Club Reports: Heat, Mojo, I-Bar, One80

Downtown Orlando was buzzing last night with a Peter Murphy concert at Firestone Live and an Orlando Predators game at the Amway Arena. Clubs were empty early-on but filled as those events ended and people spread out.

There was time for a return visit to new club Heat, located in the new 55 West apartment complex on Church Street.

The club was hardly empty for my first visit last month and last night it was even more crowded! The place has definitely gained a following.

They did finally move the DJ up onto the stage behind the main bar where he is visible. Initially he was hidden in a corner behind a side bar. It was Top 40 and Hip Hop all the way.

DJ Ryan Lane 's new location makes it impossible to interact. In lieu of that, they have a MC walking around the club with a microphone chatting up the crowd and making announcements. It's a bit awkward but the floor was jammed with dancers. Keep in mind that this is a fancy restaurant earlier in the evening and Wednesday night is Latin Night including House sets from DJ Leony (Latin Quarter, Sirius/XM BPM, Radio Danz).

First visit to Mojo Bar & Grill and really it is more of a bar and grill than a club. The New Orleans style venue fills another void in Church Street Station and the Bourbon Street atmosphere spills out onto the closed-off street outside!

There is a live band outside and recorded music afterwards.

Flavored oxygen is available if you're running low!

The bar area inside stays packed. There is no DJ so this will not go in the books as a new dance club option!  It's a great new downtown addition nonetheless.

Independent Bar was greatly impacted by the Peter Murphy concert since their Saturday night target audiences are generally the same. But it quickly got crowded when the concert ended.

DJ Indie John has moved their entire music collection onto the new hard drive which makes it easy to locate requests and move them in line for playing.

Very crowded on the dance floor with a lot of apparent newcomers since I didn't recognize many of them!

Always a fascinating place for people-watching!

Talk about an Aaahz Reunion! DJ's Kimball Collins (Peacock Room) & Dave Canalte (Mannequins) were spotted in the booth visiting for awhile. Yes, there is another Aaahz Reunion planned for Thanksgiving Eve at The Beacham (formerly Tabu) and Mannequins fans really need to mark that on their calendars. You can click on the sidebar for November, 2010 and November, 2009 for photo coverage!

Unlike Disney and Universal clubs, downtown clubs stay open until close to 3am.

After the Arena League game ended, also dropped by Amway Center to revisit new club One80....or officially 180 Grey Goose Lounge. Lots of pedestrians headed over that way and the best way to get to it is to cross under I-4 at Church Street. It is very well lit.

The ambiance is awesome with both indoor and outdoor bars overlooking the Orlando skyline. It will be interesting to see how they handle the weather come July though.

DJ John Campisano (Lattitudes, Red Coconut Club) was pumping out Top 40, House and Dance from his outdoor booth. Everyone needs to check this place out which currently is only open on Friday and Saturday nights and also on any Orlando Magic game nights, after the game ends.