 
Guestlist: See the website. I did send an enquiry but as of a month later didn’t get a reply. Try to send them a few emails to make sure they read it. Or just mention you have a few grand to spare.
Table / Bottle Service: Table (or Bottle) service is quite a new thing to Australia, but is common in the larger clubs overseas. There are some other places that have attempted to do it but here this is the true implementation of table service. Basically its a small table for you and some friends to drink at and signal to everyone else in the club that you have, or  have had, a lot of money. You get a big bottle of wine/champagne/vodka/whatever on your table ready to go. You also get very quick waitress service. It comes at the exorbitant prices from $3,000 $10,000, though I have heard more people say that it is $10,000 to get a table. Despite the prices, tonight all the tables were booked. Amazed.
Inside: After paying the cover, head up the escalators to enter the atrium / foyer where there is a cloak room and behind, a small open room to which there is a girl dancing with nothing but flowers and leaves on her. Ok, I’m impressed. On the left is a room (the “boom box”) which was unfortunately for a private party tonight, but on the right is the open main room of the club. Here the room is roughly divided into two areas – The bar at the rear and the main dancefloor down at the front. We enter through the rear to the main bar, which is a circular bar in the middle of this half of the room. Lounges line the walls here. It’s a medium sized bar and could probably hold 60 people around its circumference.

Stagger down to the next level (and the second half of the room) where there is a row of private tables with bottle service. Four tables on each the left and right hand side. It’s smaller than I expected. These tables are the only seats next to and on the same level as the dancefloor. The dancefloor itself is a medium sized floor approximately enough to fit 200 people or so in a packed situation. On the right there is a door to the outside smoking area, where there is a mini bar and some tables. On the left is a small passage that leads to an impressive bathroom. (more later). At the front is the DJ booth spanning the width of the floor. Podiums on the left and right. Above are concentric blinking led lights. The biggest thing you probably would notice though is the LED screen behind the DJ, spanning again the width of the room. It blurts out colours and shapes and what nots.

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A venue I’ve always wanted to visit. I made plans, cleared the night, and tonight was the night. Here we go!

Dance podium area

Saturdays @ “The Club” Nightclub, Kings Cross, Sydney
Assessment Time: 12:30AM – 2:00AM
Opening Hours: 21:00PM – 05:00AM
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 33 Bayswater Road, Potts Point, Sydney. 
Venue Website: http://theclubsydney.com  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theclubsydney
Event / Promoter Website: Self promoted
Occurrence: Every weekend. 
Outside Line: There’s two lines, one for re-entry and one for ‘first time’ entries. Our ‘first time’ line took about 5 minutes, while re-entry was only a few seconds. Security were pretty lenient on scanning. 
Dress Code / Door Policy: Being situated below Hugo’s, one would believe the dress code would be strict, but it suprisingly isn’t. T-shirts and hats were allowed for guys and so were singlets  allowed for the ladies. There is a simple explanation for this later on. 
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Tonight was $25. 
Guestlist: you may enquire within at info@theclubsydney.com but we are not sure if you are guaranteed a response. 
Inside: Walk past the counter to enter the common pre-club hangout area where you can either move onto the main room, a side room, the bathroom or the outdoor smoking courtyard area. The side room is quite small and has a small DJ set on a table, with lounges and a small bar staffed by 1 person. Bathroom to the left and main room on the right. The first set of steps takes you to the main bar area, which is basically: big long bar on the left, with lounges around the whole floor. There is even a darker corner of lounges on the far left. Continue walking and approach the second flight of stairs, which leads you to the main dancefloor. The area can hold about 200-300 people easily and if you watched the video, our first reaction was “wow”, just seeing this big space snugly hidden underground from the outside view. Big giant disco ball overhangs while there is a large podium/stage area with not 1, not 2, but three dancing poles. That is pretty impressive. It is no surprise to learn that this place was a former strip club.

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 This place has been on my to-do list for quite some time now.. let’s check it out!

