Crowd at 1:30AM
Prelude – a massive conflict
A Korean event, named “Steam Partie” is on tonight! Whether the word “partie” was spelt like that on purpose, I do not know, but I had to get my dancing feet to this place. Marty was keen to try it out too.
However we realised it was being held at the same place as the “Babyface” event promoted by Infinity Productionz on Fridays. Both were promoting the hell out of their events, so either of these companies was going to have to pack up and leave, OR they could decide to run the event together and share profits… This was going to be interesting. Obviously based on the review title , “Steam Partie” had won – promoters from Infinity Productionz were nowhere to be seen.
I wonder how communication between the promoters at Infinity or between Infinity and the venue owners at Tao Ultra Lounge broke down so much as to result in such a disaster for the Infinity crew?? Can you imagine spending so much on promoting for an event, rocking up on the night and realising you’re not meant to be here? It’s sad, but hope they take this lesson learnt with measure to prevent something like this happening again.
So back to it – let’s check out the new event, here we go!
Steam Partie @ Tao Ultra Lounge
Assessment Time: 12:05AM – 2:05AM
Opening Hours: Unknown (Typical club opening times for this venue would be 10:30PM- 4:00AM)
Venue Address and Website: The promoters can’t decide on a venue. The first event was held at V Bar. Tonight is being held at Tao Lounge, while the June incarnation is being held at Civic Hotel Underground Level.
Venue Website: http://www.mrbshotel.com.au
Promoter Website: The guys at S-Team only have a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/steam2010
Occurrence: Occurs every month or two months. It has started since late 2010.
Outside Line: Not much of a line outside at all.
Dress Code / Door Policy: It appears that there was no dress code for tonight. People are about 50/50 dressed smart casual or just casual with a t-shirt and jeans.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: I think it was $20. It included a voucher for a free drink before Midnight.
Guestlist: We didn’t submit one, but contact details should be on the Facebook page.
Inside: Walk downstairs underneath Mr B’s hotel to enter Tao Ultra Lounge. Situated beneath Mr B’s Hotel, Tao Ultra Lounge is setup as one room segregated by sofas and lounges,and fold away columnar wall-like arch things. As you walk downstairs into the club, you are on the right end of the club, where it is a standing and drinking area. Tonight the entry area has the huge banner for a professional photo with the promotional girls. The middle section is mostly the dancefloor area to hold 50-80 people . The latter third is again, standing room and lounge area, while the bar stretches along the farther two-thirds of the room.
Cloak Room: Didn’t utilise the cloak room tonight
Bar Prices / Line: You could usually get service right away.
DJs: DJ Snoop
Music Style: Primarily Trance and House. Considering the Korean audience I was expecting RNB but it never really surfaced, except in tiny sampling form. It was a pretty wierd type of Trance music that i really couldn’t get into. I think some of the other girls here looked pretty bewildered to why such music was being played here tonight. Was hoping later in the night more danceable or recognizable music would be played, but it was pretty much the same thumping beats throughout the night. I definitely did not picture this kind of music being played at a Korean oriented clubbing night. To be fair though, the style of Music to be played was not advertised on their banners and flyers.
Crowd & Ratio: Mostly if not, all Korean . Definitely all Asian tonight. The ratio was quite even at one point but for most of the night there were heaps of guys. I would say 70:30 Men to women.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment for tonight.
Atmosphere: The whole place is pretty dark, with just the laser lights and minimal lighting going. Population wise it was pretty dead in the beginning, but only started to pick up at 12:30, with the dancefloor being filled but the other areas were pretty dead. Smoke machines helped give the illusion of having the place not being so dead.
Video: Music Montage
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Visiting a friend for a birthday… nothing special – here we go!
DJ and dance area (about half the floor)
Dropping by: Babyface @ Tao Ultra Lounge
Assessment Time: 12:00AM – 12:45AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM – 04:00AM (More likely 10:15PM to be pedantic)
Lockout: Determined by security at around 2:30AM
Address:396 Pitt St, CNR Goulburn St (underground to Mr B’s Hotel)
Venue Website: http://www.mrbshotel.com.au
Promoter Website: http://www.infinityoz.com
Occurrence: Every Friday night since late 2010
Outside Line: I waited for about 15 minutes before getting inside. The line was about 15 people long.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart Casual is promoted, but guys wear a mix of casual and smart casual, depending on their mood. Girls as usual have to look their best. Considering the crowd type, even more so.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: I paid $25 full price to get in.
