I’m on holiday. It’s a Wednesday. I lost my phone at the last nightclub and I had it returned. It’s time to celebrate at Luxy Nightclub tonight. So here we go!
Wednesdays @ Luxy Club,
Opened in 2003, Luxy has become a staple nightclub for foreigners to visit. It’s one of the most known and I think the oldest running nightclub in Taipei. Often big international acts come to play here. It is also popular among some locals as well.
View from the front looking towards the back
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
22:00PM – 04:00AM
Address
5th Level/Floor, No. 201, Sec. 4, Zhong-Xiao East Road, Taipei, Taiwan 106
You walk into the building and the entrance is on Ground floor. You will then be whisked up the elevators to the proper club level.
Venue Website:
http://www.luxy-taipei.com/
Event Website:
https://www.facebook.com/luxy.taipei.fans
Promoters:
Self promoted.
Occurrence:
Every week since 2003.
Dress Code / Door Policy:
On Wednesday night, there is not real enforcement of any dress code. Friends got in with hoodies, hats. However inside it’s a mixed bag of well dressed guys with collared shirts and dress shoes to the casual person (myself with my running shoes, jeans, and collared shirt). Girls are also just as guilty with a mixed combination of nice dresses towards casual
Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$500NTD ($20AUD) to enter. The entry fee includes 2 free drinks.
Passouts: N/A
We got in at 10:45PM, saw how dead it was and left. There was no problems with leaving.
Guestlist:
See website. You can also contact 0955 904 600
Cloak Room:
Luxy has self-serve lockers. Rental of a locker is $20 NTD (Just less than $1AUD)
Tonight: Wednesday is ladies night..
Assessment Time:
Dropped in at 10:45PM
Returned 12:45AM – 4:00AM (closing)
Outside Line:
Pretty much 3 or 4 people at the time. No waiting time.
Inside:
Luxy is on level 2. Enter the ground floor for security checks and head up the elevator.
Upon entry into the lobby, you’re in a laser beam light room. It’s a bit confusing when you first encounter it.
Elevator Lobby; Green Lights
Don’t leave the laser too long in your mouth, it actually heats the inside of your mouth up, and probably kills some cells along the way.
Head on to enter the back of the Luxy nightclub. The complex is one big room with a balcony at the back, overlooking down towards the dance floor. The circular bar is at the back and is well-lit. Surrounding the bar areas are the various lounges which are reserved for bottle service customers.
The Main Bar at Luxy Nightclub
At the front is the dance floor, sunken from the rest of the venue to hold about 50-80 people. There is also a long dancing pole, while the DJ is an raised stage away from the rest of the crowd. I assume that the stage is used more for big bands or acts to set up and play on here while maintaining distance from the crowd.
3:00AM on the Dance Floor
Bar Prices / Line:
$200 NTD per shot (Approx $7-$8AUD)
Bottle service pricing: Unknown.
We did what most other smart people did and had pre-drinks at 7-Eleven, about ten minutes walk away.
Bathroom Facilities:
Little to no line at all. Clean toilet facilities
DJs:
Unknown, I think just the resident DJs playing tonight
Music Style:
EDM Tunes, RnB, Top 40. Mostly all the party tunes that people are familiar with.
Crowd:
There are quite a lot of foreigners. I met Russians, Singaporeans, Japanese, Chinese, and of course Australians. I didn’t really interact with any local Taiwanese people here as I can’t really speak Mandarin.
Ratio:
10:45PM – 12 guys when we initially had a sneak peek. Left after five minutes for pre-drinking somewhere else.
12:45PM – Girls were here! Ratio was still poor at probably 4 guys 1 girl.
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Landed in Taipei at around 8PM from Sydney with some friends. So tired but we have been told that we are to go clubbing tonight. I have no say in the matter whatsoever.. oh.. alriiight. So we have come to Room 18 for ‘pre clubbing’. ie Clubbing before going to a more popular club. This tends to be normal here… here we go!
Bar staff
Website: http://www.room18.com.tw/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Room18.Taipei
Address: b1, No. 88, Songren Rd., Taipei
Contact: +8862 23452778
Opening Days: WED / FRI / SAT : pm 10:30 ~ am 05:00 (視當日營業狀況而定). Today is a Saturday night.