Me2 @ Home Nightclub (The Terrace Level Only Upstairs)
Assessment Time: 11:20PM – 3:15AM
Opening Hours: Unknown (10:00PM?? – 4:00AM ??)
Lockout: I asked security at 2:30AM if there was a lockout. “What would you like it to be?” is the sly response. Definitely not a lockout.
Address: 101 Wheat Road Darling Harbour, Sydney. Home Nightclub is next to IMAX theatre. BE CAREFUL about entry! Entry to the Terrace is on to the RIGHT of the main entrance. It is NOT the main entrance. I am sure a handful of people have stumbled into the main entrance to find themselves amongst the Sublime crowd. RnB lovers in a trance room. That is an experience I’d like to see.
Venue Website: http://www.homesydney.com
Event Website:
http://www.facebook.com/me2sydney
Promoter Website: Dynamic Entertainment http://www.dynamicau.com , Mizuya Entertainment http://www.MizuyaEntertainment.com.au
Occurrence: Every Friday since July 2011
Outside Line: No line outside, just the promoters. After 5 minutes of the door girl desperately trying to find our names, she gave up and let us in anyway after I showed her our confirmation email. It was quite interesting as she had at least 10 pages full of names of 100 names each page, and yet my name wasn’t on there.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart casual is encouraged, but there were people (guys AND girls) who came in casual t-shirts / singlets without any issue. Hats, I didn’t see anybody wear, as everyone here had some blown up Asian hairstyle, and when you have a crazy hair style, you don’t want to ruin it by putting on a hat. Nobody likes hat hair.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 full charge. $20 on guestlist.
Guestlist: I sent a guestlist the evening prior, and got confirmation pretty quickly from two different promoters the same night. It was a shame that when we rocked up tonight, our names were NOT on the guestlist. What a shock. Luckily I had my brand new spanking smart phone (which was NOT an iPhone, haha) and showed her the two confirmation emails. She let us in with discounted entry. But seriously, if I didn’t have those emails, I would be pretty upset at this point knowing I’d have to pay $25.

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Friends are at Pontoon Bar tonight, so this should be a good chance to see how it has progressed since opening night. Here we go!

Perfect @ Pontoon Bar - asian crowd rnb club sydney

12:40AM Upper Level Bar Line

Perfect @ Pontoon Bar (Ground Level and Upper Level: Wallaby Bar)
Assessment Time: 12:05AM – 2:45AM
Opening Hours: The bars are open throughout the day, but the event opens 9:30PM. Tonight it closes at 4:00AM
Lockout: Around 2:30AM, but definitely no re-entry after 3:00AM
Address: Cockle Bay Wharf (201 Sussex St from the other side)
Venue Website: http://www.pontoonbar.com
Promoter Website: http://www.facebook.com/perfectnights or http://www.theperfectnight.com.au
Occurrence: Every Friday since April 2011. Note that this is the event that succeeded Flow Fridays @ World Square Pub, after it closed.
Outside Line: Arriving just after midnight, there was a huge massive line outside the downstairs entrance. A good 70+ people waiting, which is ridiculous. So I went to the second, lesser known entrance upstairs. There was a pretty long line here too, but only about 30 people or so. It took 30 minutes to get in. This was including some folk who joined the line and got sick of waiting, and left. This was also the first week off for pretty much every tertiary school student in Sydney, so people were out clubbing in their droves.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Hats allowed. Most guys are casual in jackets jeans, pants due to the winter. It is encouraged by promoters to go ‘dressy’, but I did spot a friend dressed in sweatpants and a jumper, so there you go. Again due to winter, many girls have leggings on but most brave the cold and wear their clubbing dresses on. I actually paid attention to the dresses tonight and there were a number of questionable leopard print designs tonight. Tonight I wore a blazer, jeans, collared shirt, white sneakers and my ‘bad hair day’ cap.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 full charge. $20 on guestlist before 11:30PM , $15 if it is a birthday guestlist.
Guestlist: Ends at 11:30PM. Email info@theperfectnight.com.au

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