Guestlist: Try to submit at least one day before the event – http://www.infinityoz.com/guestlist
Inside: Situated beneath Mr B’s Hotel, Tao Ultra Lounge is setup as one room segregated by sofas and lounges,and foldaway columnar wall-like arch things. As you walk downstairs ito the club, you are on the right end of the club, where it is a standing and drinking area. Tonight the entry area has the huge banner for a professional photo with the promotional girls. The middle section is mostly the dancefloor area to hold 50-80 people . the latter third is again, standing room and lounge area, while the bar stretches along the farther two thirds of the room.
Cloak Room: $10 large items. $5 small items. I had my humongous bag with about 4 textbooks, laptop, ipad, clothes, and whatever other junk I had in there from uni. It was entertaining to see her struggle with my bag to the back of the cloak area. I got my $10 worth.
Bar Prices / Line: I didn’t drink tonight.
DJs: No idea.
Music Style: Primarly commerical Pop RnB tonight.
Crowd & Ratio: Everyone here is of Asian descent. It is a mix of Australian Asians and International Asians, skewed to the latter if I had to choose one. There were also quite a lot of guys here clumped around like red blood cells in a clot.
Entertainment: None extra
Atmosphere: It’s a dark atmosphere in the front half of the club near the DJ area. It’s a little bit more lit in the back area. It’s loud and its hard to talk as per in a normal club (as advertised). Lots of people in here in the dance area. Smoke machines and laser lights add to the dance aspects of the venue. It’s a good club feel to it – but only within the small dancefloor.
Video 
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We have just left a birthday party at a warehouse, and its 3:00AM. Have been asked to go to Tao Ultra Lounge… haha why not, so here we go!
Assessment Time: 03:00AM – 03:30AM
Opening Hours: 10:30PM – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288588253950, http://www.syndicateevents.com.au/
Address: 396 Pitt St, CNR Goulburn St (Old Mandarin Club)
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart Casual is recommended.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20 after midnight. I scored free entry deceptively.
Guestlist: See websites for details
Occurence: Every Saturday Night.
Inside: Beneath the former Mandarin Club (Now Mr B’s Hotel), Tao Ultra Lounge/Bar is a small area split into even smaller areas – A carpeted area where most dancing occurs. It holds 50-80 people. There are two lounge areas on either side of the dancefloor. A DJ is along the wall next to the bar on the wooden area. The wooden floor area is the general ‘lets stand around and chat each other up’ area with bar and some tables and stools.
Cloak Room: Assumed to be at the counter, but I did not notice.
Bar: Didn’t drink tonight.
DJs: Unknown
Music: RnB, House Mashup
Crowd: Mostly Asians in their 20’s.
Entertainment: MC who seemed a bit tired of it all.
Atmosphere: It was average but do not expect much at this time. A handful of people on the dancefloor, some people lounging around. At least it wasn’t too dead on the floor.
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Satisfaction @ Tao Ultra Lounge - Masquerade Night
Pre-text: Bamboo @ Martin Place Bar, Funky Buddha @ Sanctuary Hotel
Looking for a Club. Walked to Bamboo and it was packed. Way too packed. We would not have stood a chance being able to dance. We left before paying at the counter. Walked to Funky, and about 2 metres before entering, you could feel it hit you – it was a gust of Body Heat dissipating from the venue. We walked inside and pretty much felt like a sauna on mild, and by dancing in here it would be the equivalent of someone splashing more water onto the coals turning it up to full blast. We left before we paid at the counter. There isn’t much else to offer at 1:00AM. Pumphouse is shit and Cherry @ Shelbourne I have yet to check out, so off we went to Tao Nightclub, where reports was that it is not so busy these days. The last two times I went I did enjoy, so here we go!
