Mink Saturdays @ Martin Place Bar

On August 9, 2014, in Martin Place Bar, by J T

I’ve been living in a country town. I’ve made a special weekend trip to Sydney to visit friends, family, and a new club event. Let’s check it out!

Back looking to the front

Mink @ Martin Place Bar

Mink has been running since July 2014

Essentials:
Opening Hours:

10:30?? – 2:15AM

Address:

51 Martin Place, Martin Place, Sydney

Parking:

Come later in the night and you can find street parking within 2-3 blocks around.

Website:

Event: https://www.facebook.com/minksaturdays

Venue: http://www.martinplacebar.com.au

Promoters: Clique: https://www.facebook.com/cliquesydney

Occurrence:
Every Saturday since July 2014. Prior there was another short-lived event, #Fabric run by competitors Syndicate Events

Dress Code / Door Policy:
Theres no dress code enforced tonight. People wore whatever they wanted.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Paid $25 at the door.
There are weekly free entry specials so long as you enter the venue before 11:30 or before midnight.

Guestlist:

mink@clique-ent.com

Cloak Room:
Didn’t use cloak room facilities tonight, but based on earlier events, you are probably looking at $5 / item.

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A bunch of Asians walked into the Casino. Haha. But this time its Marquee Nightclub that these younger Asians are heading to. So rather than losing money at the Sic Bo or Roulette tables, these guys invest their money into entry fees and expensive drinks. I don’t want to miss out, so let’s check it out!

OPM Fridays @ Marquee Nightclub Sydney (The Star)

Main Bar // 1:30AM

This event is now Every Friday night. It used to be on a Thursday.

Essentials:

Opening Hours:
10:30PM – 4AM

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.fb.com/OPMSydney
http://www.urbanagent.com.au

Promoters: Urban Agent

Occurrence: Every Friday since early 2014, and previously ran on irregular Thursdays from mid-2012

Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual clothing is allowed tonight, but don’t risk it despite the dress code being relaxed significantly since the grand opening of Marquee Nightclub. Most guys are wearing collared shirts at minimum, while girls are pretty glammed up.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:  $25 at the door, but a friend was asked to pay $30. The highest cover charge price you’ll pay for a Friday night.

Table / Bottle Service: Starting at $1,600+ for a 10 person table including entry and the equivalent price for drinks. Higher packages can reach $3,000+ . Welcome to Australia

Guestlist: See event website or contact your local promoter

Cloak Room: $5 per item. The cloak room would be right at the entrance to the club after you go up the escalators

Tonight:

Assessment Time: 11:00PM – 4:00AM

Outside Line: Arriving at 11:00AM and expecting long lines, we were surprised to see a line of about 10 people. It went by quite fast. It could have been because all the other Asians were at the Jay Chou concert tonight On previous nights I’ve spent from 1 hour and another time, 3 (three) hours lining up in the pre-paid line from 11:00PM to finally get in at 2:00AM due to capacity issues. So be aware when buying pre-paid, as general lines (who pay more) get faster access.

There was also a guestlist line, a general line (for people who just rocked up), and also a VIP Bottle Servce entry line. Four lines in total! The line roping is almost as big as the club.

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A friend and I have flown into Singapore just to attend the ZoukOut festival this weekend. It’s the biggest turnout out of its 13 year history with 41,000 people attendence and a relatively strong line up. Also with the cancellation of Alesso for the Stereosonic Australian Music Festival shows, it would be a great opportunity to see him. So let’s put on some onesies and see how it is!

ZoukOut Music Festival 2013 @ Silosa Beach, Sentosa Island, Singapore

ZoukOut Festival

ZoukOut Festival

Essentials:
Opening Hours:

Friday: 8PM? – 5AM
Saturday: 8PM? – 8AM

The times suit the climate of Singapore, as it often rains during the daytime, while at night there is a lesser chance of rain occurring. Both nights the weather at night turned out clear.

Address:
It’s held on Silosa Beach, Sentosa Island

Parking:
Pretty much everyone caught a taxi here or caught a shuttle bus from a nearby MRT station. If you were lucky you could have booked a hotel on Sentosa.

Venue Website:
http://www.sentosa.com.sg

Event Website:
http://www.zoukout.com

Promoters:
http://www.zoukclub.com

Occurrence:
Every year since 2000

Dress Code / Door Policy:
Pretty much anything is allowed, bar being nude. A guy even brought in a blow up doll without any troubles. I wore my bumblebee onesie, which turned out to be one of the worst decisions made in a humid place such as Singapore.

