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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Heard word that the closed Moulin Rouge club had been bought, refurbished, and reopened for the public as O Nightclub! Time to check it out!
Costume Party
Friday Nights (Private Party) @ O Nightclub
Assessment Time: 11:55PM – 2:30AM
Opening Hours: 20:00 – 03:00 AM
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 39 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point / Kings Cross
Venue Website: http://www.onightclub.com.au
Event Website: http://www.fb.com/onightclub
Promoter Website: Appears to be self promoted ?
Occurrence: Every Friday, Saturday
Outside Line: No line outside upon approach.
Dress Code / Door Policy: It was pretty much whatever goes. Tonight is a costume party, and we were caught unawares without wearing a costume at all.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: It was $20 with a free drink included, but we did a bit of negotiation and got it down to $10 without the drink. Not much of a difference as I end up buying a drink later worth about $10 anyway.
Guestlist: None
Inside: Did you ever visit Moulin Rouge / The Rouge before it closed down and became O nightclub? The layout is exactly the same but the refurbishment job done has made it look very new and more club like. No more is the moulin rouge / dirty feel of the club. It’s more open and “clean”.
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Here for a friend’s birthday. To keep status quo happy (Asians), Pontoon is the chosen venue tonight, so let’s go!
Upstairs
Perfect @ Pontoon Bar, Darling harbour, Sydney
Assessment Time: 10:10PM – 1:15AM, 3:15AM-3:30AM
Opening Hours: Downstairs: (Open earlier in the night for dinner – 4:00AM) Upstairs: 11:30PM – 2/3AM?
Lockout: No known lockout, but entry is closed to the general public at 3AM, while stampholders are still permitted re-entry rights at all times, though you have to line up in line AGAIN if you want to get back in. Totally sucks.
Address: Listed as 201 Sussex St, but access to the place is more or less via The Promenade at Darling Harbour’s Cockle Bay Wharf. The main entry is now via the ground floor where you will usually see a line of people. After 11PM you can also pay for your entry upstairs and get stamped as well – so there are two effective entry points.
Venue Website: http://www.pontoonbar.com
Event Website: http://www.theperfectnight.com.au http://www.facebook.com/perfectnights
Promoters: Joint promoter companies: Colab, Syndicate Events, GTB, and an extra promoter “Forever Fridays” tonight who are hail from Melbourne – they brought over their MC and a Melbourne based DJ.
Occurrence: Every Friday since Mid-April 2011
Outside Line: We arrived a little earlier than I would usually like, but there were no people in line. As we debated whether we should go in, about TWENTY people jumped in line. Oh my god. We joined the line eventually and got in after about 10 minutes. Upstairs opens at 11PM, and despite having stamps already, we have to line up AGAIN amongst the other people who haven’t paid entry to get access! Bloody ridiculous. It’s the same as well downstairs, once you go outside for whatever reason, you have to line up to get back in. Luckily for the smokers, there are “open” areas on each level where you can puff and stuff your lungs with tar. Later in the night around midnight it took a friend 30 minutes to get in. Tough love.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart Casual is promoted here tonight, and pretty much most people here are compliant. Not sure about the hat situation but the last few times I was here, they were okay to wear. Most guys are in pants/jeans and a collared t-shirt, and girls have managed to not wear casual tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Standard full fare Asian clubbing price of $25 tonight. If you were on the guestlist and arrived before 11:30PM, you got a card that entitled you to $15 entry. Brilliant, except during a moment of absent mindedness, I forgot to use my card and inadvertedly paid $25 without even realising it. I simply gave the discount card to another friend so they could enjoy the benefits of me lining up early, while they didn’t have to.
Guestlist: Guestlists are no longer valid after 11:30PM. Guestlists to be sent to info@syndicateevents.com.au
Inside: Ground Level: Walk past the easy-to-miss cloak room and cashier to enter the middle part of the floor. To the left is the main bar with about 2-3 staff as well as the entire outdoor area. The are large wooden tables and stools, chairs, lounges about, where people were once dining hours ago. This outdoor area could hold easily 100 people or so. The dancefloor area on the right is a slow covered transition from the outdoor area where also 100-200 people can dance here. The DJ booth sits in the far corner near the toilets. There is little furniture bar a lounge at the rear of the dancefloor. Upstairs: Walk through the chillout/smoking area where there are many lounges, with a view of Darling harbour – continue on into the depths of the dancefloor situated on the far end of the room, as where the DJ is. The setup has slightly changed from last time, where the DJ was in the middle. I think this is a good thing as it is as far away from the smoke as possible, though at risk of the area overheating quickly. The walls are lined with squarely setup lounges. Bar is on the right
Cloak Room: Cloak room downstairs – $5 for placing an item, while it is $2 for rechecks. Pretty reasonable.
Bar Prices / Line: $15.70 altogether for a Gin and Tonic, Orange Juice and coke. $12.90 for a Vodka+Red Bull in a tall glass. At 10:15PM there was no waiting time. At 11PM the wait increased to about 5 minutes. At around 1AM, the wait was timed at about twenty five (25) minutes on both levels up and down.
Bathroom Facilities: Fair, could be a little bigger.
Eviction Count: None spotted, but I wasn’t paying attention.
DJs: Resident DJ’s plus guest DJ Mich from Melbourne
Music Style: Mostly Contemporary RnB downstairs, while upstairs did play some more of the older ‘throwback’ rnb songs. Oh yes, throwback is a word im going to use now.
Crowd: Dominantly Asian, and mostly local Aussie Asians. I don’t think I ran into one international Asian here tonight. Most of the ages were young. Company was of course lots of 21 year olds. That said, the crowd was mostly young 20’s to mid 20’s, as far as I could tell.
Ratio: You know its always going to be more guys then girls, but it was good. A lot of the girls looked their best surprisingly tonight, and I ain’t complaining.
Entertainment: There was no real special occasion except for having the MC and DJ from melbourne to do a set.
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