Dress Code / Door Policy: People don’t give a crap what you wear. Casual is fine, because clubs get quite warm. We wore sports shoes, jeans, and a dress shirt to be safe.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Unknown. Our friend got us in free. We also skipped the line.
Passouts: Unknown.
Guestlist: Please refer to website
Cloak Room: Unknown if available
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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!
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 Website: http://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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Thursday and the beginning of a long weekend, and a new event is on! Looked promising, so rounded up some friends, we got our presold tickets and were ready to go! Check it!
12:40AM. View from the front podium
ZEN (Grand Opening) @ Ivy Bar, Sydney – Thursday 28th March 2013
In a response to the successful OPM @ Marquee nights by Urban Agent, competing promoters Syndicate (Kinki/Perfect) and Mizuya (Me2/LKF) with a whole subset of smaller promoting companies decided to launch their own equally big event at a big venue named ‘Zen’, down at the large Ivy bar. Ivy bar would be one of the few venues that would be able to hold so many people.
Essentials:
Opening Hours: 8:00PM – 3:00AM
Address: 320-330 George St, Sydney
Venue Website:
http://www.merivale.com.au/ivybar
Event Website: None as of yet. Refer to promoter websites for info.
Promoters: Syndicate Events, Mizuya Ent., Colab Ent.
Occurrence: Tonight was the grand opening. It is unknown whether repeats will happen, but considering the sell out, there will most likely be future repeats of this event. It won’t be every Thursday, but just on special days such as long weekends or when uni students are on holiday.
Dress Code / Door Policy: “Strict Dress Code” applies were the words tonight, but everyone was being let in. I wore dress shoes, black pants, white shirt, vest and skinny tie.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
– $25 first release (super limited)
– $30 second release (which “sold out” two days prior).
– On the night 8PM-9PM the entry fee was $35(?) then after 9PM it goes up to $40.
This high pricing could only be successfully pulled off at big venues like Ivy and officially sets a new record high for an Asian clubbing event, since Vanity (now closed) charged people $35 to see some dude sing on one particular night. Also considering only one of the Ivy buildings was hired tonight, these guys have made an absolute killing.
Passouts: No passouts before 11:30PM.
Guestlist / Reserved Areas: See promoter websites for details. Reserved VIP areas require min spend of $1500 at the bar.
Cloak Room: Since everyone has paid such a steep price for entry, the cloakroom was free tonight. A saving grace. Though at the end of the night, the line to get your stuff was ridiculously long. Probably 20-30 minutes.
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This weekend I’m in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a wedding. So while I’m here, it’s time to visit the club well regarded by the locals, Zouk Club.
Line up to the club (11PM)
Saturdays @ Zouk Nightclub, KL, Malaysia
Zouk Club is the sister / child club of the original Zouk Club in Singapore (apparently it has lost a bit of its glam with the Singaporean locals compared to newer establishments, but here in KL it still is as popular as ever.)
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
Club: 10:00PM? – 3AM. The 3AM shutdown was only enforced for Zouk this year. It was enforced by the government for public safety reasons (also other clubs close here at 3AM so you’re not missing out).
The Cafe area of Zouk (outdoor bar) is open from 10AM in the morning
Address:
113, Jalan Ampang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Parking: There is nearby parking on the opposite side of the road.
Venue and Event Website: http://www.zoukclub.com.my
Occurrence: Zouk is open every day of the week except Monday.
Dress Code / Door Policy: The Legal age is 21 here, however only the Zouk (main room) of the club is open for 21 year olds. All other areas require patrons to be 23 years or older. This is probably to target more of the working class crowd. Thank god I am no longer a teenager. I suppose its also better to stop the children from drinking from an early age.
Dress code – casual is okay but to use the upstairs Aristo room and Terrace Garden, you must be dressed sharp (collared shirt, dress shoes at a minimum is advised)
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Something like 45 Ringgit (approx $15AUD at the time of writing) for the guys. Girls get cheaper entry or free entry.
Guestlist: Contact the Facebook page for details
Cloak Room: I don’t remember seeing any cloak rooms
Tonight:
Assessment Time: 10:30PM – 3:00AM
Outside Line: At 10:30PM there were not excited punters lining up. It was empty – we strolled in, and the cigarette/other company promo girls at the front were all over us like they have never seen a customer before. The line started getting longer at 11:30PM and by midnight the line was pretty long, perhaps a 15 minute wait to get in.
