EDC Week: This Weekend In Techno Town

The 13th annual Electric Daisy Carnival takes place Fr/Sa/Su at Tinker Field.

EVENTS ON THURSDAY NOV 7:

VANGUARD     DJ Noizu (USA)*

CELINE     DJ Jon Casey (ZA)*

*subject to revision of downtown's 1am curfew.

EVENTS ON FRIDAY NOV 8

VANGUARD     DJ Vintage Culture (BR)

CELINE     DJ Wax Motif (AUS)

PALM TREE CLUB     DJ duo Forester (USA

NIGHT SHADE LOUNGE     DJ Robb Blak (USA)

AERO BAR: DJ Cliff T (USA)

MORSE CODE     DJ Mike House (USA)

CAPITAL ROOM     DJ Matrix (USA) & DJ Supagroover (USA)

EVENTS ON SATURDAY NOV 9

VANGUARD     DJ Illenium (USA)

CELINE     DJ Matroda (H)

ARENA ART BAR     DJ duo Rob E & Security (USA)

AERO BAR: DJ Dominick Morrison (USA)

MANGOS MAIN ROOM     DJ Technasia (HK/F) all-night authorized

MANGOS PATIO     DJ Dose (USA)  all-night authorized

KALI ULTRA LOUNGE     DJ Ramiro Lopez (E) all-night authorized

PALM TREE CLUB     DJ Prankstisci (USA)

HAMMERED LAMB     DJ Robby Clark (USA/EC) 

CAPITAL ROOM     DJ Chris Hawk (USA) & DJ Knightlife (USA)   

EVENTS ON SUNDAY NOV 10

VANGUARD     DJ Alesso (S)

CELINE     DJ Maddix (NL)

ELIXIR BAR     DJ Chino (USA) afternoon event

ELIXIR BAR     DJ Solardo (GB)  evening event

THE CORNER/THE PATIO: DJ Sinopoli (USA)

DANCERS ROYALE ORLANDO     DJ KJ of K5 (USA)

KALI ULTRA LOUNGE     DJ Hannah (USA)  all-night authorized

EDC Week: 2024 Festival Fashion Guide

OK, we've gone through thousands of festival photos from the past few years in order to produce the 2024 Festival Fashion Guide. You can find it on Orlando Entertainment News here.

EDC Week: Main Stages Through The Years

This is the kineticFIELD main stage at last year's EDC-Orlando. A few years ago we published an article showing all the main stages through the years. Revisit them here.

 

Club Reports: London House, Iron Cow, Atlantic Dance Hall

Last night sister website Orlando Entertainment News visited the Bond Room at London House, the club with the $100 cover charge unless you're a member or guest of a member. The bar was busy but the dance floor was not. Saturday night pictures from 3 different clubs visited are on OEN here.

 

Club Reports: Swirlery Wine Bar, Arena Art Bar, Aero Bar, The Patio

There is now a 1AM curfew in effect in the downtown Orlando entertainment district following the shootings on Halloween night. But our sister website still made the rounds last night (including seeing DJ Cliff T (USA) at Aero Bar) and the pictures can be found here.

Friday Funny

Well of course the Dems have a DJ!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from beautiful Pleasure Island!

 

This Weekend In Techno Town

Kind of a slow weekend since Halloween this year was during the week.

THU   31OCT      CELINE     DJ duo Sunday Scaries (USA)

FRI     01NOV     CELINE     DJ Bresh (RA)

FRI     01NOV     PALM TREE CLUB     DJ Sigala (GB)  POSTPONED

FRI     01NOV     MORSE CODE     DJ Amber Jane (USA) CANCELLED

SAT    02NOV     MORSE CODE     DJ Gruvgirl (USA) CANCELLED

SAT    02NOV     WALL STREET PLAZA     DJ Loofy (USA) 

CW Update: Remembering 80's Night At The Groove

Couldn't get this card to scan correctly but it was a good memory of when Universal CityWalk began "80's Night at The Groove" in January, 2009. This weekly event began just a few months after Pleasure Island closed so we were hopeful it would be somewhat like 8TRAX. It wasn't. They advertised it as "80's Hair Bands" which meant it was mostly Classic Rock. Admission was free before 10PM at which time their normal $7 admission charge began.

 

PI Update: Sorry, No Clubs Open At PI This Year

As you finalize your Halloween plans, please be aware that all Pleasure Island dance and comedy clubs will be closed this coming Thursday night. You'll have to go to downtown Orlando or perhaps Live! at The Pointe on International Drive where there are clubs that want your business.

Concert Report: DJ Paul Oakenfold (Kali Ultra Lounge)

The legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold (GB) was in Orlando last night and our sister website was there to see him play. The pics can be found on Orlando Entertainment News here.

 

Club Reports: Black Friday @ Manikins v. Memento Mori @ Barbarella 3.0

Last night was the Friday night before Halloween so our sister website Orlando Entertainment News went completely Goth with visits to "Black Friday" with DJ Paul Vaine (USA) above and "Memento Mori" with DJ Lavidicus (USA). All the pics can be found here.

 

Friday Funny

PI Update: HOB SIN Continued On

October, 2009 is 15 years ago this month. And although Pleasure Island had been closed for more than a year, the action continued every Sunday night at House of Blues for their famous Service Industry Night (SIN). The Music: Mannequins-style electronic dance music. Pictured: Resident DJ Sandy (USA) and Resident DJ Jimmy Joslin (USA).

It would get packed like this every Sunday night. Anyone who worked in any service industry job could get in for free, not just those working for the Mouse.

This Weekend In Techno Town

Our listings for the final weekend in October are here.

