Sunday, March 18, 2012

Club Reports: Vixen, Vintage, Rok Room, Independent Bar

Downtown Orlando on a St. Patrick's Day evening. Big crowds out and Orange Avenue blocked off to traffic to handle all the pedestrians.  Let's start out by giving an update on the downtown club scene.  First of all, dueling piano bar Baby Grands has bit the dust.  Seemed like they were drawing good crowds but apparently not good enough. That just leaves Orlando with 3 dueling piano bars; Jellyrolls at Disney's Boardwalk Resort, Pat O'Brien's at Universal CityWalk and Howl at The Moon on I-Drive.
Another apparent casualty is Antigua.  The sign is still lit but the website has been down for weeks and no one around claimed any knowledge.  Maybe it's just being refurbished.
We have one name change to report.  New club Bar1 is now 1 South Nightclub. This change should really generate excitement and drive business!
Add a new Hip Hop club to the scene with the arrival of Liquid.  Prior carcasses at this location include Blue Room, Red Velvet, Voyage, Deja Vu Ultra Lounge and most recently, Zen Exotic Lounge.  I'll give this one a few months.
Can always count on EDM at sister clubs Vixen & Vintage.
At Vixen DJ Dustin Skiles was pumping out House music from the front perch. Skiles joins DJ's Keith Mackenzie, Chris B, Flurk and many more this coming Friday in Miami at club Met 1 as part of Winter Music Conference!
Vixen is a smaller venue but always seems to be crowded.
And the small dance floor up front beneath the booth always attracts some dancers!
Next door at Vintage it was DJ Dominick Morrison (Mannequins, EPCOT China NYE, Sky60) putting out a mostly House/Dance/Top 40 mix.
The place was surprisingly empty when I first came in and then suddenly just boomed!
Always plenty of nice scenery in Vintage!  A third V-club club will be joining the duo in June when a Latin-flavored club called Vanity opens upstairs!
Had not been over to Rok Room in awhile so needed to see how it was doing.  It's located behind and upstairs from Antigua.
No Rock music at Rok Room.  DJ Justin James (Roxy) was putting out the EDM!
Small venue but always very crowded!
The only people dancing were dancing in their spots but great music being played here now!
Finishing out the night at Independent Bar.
DJ Indie John playing the Saturday night 80's New Wave/Old Wave format.
Dance floor stayed jammed during my visit.
And there was plenty of green to be seen!

5 comments:

  1. There will come a time when clubs must change names and themes on a monthly (weekly?) basis to remain hip, cool and new. Any concept (and execution) ideas, anyone? There could be a lucrative field in presto-changeo "chameleon clubs" just in downtown Orlando alone.

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  2. Well at least get a decent name and a theme that goes with the name. 8TRAX and Retro Room clearly have themes that can be deciphered from the name alone. When I hear the club names "Liquid", "Vain", "Tier", etc, it conveys nothing!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Antigua is turning into a restaurant similar to FrankNSteins. Check out my recent blog entry for all the details I could uncover and let me know once more comes out about it.

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  5. Kenneth Storey, thanks for the information and thanks to the link to your AWESOME website! Readers, check it out as it's jammed with information about the future of O-Town!

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