Satisfaction @ Tao Ultra Lounge (Mr B’s Hotel)
Assessment Time: 1:00AM – 3:45AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM – 4:00AM
Lockout: Bouncers advise patrons the close club closes at 3:00AM and that is not worth getting in, but you can still get in if you want.
Website: http://www.syndicateevents.com.au
Address: 396 Pitt St, Corner of Goulburn St (Old Mandarin Club)
Dress Code / Door Policy: Advertised as “dress to impress”, but seemingly more relaxed about it at the door. Almost all guys inside though had a collared shirt, and the girls were all in dresses.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20 full cover charge, $10 on guestlist before midnight.
Guestlist: info@syndicateevents.com.au
Inside: Beneath Mr B’s Hotel (former Mandarin Club), Tao Bar/Nightclub is a small area split into even smaller areas – A carpeted area where most dancing occurs. It holds 50-80 people. There are two lounge areas on either side of the dancefloor. A DJ is along the wall. The wooden floor area is the general ‘lets stand around and chat each other up’ area with bar and some tables and stools. This particular area has a green and red spotted light thing dotting the area. It’s trippy.
Cloak Room: $4 per item
Bar: $5 Promotional specials for drinks before 11pm or midnight.
Music: Contemporary RnB, with some commercial house / electro mashups
Crowd: Dominantly Asian. Handful of caucasians/euro people who were lost.
Entertainment: an MC to keep things going. Photographer as well. Also tonight was Masquerade night – so some people brang masks to wear. Promoters also handed out masks for the rest of our poor souls to wear if we forgot to bring one or, in this case, had no idea tonight was a masquerade night.
Atmosphere: Upon entering, it was pretty much what you would call ‘dead’. Nobody was at the bar, and there were about 20-30 people on the small dancefloor / lounge areas. Half the crowd here were from a Hen’s night. However the dancing area is so dark and small you can’t really tell that its that dead when you are inside the carpeted area. It never picked up from that point – probably reaching a peak of 40 or 50 people during the night.
Video: 360 video (Dark)
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Dance Floor area - Tao Nightclub
Just finished watching Mardi Gras. Time for a dance! A friend of a friend has a birthday at none other than Tao, where I had a good time last Saturday for their ‘Satisfaction’ grand opening, so let’s try it again – here we go!
Satisfaction @ Tao Ultra Lounge
Assessment Time: 11:00 – 03:00am
Website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288588253950
Address: 396 Pitt St, CNR Goulburn St (Old Mandarin Club)
Dress Code / Door Policy: Dress nice. Tonight even crossdressing asians were allowed. On entering, the security guard warned me to keep my hat off inside. I managed to keep it on inside without being told off.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free for ladies before 11. $10 before midnight on guestlist. $20 full cover charge fee.
Guestlist: Email Satisfaction.saturdays@gmail.com or SMS 0438 889 892
Inside: Beneath the former Mandarin Club (Now Mr B’s Hotel), Tao Ultra Lounge/Bar is a small area split into even smaller areas – A carpeted area where most dancing occurs. It holds 50-80 people. There are two lounge areas on either side of the dancefloor. A DJ is along the wall next to the bar on the wooden area. The wooden floor area is the general ‘lets stand around and chat each other up’ area with bar and some tables and stools.
Cloak Room: $4 per item
Bar: $19 for 2 Carlton Draughts and a Corona. Current promotion is $5 drinks and $16 jugs of beer before midnight.
DJs: Xcentrik, R*One, Normz, Edo, Day-Day
Music: RnB and some house. DJs tonight are MASSIVELY guilty of repeating songs twice over. Even some house songs such as ‘Riverside’ got repeated later in the night. I like that song, but you can see whoever was here earlier for the first iteration of the song stop dancing, and silently groan that they’ve heard this song before.
Crowd: Almost entirely asian. There were handful of white guys with yellow fever (disgusting) and a white girl looking a bit lost, but that was all from what I could see. Asians were all English speaking Australians.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment, just the MC.
Atmosphere: Overall it was a pretty good atmosphere. People are dancing on the carpeted area, and its dark enough to be a bit private. Lounge areas are dark, and the bar is bright for people who just want to mill around. Most importantly its busy, but not sardine packed. It’s a good balance.
360 Video
Keep reading for my encounters with the various girls in here
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