THU   24OCT     CELINE     DJ MUST DIE! (USA)

FRI     25OCT     HAMMERED LAMB     DJ Ray Keith (GB) & DJ Nookie (GB)

FRI     25OCT     VANGUARD     DJ Oliver Tree (USA)

FRI     25OCT     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Anja (B)

FRI     25OCT     CELINE     DJ Loco Dice (D)

FRI     25OCT     AX TRAP     Memento Mori: DJ Lavidicus (USA)

FRI     25OCT     IRON COW     DJ duo Latenight Society (USA)

SAT    26OCT     KALI ULTRA LOUNGE     DJ Paul Oakenfold (GB)

SAT    26OCT     VINES GRILL & BAR     DJ Mathew Scot (USA)

SAT    26OCT     BIKKURI LOUNGE     DJ Brian Busto (USA)

SAT    26OCT     IRON COW     DJ Nina S (USA) & DJ Dity (USA)

SUN   27OCT     ELIXIR BAR     DJ duo Night Tales (AUS)

CW Update: Pleasure Island VS CityWalk (Part 2)

Yesterday we looked at Pleasure Island's array of dance clubs and today we're going to do the same with Universal's CityWalk. The biggest difference between the two sets is the Pleasure Island closed in 2008 while CityWalk continues to this day. However, CW's main dance club was The Groove but it shuttered during the covid19 closure and never reopened. Instead, it was converted into an escape room. There remains a rumor at CityWalk that the escape room is going to close and The Groove is coming back but we've been hearing that for close to a year and nothing has happened.....yet. During the early years of The Groove, they played a lot of what we now call Classic Dance and some world class DJ's played there. During the later years The Groove was mostly Top 40 and Hip Hop.

With The Groove closed, Red Coconut Club became CityWalk's main dance club. Not really sure what they feel their niche is supposed to be since it's not open nightly and we've even found it closed on weekend nights, at times.When it is open, the music format is mostly Hip Hop.

CityWalk's Rising Star remains a popular karaoke venue and gets crowded. We mention it here among dance clubs because between karaoke sessions a DJ does play Top 40 hits and the dance floor in front of the stage can get pretty jammed.

Latin Quarter was a long-running Latin club late at night once the LQ restaurant closed. While the music was indeed Salsa, Bachata, Merengue and Reggaeton, resident DJ Leony (USA), who also had an EDM mix show on XM Satellite Radio, used to drop EDM sets in here too. It was the closest thing we had at the time to Mannequins. Unfortunately, CityWalk closed LQ and converted the space into a Mexican restaurant.

Bob Marley's A Tribute to Freedom remains in business and is a restaurant that becomes a dance club at night. There is a live band with a DJ between sets and the music from both is nearly all Jamaican Reggae. The dance floor can get crowded. Not mentioned in this article is Pat O'Brien's and Margaritaville. Both have semi-popular bars but no real dance club aspect. As always, we'll report on any changes that might happen including at Universal's Epic Universe theme park which is supposed to open next May.

PI Update: Pleasure Island VS CityWalk (Part 1)

Pleasure Island vs Universal CityWalk is the subject of our article today and today we begin with Pleasure Island. PI consisted of 5 dance clubs and 2 comedy clubs but we're only going to concern ourselves with the dance clubs. PI's primary and most-famous dance club was Mannequins Dance Palace. It's most-famous because it had a large rotating dance floor. In an era before laser lights, Mannequins had an amazing light system that had few competitors, certainly not in Orlando. After PI closed, it was renovated to become Morimoto Asia restaurant.

8TRAX was Pleasure Island's retro club featuring 70's & 80's hits including a lot of Disco. It had multiple levels within but the dance floor was downstairs in a sunken area with a lot of vantage points on the levels above. During the post-PI construction, the front of 8TRAX was shaved-off to become future shops facing Hill Street while the rear section became part of the kitchen of Morimoto. In the middle, we're told there is a no-mans land of sorts that is part of the old 8TRAX standing still in time.

Soundstage Club was the final name for the club fully known as BET Soundstage Club. The original name came from their contract with Black Entertainment Television but the name reverted when the contract expired. This was the club for Soul, Funk and Hip Hop. During the 90's when Hip Hop was the dominate music in the United States, BET would be absolutely jammed with people standing all over the place watching the dancers down on the lower level dance floor. In the final couple years the club stayed kind of empty because everyone had migrated to the club below. During the post-PI renovations, Soundstage was razed.

In the later years of Pleasure Island club Motion had taken over for Soundstage as the place for hit music. Since Motion was a Top 40 club and most of American Top 40 had become Hip Hop, the crowd migrated here. One could over count on the "Cupid Shuffle" at midnight here. After the club closures, the Motion building was demolished.

When Pleasure Island closed, Rock'n'Roll Beach Club had already been closed over 7 months earlier. This was the place to find live Rock bands playing nightly. When PI closed, this building was also razed. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the dance clubs over at CityWalk.

Club Reports: The Capital Room, Grumpys Underground, Aero Bar

Last night sister website Orlando Entertainment News visited 3 dance clubs including a first stop at The Capital Room in Sanford where we saw DJ Johnny Park (USA) tag-teaming with DJ Svengoolie (HELL). All the Saturday night pics can be found here.

 

Club Reports: Aura Night Club, Live! At The Pointe, Oliv Bar, Iron Cow

It's a bit like Pleasure Island and CityWalk in that there are numerous clubs all in one location and you can bounce around. Even better, none of the venues have cover charges. Last night sister website Orlando Entertainment News visited the all new Live! at The Pointe. Pics can be found here.

 

Friday Funny