Beach pre drinks

Beach pre drinks

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Two Day Festival Pass: $168 SGD
Day 1 Happy Hour (entry before 10PM): $88
Day 1 Advance [1st release]: $98
Day 1 Standard [2nd release]: $108
Day 1 Tickets at the event: $118

Day 2 Happy Hour (entry before 10PM): $98
Day 2 Advance [1st release]: $108
Day 2 Standard [2nd release]: $118
Day 2 Tickets at the event: $128

Each day is assigned a separate wristband. My friend got caught out and we assumed the wristband applied for both days (as per Stereosonic). He didn’t bring his ticket for Day 2 and the guys at the counter would not accept a wristband and online receipt as official acceptance of payment – he had to sit out Day 2.

Passouts:
So long as you had a wristband you were able to go in and out of the beach as you please.

Cloak Room:
Yes. $20 SGD

Tonight:

Outside Line:
Day 1: Quite fast
Day 2: Quite slow. Loads more people attended Day 2 and a lot of cutting the line was involved.

Inside:
Entrance is on the East Side of Silosa beach. Various bars and stalls are scattered around the beach. The Star Stage is the first big stage on the right, while the Main Stage is on the West Side of the beach. There are other smaller areas with swimming pools and ‘VIP’ areas to hang out which have views of the stages. The best VIP area would probably  be the Citibank area, with well a lit decor and front Pool, while being near the Main Stage on the Western side.

Strawberry

Strawberry

Bar Prices / Line:

The wait was about 10-15 minutes for a drink on average. This year saw the introduction of the pre-paid card system for drinks, which is becoming the standard for most music festivals.

$10 for all Mixed Vodkas, Gins, Bourbons, Whiskeys [Mixed with Green Tea, Coke, Sprite or Soda]
$5 for Redbull, Soft Drinks, Green Tea.

Tip: As in most Asian countries, the cheapies (including myself) pretty much got their pre-drinks from 7-Eleven and drank outside on the beach before going in. There was only one 7-Eleven on the way to Silosa beach and it was packed. The 7-Eleven employees were just dishing out the alcohol and beers, while people queued for drinks.

DJs: (Internationals listed here, but there were also many other local acts)
Day 1: 12th Planet (US), Benga (UK), Afrojack (NED), Example & DJ Wire (UK), Ferry Corsten (NED), Krewella (US), NERVO (AUS) ,Otto Knows (SWE)
Day 2: Teal / Nitelist Music (WOMB, TOKYO), Alesso (SWE), Danny Avila (SPA), Dash Berlin (NED),  Kölsch (DEN), Lee Foss & Anabel Englund (US), Martin Solveig (FRA), Seth Troxler (US), Solomun (GER), Zedd (GER), Cyberjapan Dancers (JPN)

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Prelude: We just survived a crazy set from DJ Shogun at Manning Bar. We met Shogun afterwards and asked what he was doing after? It was already 1:30AM. “I’m going to the Shanghai Nights thingy to party! Come and party with me!” Oh my god. Shogun wants us to come with him. Anything you say Mr Shogun. Time to go!

Shanghai Nights @ Space Nightclub

The name Shanghai Nights has been resurrected as a replacement for the Cubic event. It’s the same promoters, but the obvious target audience now are Chinese expats, rather than Cubic trying to attract both the locals and expats. Memories of Shanghai Nights at the previous venue conjour up images of busy crowds, cigarette smoke and asians everywhere. Probably not going to be the same here tonight but it’s always good to find out!

Shanghai Nights @ Space Nightclub Dancefloor

Essentials:
Opening Hours:
10:30PM – 4:00AM?

Address:
127 Liverpool st – enter via the second line to get your name marked off guestlist etc. Otherwise you may enter via the normal Shark Hotel line and walk in. After entering the Shark hotel floor, you may proceed to level 2 where Space Nightclub is.

Venue Websitehttp://www.spacevenue.com.au

Event Website: http://www.fb.com/shanghainightssyd

Promoters: Urban Agent, et al.

Occurrence: Every Friday since February 2013 at Space Nightclub.

Dress Code / Door Policy:
I was really casual. Jeans, running sneakers, t-shirt, leather jacket and I was let in.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$25 after midnight. Cash only accepted.

Passouts:
No passouts before midnight (??)

Guestlist:
rob@ua.com.au

Cloak Room:
$5 per item.

