There was a low point in my clubbing career that we frequented Star Bar all the time. The humidity, the seedy crowd, the sticky floors, the fights.. it was all a bit too much for us and Marty and I exercised a 1 year self imposed ban on Star Bar.. this in turn helped me discover better nightclubs in Sydney.
Now Star Bar has undergone its biggest renovation since the renaming from Planet Hollywood in the 90’s. Star Bar has renamed it’s nightclub level to Studio One, and it’s about to officially launch 7th December. Since Studio One is already open to the public, I thought I would go in for a sneak peek the week beforehand:
New things
– As you walk up the stairs the huge central dome seating area is gone. There is more seating in its place but it flows better.
– The main bar is now on the left, and no longer the one at the far end of the club
– The decor is modern, with tables and chairs all one even platform instead of tables and chairs being in separate lounges/groupings
– Remnants of 1990’s Planet Hollywood are pretty much all gone and have been literally ‘shelved’ into the back of a wall
– The dance floor is purposely been made sunken (via the trickery of raising the rest of the seating areas) so there is a proper segregation of the dancing area from the seating areas.
– A new, third, bar has been created on the top floor.
Video – 29th Nov 2013
Friday Night @ 1:30AM
I think it’s a definite improvement but at the same time it is shedding its image of being a free club to go to, with upcoming events promising cover charge / cover fee to enter. You will still be able to access the ground level for (I’m guessing) cheap drinks, but the upper club that is Studio One will be a separate money-making entity. The stratagem will likely push away the tight arses / backpackers to other free entry clubs nearby such as Cheers/80 Proof, 3 Wise Monkeys, Bar Century, Shark Hotel etc nearby.
It will be interesting to see how it goes.
I wanted to review another club tonight on my own but my friend has somehow gotten me to join him for a farewell party at the Ivy. It was free entry, and what do you know.. I stayed here all night:
Main room (view from the rear)
Thursdays @ Ivy Bar, Sydney
NB: This review is for the regular Thursday nights in the main building, and not for Pool Club Thursdays, held in Building 2
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
Ivy is open all day, but the clubbing tone (and volume of music) is turned up at 11:00PM
Address:
330 George St. Entrance is via a side entrance and through the back.
Venue Website:
http://merivale.com/ivy
Promoters:
Self promoted
Occurrence:
Every Thursday
Dress Code / Door Policy:
No dress code enforced. Any attire is accepted here tonight. Girls did their most part to dress well to impress while guys were a bit of a mixed bag of smart casual towards dirty casual (thank you backpackers)
Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Free entry all night. Amazing for a place such as Ivy
Passouts:
No passout rules enforced
Guestlist:
Not Applicable
Cloak Room:
Cloak room is free, and is accessed in the second building at reception
Tonight:
Assessment Time
11:15PM – 2:30AM
Outside Line:
There is a constant stream of people walking into the Ivy, however because there’s no cashier to collect money, there wasn’t much lining up to do. I probably waited 1 minute in line.
Inside
The main building is open for free entry tonight. The Pool Club is also free, but is not reviewed tonight.
Bar Prices / Line:
I didn’t buy any drinks tonight but, according to friends, the wait for a drink downstairs was about 1 or 2 orders.
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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 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.
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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Always wanted to go here. Last time I lined up but the line was like an hour long. So tonight was another chance to go. Had some predrinks and off we went – here we go!
Starfuckers (SF) @ Club 77, Kings Cross / Potts Point – Saturday 30th Mar 2013
A longstanding event known for its messiness and gay friendly crowd.
Crowd at 1:30AM
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
10:00PM – 6:00AM
Address:
77 William Street, Woolloomooloo (Potts Point / Kings Cross)
Venue Website:
http://www.starfuckers.com.au
Event Website:
http://www.starfuckers.com.au, https://www.facebook.com/pages/STARFUCKERS/25283175755
Promoters:
Self promoted?
Occurrence:
Every Saturday since March 2006.
Dress Code / Door Policy:
There is no strict door policy at all. Singlets, shorts are welcome. Sneakers and dirty shoes are fine too. People wore hats inside, while I just had jeans, a t-shirt and my Easter Bunny ears on. Quite the casual affair.
So basically leave your collared shirt and white shoes at home.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$20 at the door. (we got in at Midnight)
Passouts:
None
Guestlist:
Unknown.
Cloak Room:
Couldn’t find one / Not available.
Tonight:
Assessment Time:
12:00AM- 3:30AM
Outside Line:
We were welcomed by a crossdressing easter bunny. The line only had 5 or 6 people when we got here and we were in within 5 minutes. This was surprising because last time I tried to line up here, the place was at capacity and the line wait was about 1 hour.
Inside:
Walk down underground to enter the rear of the club. To the left are lounges and the bar. The right side of the place has two or three big sofas as well, with the main dancefloor in a lower and upper part. The lower part holds 25-30 people while the upper part is a mini square-like/stage that can also hold 20-30 people. Behind this podium, at the far end of the club, is the DJ booth. Adjacent to the DJ booth on the right are the ladies bathroom is a small smoking area. To the left is a dancing cage for 2-3 people, and a pinball machine.
Previous porn mag decorations of penises and vaginas since my last visit (of which i rated it 0/10) have been rid of, and now the walls around the bathrooms are quite empty and boring.
Bar Prices / Line: (
Didn’t drink here tonight, but the line was always looking short. With three bartenders at the helm you wouldn’t have to wait long.
Bathroom Facilities:
A bit “wet” on the floor.
DJs:
Starfuckers – The trio include Mr Disorder, DJ Hookie, DJ Trentertainment
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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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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 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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An event called D.T.F – There’s no beating around the bush when it comes to promoting to the lowest common denominator amongst humans. I mean, what has the world come to in that we have to use such terminology to promote an event? It disgusted me, but the hilarity of this event name was good enough to get me to commit. I cleared Thursday out, called out a local friend and off we went – here we go!
D.T.F Wednesdays @ Epping Hotel
A local Wednesday night in the Epping region.
Essentials:
Opening Hours:
Unknown – 3AM(?)+
Address:
58 Beecroft Road, Epping, right opposite Epping train station
Parking: Plenty of parking around.
Venue Website: http://www.eppinghotel.com.au
Event Website: http://www.fb.com/DTFepping
Promoters: Self promoted
Occurrence: Every Wednesday
Dress Code / Door Policy:
Almost everyone was wearing a t-shirt. I think I counted only two other people wearing a collared shirt, so this is quite the norm for this local hotel. Girls are still a bit dressy so its alright. No shorts, singlets or thongs though
Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
Free entry all night.
Guestlist: N/A
Cloak Room: None
Tonight:
Assessment Time: 12:15AM – 2:30AM
Outside Line: No line outside
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