A bunch of Asians walked into the Casino. What’s new? It’s the less-than-a-year-old 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 @ Marquee Nightclub Sydney (The Star)
A Thursday Asian RnB/House event held once a month or every two months – whenever it suits holidays or public holidays. It is NOT held every Thursday as many of my Asian friends perceive.
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
10:30PM – 5AM+
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.urbanagent.com.au/events_opm.html
Promoters: Urban Agent
Occurrence: Thursdays, every month or so (usually during university holiday breaks and public holidays) since mid 2012.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual clothing is allowed tonight. Dress code has relaxed significantly since the grand opening of Marquee Nightclub, though it is encouraged to dress your best.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20 Pre-paid tickets, $25 at the door.
Guestlist: [email protected]
Cloak Room: Didn’t check, but other Urban Agent events usually charge $5 per item. The cloak room would be right at the entrance to the club after the registers (if it is open).
Tonight:
Assessment Time: 11:00PM – 4:00AM
Outside Line: We spent 3 (three) hours lining up in the pre-paid from 11:00PM to finally get in at 2:00AM! The explanation was that venue reached capacity very quickly, very early on and the lines were not allowed to progress.
The worst part of it was that this was in the pre-paid line. One would assume that the pre-paid line would get priority entry, but it was clear to everyone that people in the “normal” line were also being let in, who had to pay the full $25. More money in the coffers for the promoters while the pre-paid people who actually committed to coming tonight stand outside and suffer. I have never in the entirety of my life (really) have spent so much time lining up for some event.
There was also a guestlist line, a general line (for people who just rocked up), and also a VIP entry line. Four lines in total! Even the “VIP” line people had to wait for a ridiculous amount of time before being let in. So much for that.
So by the end of the whole ordeal, we all had made friends with each other in line – united by the sheer hatred of lining up for 3 hours. With so many Asians, it was the great human wall of China. Creatures from other planets could probably see this line.
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
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 [email protected]
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.
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
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.
This review includes tonight and two revisit summaries (14th Dec 2012, 28th Dec 2012) at the end.
Just here with some friends for a dance – let’s check it out. Here we go!
Lights!
Cubic (Fridays) @ Space Nightclub (Sydney)
Background: The promoters previously closed two of their Friday events, I guess in order to combine the two crowds for tonight’s event . The name Cubic is most likely based on Club Cubic in Macau.
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
Fridays 22:30 – 04:00AM
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. (The lift is preferably no longer in use by promoters)
Venue Website: http://www.spacevenue.com.au
Event Website: http://www.fb.com/cubicsydney
Promoters: UrbanAgent, Infinity Productionz
Occurrence:
Tonight is the second week of opening, while the plan is to have this event on every Friday.
Dress Code / Door Policy:
There was no specific dress code requested by promoters – as a result casual was the minimum required to get in. T-shirts were ok and so were sneakers. Most guys though wore collared shirts with jeans / fancy shoes. Girls generally looked good as well with their going out dresses or whatever they are called.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$25 for entry. $20 for guestlist entry for guys. Tonight was “ladies night” and all girls who “liked” the Facebook page got free entry before Midnight and discounted entry after midnight. In order to qualify for discounted / guestlist priced entry you were required to line outside to mark your name off and obtain the “VIP card”
Passouts:
No passouts before midnight.
Guestlist:
[email protected] / [email protected]
Cloak Room:
$5 per item. On the expensive side.
Tonight:
Assessment Time: 11:30PM – 3:15AM
Outside Line:
None outside the venue. Inside the Shark Hotel entrance there was a short line of 10 people or so – the line moved pretty quickly at this time.
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
A surprise side show announcement by Armin van Buuren. FUUARRRRKKK. Got my tickets and off we go!
Jesus
An Intimate Night with Armin @ The Metro
Assessment Time: 12:00AM – 3:00AM
Opening Hours: 8:00PM – 3:00AM
Lockout: None
Address: 624 George St. Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/pn6tg
Venue Website: metrotheatre.com.au
Occurrence: Once off show, which was only announced after his Stereosonic gig the Saturday prior – Sly Dog.
Outside Line: We got in right away at midnight.
Dress Code / Door Policy: It’s pretty open, most wore casual tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $90 at the door. $80 pre-paid online.
Inside: It was held in the main theatre
Cloak Room: There may have been one but I didn’t use it. I doubt it.
Bar Prices / Line: Didnt drink here tonight, I had pre-drinks at Star Bar next door – much more cheaper.
Music Style: Trance
Crowd: All ages (above 18 of course), all nationaties were here. Mostly 20′s and low 30s crowd. Basically people who aren’t working on Friday, or who don’t give a shit about being a little tired on a Friday morning.
Entertainment: Some acts prior, but I skipped them.
Atmosphere: Definitely a packed house – people were forced to party on the stairs (which was a fire hazard but nobody seemed to care). I was on the moshpit and it was pretty rocking but OMG we probably stood in a bad spot right in front of the speakers. Ear plugs I wore only helped a little bit. People were all into the songs, dancing, cheering etc. Wasn’t too hot at all here, just only got warm from all the dancing.
Video: Music summary of what I heard tonight.
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 Continue reading »
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