Forbidden Kingdom Music Festival Returns Next Month

Forbidden Kingdom Music Festival is returning next month to the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando. It's taking place on two days, Friday May 30th and Saturday May 31st. This festival is primarily about Dubstep and Heavy Bass although the last couple years also saw a Drum & Bass element to it.

Indeed, the biggest buzz we've heard so far about this year's festival is DJ Deadmau5 (CDN) doing a DnB set on day 2 of the festival. Advance tickets are on sale right now including single day passes. Please note this is the weekend after Memorial Day weekend. More information and advance ticket sales can be found here.

Club Reports: The Cask, Morse Code, Oliv Bar

The television program "Bar Rescue" recently completed a project to heavily remake downtown bar Game Room and Social Club, better known to everyone as the former Lizzy McCormack's Irish Bar aka Lizzy's. Last night they were open to the public for the first time so we got to check it out.

When you first enter you're greeted by this front alcove area filled with old books and an old-time radio. They don't have DJ's here but there was music in the background which last night ranged between retro Oldies and current Indie.

 

This is what the bar looked like as Lizzy's. Lots of dark wood probably dating back to the 40's and clutter all over the place.

Bars themselves are prohibitively expensive to replace so it remains but that round railing in front has been removed, place settings added and new drop lighting added from above. There's still a lot of dark wood but the ambiance is now more upscale and pleasant. Cushioned bar stools replace the ancient wooden ones.

As Lizzy's, the wall behind the bar was cluttered with liquor bottles and other junk.

Now it's "cluttered" with approximately 20 television monitors playing mostly sports.

All the way aft, whiskey casks keep with the new whiskey bar theming of the entire venue.

New comfy seating and high top tables replace the former wood tables and chairs. With low drink prices, Lizzy's used to have a reputation as a great place to "pre-game" before heading to the dance clubs. That may still be the case at The Cask as my call brand Tito's & Tonic was just $9. The only thing added was sales tax; no convenience fees, no entertainment fees, no safety fees, no auto-gratuities. Come check it out!

We next headed to Morse Code in downtown Winter Park.

Where we found an 80's Night in progress ft. DJ Jerry "The Reverend" Johnson (USA).

We heard some great 80's New Wave including songs by A Flock of Seagulls (GB), Men at Work (AUS) and Real Life (AUS).

Morse Code is beer & wine only but there's always a crowd here.

Small contingent on the dance floor!

Morse Code goes Breaks on Friday, April 25th ft. the legendary DJ Jimmy Joslin (USA).

We next headed back into Orlando, this time to uptown, and Oliv Bar.

DJ Off Meta (USA) had just taken over the controls from DJ Freeda Sol (USA).

House music all night long.

First time seeing Off Meta playing.

Just a few dancing when we first arrived.

But activity quickly picked-up.

Small venue but they have a full liquor bar.

We ran into lots of people we knew from the local scene.

DJ Papa Cogg (USA) coming on at 1AM.

The first fifteen minutes or so of his set were unexpected Breaks before he migrated over to House.

The Breakbeats had the club bouncing!

DJ team photo taken earlier.

Everywhere we went last night, a good time was had by all.

Club Reports: The Cask, Rivals Activity Bar, Celine

We had heard that the television program "Bar Rescue" was in town helping to resuscitate Game Room and Social Club which had been operating for the past year or so in the former Lizzy McCormack's spot. We thought that was still in progress but the project is actually completed and last night was their invitation-only soft opening. The venue is now called The Cask. We'll return to check it out.

During the fairly recent ownership change on the north side of Wall Street Plaza, their largest dance club Shine became Rivals Activity Bar. We heard music coming out the door so we needed to check it out.

Rivals is typically a complete waste of space but last night they had a small stage set up with a DJ playing on it.

In the perch we spotted DJ Dabs (USA) playing Dubstep and Heavy Bass.

She had a contingent on the dance floor too.

The bar also had a contingent at it.

You typically have to go out to near UCF to hear Dubstep in Orlando so it was a pleasant surprise to hear some downtown. And Dabs was having a fun time playing it too.

We next headed over to Celine.

When we first arrived the opener DJ Erick Sierra (USA) was still on the main stage so we headed upstairs.

Up on the rooftop we found DJ MYINT (USA) playing House.

There was a crowd along the edges but the dance floor itself was not.

Spotted on the rooftop: Jackie with DJ Kris Kokopelli (USA) & DJ MF (USA).

As midnight approached we though it might be wise to head back downstairs and indeed, it was getting jammed down there.

DJ Dre Mendez (USA) was in the perch.

A really great set that meandered between House, Disco and Nu Disco.

We were able to find a spot but the dance floor had become packed.

The lasers began firing.

Dre Mendez was extremely animated and was having a great time up there.

And then at 12:30AM, there he was, the headliner.....

DJ Purple Disco Machine (D)

His set last night was just about all melodic Nu Disco. Near the beginning of his set, back-to-back-to-back Disco versions of "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life", "Stephanie", "Billy Jean" and "Call On Me". Awesome!

Don't recall Purple Disco Machine playing Orlando previously. We did get to meet him last year outside the Nexus Radio Lounge in South Beach.

Wall-to-wall crowd.

PDM has a large LGBTQ+ following too.

The Dresden-based DJ plays tonight at Palm Tree Club Miami.

Such a fun set and a good time was had by all.