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Exams are done, and we bought tickets to Shogun! So excited! Was surprised that it was at Manning Bar because its such a small place, but that helps because it is the University we attend; So got some predrinks and off we went!

love

love from the front

Details

Venue: Level Two, Manning House (Manning Bar), University of Sydney
Price: $50 at the door. $40 First Release (I think that’s how much I paid)
Crowd: Only fans were here of course. A big number of them are Asian. Ratio was like 7 guys per girl or something crap like that. It didn’t really matter because people were here for the music.
Inside Well, it turns out they got rid of all the chairs and tables inside Manning Bar; which left plenty of room for people to stand around. They also closed the curtains which helped with the atmosphere. Probably about 400-500 people in there.

Shogun has a lot of dude fans

 

Skipped the first two pre acts and came in halfway through MarLo’s set (drunk as well). By now the place was pretty much at capacity. The vibe is pretty damn good. Everyone is singing along to the tunes, but I would have expected more to dance along, but I guess not. Lots of fist pumping and hands in the air moments throughout.

I thought I was an EDM fan but I met a lot of people who are doing the entire EDM circuit for every act that is visiting Sydney. Really dedicated fans of the music. That’s freaking hardcore.

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It seems everyone in my circle of clubbing friends has been here except me. It’s finally time tonight to check it out!

Main Room - 12:40AM

Main Room – 12:40AM

Masif @ Space Nightclub Sydney

Essentials:
Opening Hours:
10:00PM – 05:30AM

Address:
127 Liverpool St (Level 2 – enter via entering Shark Hotel)

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

Event Website: https://www.facebook.com/masifsaturdays

Promoters: Hard Dance Sydney, Masif, HDA, Krazy

Occurrence: Every Saturday night

Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes, no restrictions.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$25 full entry fee after midnight (guestlists end at midnight).
$20 on guestlist

Guestlist: Contact your preferred promoter or directly at guestlist@masifsaturdays.com.au

Cloak Room: $5 ?

Tonight:
Assessment Time
:
11:30PM – 2:30AM

Outside Line:
This is one of those places where the line outside gets longer as the night goes on. It would be helpful to line up before midnight.

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The overseas event Pacha has come to Sydney to open up their event in Ivy! Along with raving reviews the word is that dress code has also been dropped. So it was logical to suit up – so I grabbed some friends and got some tickets. Here we go!

Just before midnight in the main room

Just before midnight in the main room

Pacha Sydney @ Ivy Bar (Sneaky sound system, Denzal park)

Essentials:
Opening Hours:
Aaround 8:30PM – 4:00AM+

Address:
Ivy Bar, 320-330 George St, Sydney

Venue Website:
http://www.merivale.com.au/ivybar

Event Website:
http://www.pachasydney.com
http://www.fb.com/pachasydney

Occurrence:
Every Saturday night since November 2012. Tonight was the third week of opening.

Dress Code / Door Policy:
Ivy isn’t as uptight as it was before on Saturdays – Dress code now is less strict. People with t-shirts and jeans can come in tonight. The Pacha promoters even encourage costumes and dress ups! Just no thongs or shorts thouogh. The actual dress of the crowd was a mix of very casually dressed folk with people who were smart casual. I went for the suit which was in hindsight a bad choice.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Tickets can be pre-paid online for $35 first release. $40 for second release, and $40 at the door (usually) It’s more expensive than that of Marquee Sydney ($30 standard) and makes Pacha the most expensive regular nightclub ticket in Sydney. I told a friend about it and he was instantaneously put off and refused to spend so much. Despite this, first release tickets usually sell out.

Guestlist:
Contact your preferred Pacha promoter for a discount. Otherwise there is no email address to send names to and you will need to pay for tickets directly from the website.

Cloak Room:
$3 per item. The cloak room is on the ground level in building 2, opposite to where the elevators are. Easiest way to get there is rather than turn left to go upstairs after getting past security, go straight ahead and you will hit the cloak room

Tonight:
Assessment Time
: 11:25PM – 3:45AM

Outside Lines:
The line is not from George St but you need to go around to the back alley lane to enter Ivy. There are three lines:
1. Pre-paid ticket holders: The fastest moving line. Took us less than five minutes to get 6 of us all in. Used my phone showing the ticket email attachment as my “ticket” and I was let in fine.
2. Guestlisters: A shorter line but not as fast.
3. General line: For everyone else who wants to pay at the door: Slowest line of them all and quite a number of people lining up.

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