Inside/Atmosphere:
Zouk is split in primarily three large dance rooms and three smaller dance rooms with associated drinking areas. Most of these rooms focus on seating and drinking with relatively small dancefloor areas:
1. Zouk / Pleasure Dome Area. This is the primary room for Zouk Club. All ages above 21 are welcome here. Large room with main dancefloor and second balcony level. Lounges around the walls. LED lights / screens above along the balcony looking down on the floor. Quite a darker, club atmosphere
2. Phuture Room: Also a two level balcony setup. Big projection wall on the left for video clips to be played. Lounges/VIP areas around the walls and above on the balcony. Little stick out dance areas for attention whores as well. Bar in the back. Dancefloor to hold about 40-50 people. A more “friendly” lighting scenario where its lighter.
3. Velvet: A louder two tiered room. Lower tier upon walking in is just a bar with carpeted floor and tables, chairs for people to mingle. Dark lighting. Upper tier is also relatively medium-dark lit dancefloor, with many VIP/reserved bottle service tables around. Also podiums around the immediate vicinity of the dancefloor, closely guarded by security. I jumped up on the podium and started shuffling, but security didn’t like it and pulled me off. It’s loud, and I think much more people were in this room than that of the Phuture Room. By peak of the night (midnight-2:30AM), this room had literally no moving space. If you got caught up in the dancefloor it was almost impossible to get out.
Velvet Room – random podium clubbing
4. Aristo and Roof Garden: Appeared to be a more relaxed room, and I would guess one of the last rooms to get full of people. This was the last room to have music setup and was one of the first rooms to close when the place started to close up. Don’t bother going to this room unless you’re the quiet or seductive type.
5. Barsonic Room: A smaller, intimate room but still blurting out some tunes. Didn’t get to spend time in here sadly.
6. Terrace Bar: It’s just an outdoor bar to take a break from it all or have a ciggie.
Continue reading »
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:
cubic@urbanagent.com.au / joe@infinityproductionz.com
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.
Continue reading »
After leaving Verandah Bar, organisers of Vanity have re-opened at The Watershed Hotel. Tonight is the second week of opening – It’s bloody pissing down cats and dogs and we were all pretty drenched with rain.. so let’s get inside asap please – here we go!
Floor at 12:20AM
Vanity @ The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Assessment Time: Just before 11:00PM – 2:55AM
Opening Hours: The venue is open all day for the general public but the Vanity entry cash register is in place by approximately 9:30-10:00PM. Closing time would be ap
Lockout: Unknown but we saw people re-entering at 2:00AM
Address: 10 Darling Drive, Darling harbour, Sydney. OK Where the hell is that? It’s NOT ON THE SAME SIDE AS Pontoon or Home Bar! It’s opposite! Find it at Harbourside Shopping Centre. We had an epic discussion (note: argument) about which side the bar was on before asking google maps. My team won 🙂 When you get to the shopping centre its not hard to find, just look for the place around the middle of the centre with the loud music coming out. Entrance is outside by the water.
Parking: Special mention goes to parking. It’s a bitch to park in Darling Harbour, but if you park at the Harbourside Shopping Centre carpark and validate your ticket at the cloak room inside the venue, then you only have to pay $10. Not bad if you hate walking.
Venue Website: http://www.thewatershedhotel.com.au
Event Website: https://www.facebook.com/vanitysyd
Promoters: Urban Agent, ESO Events
Occurrence: Every Friday since September 2012
Outside Line: No line as we entered (10:55PM), but when we got to the counter, about 10 people suddenly were lining up behind us.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Very relaxed policy here. A mix of casual, and smart casual were dressed tonight. So guys can wear normal T-shirts and even hats and any form of shoe. Girls are allowed to wear leopard prints too.
2AM crowd status.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $25 Normal Entry. $15 on guestlist (before 11:30/12???). Birthday Packages available where birthday person gets free entry.
Guestlist: Ask your preferred promoter, otherwise either of the following emails: vanity@esoevents.com.au or vanity@ua.com.au
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