Waiting for a friend in the city, so I am dropping by here for a bit.

Bad Party / Club Wings @ Cheers Nightclub, Sydney
Assessment Time: 11:50PM – 12:40AM
Opening Hours: 11:00PM – 4:00AM
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 561 George St. Cheers Nightclub is underground, separate from Cheers Bar on the ground floor.
Venue Website: http://www.cheersbar.com.au
Event Website: http://www.cheersbar.com.au/sydneycheers
Promoter Website: Unknown, but it is definitely one of the Korean promoters.
Occurrence: Every Thursday since 2011. It was called “Bad Party”, with the idea that “Bad” implied naughty-ness, but that has immensely backfired in a contextual sense, and because of this, the promoters have changed the event name to “Club wings” this year. You can tell the promoters are the same, when the club stamp on my arm says “Bad Party”. These promoters are living off a shoestring. 
Outside Line: There was no line. Just 3 pretty girls in Angel Wings. Admittedly they swayed my decision to go inside here tonight. Damn me for having a mindset of a man.
Dress Code / Door Policy: No hats allowed in here. Other than that, you were allowed to pretty much wear casual clothing within reason. Most guys wore collared shirts. The girls were pretty casual as well tonight
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $5 entry. Previous weeks girls got free entry before 1AM but it is unknown if that was applied tonight.
Guestlist: N/A
Inside: Walk downstairs underground to enter the one room of the nightclub. On the left wall is the bar. On the right wall are TV screens playing the video clip to whatever song is being played at the moment. The other two walls are lined with lounges. The DJ booth is on the far right wall. Right smack in the middle is the wooden dancefloor, with the rest of the area being carpeted. The floor is approximately 7×7 metres.
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: I didn’t drink tonight. Water can be had separately.
Bathroom Facilities: On a weekend the bathroom usually reeks like urine and vomit. Thankfully tonight nobody has done such things, and they are acceptable for a Thursday night. That’s right folks, it doesn’t smell like piss tonight.
Eviction Count: None spotted
DJs: DJ Nick Kim all night
Music Style: Purely Top 40 and classic party hits. Full music songs are played, with the associated video clip played on TV screens around the walls. The DJ doesn’t really have much flexibility in this case in terms of mixing – being forced to really only be creative when transitioning between songs, which isn’t the hardest thing to do. Even my mother could do it. I felt sorry for the DJ, he looked like he was over these pop songs.

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Hello… New Zealand! Christchurch is where we are tonight, and since the earthquakes of 2010/2011, the entire city nightlife has disappeared. Imagine Sydney’s CBD, Kings Cross, and Darling Harbour decimated and fenced off because of an earthquake. That is the equivalent of what has happened here. The former city is rebuilding, and pretty much if you wanted to go for a dance, you have to make do with DJs playing at local bars or go out in the suburbs. It is quite sad.

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.

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