Club Reports: Alfie's HiFi, Palm Tree Club

As people migrate away from downtown Orlando into friendlier confines, one area that has seen explosive growth in nightlife is the Mills/50 District.

And one venue that is drawing crowds to the area is Alfie's HiFi. 

Seems like no matter how early you show up, there's always a long queue to get in!

The front room where you enter is home to their bar area. And it was completely jammed last night!

And in the back room, we walked into this!

If you take DJ Romano Arcaini (D/USA).....

.....and mix him with DJ Jason Leva (USA), 

You get popular DJ duo Latenight Society (USA).

House music all night long and 100% off vinyl.

The club stocks lots of albums on their shelves but as is typically the case, the DJ's bring their own too.

Such a great vibe at Alfie's HiFi; get in the queue and check it out!

Another area where the downtown crowds have shifted to is International Drive in the Tourism District. And within that area, The Pointe (formerly Pointe Orlando) gained an entire nightclub area titled "Live at the Pointe". 

And within that area, Palm Tree Club is the DJ Kygo (N) owned club that joins similarly-named clubs in Miami and Las Vegas and is home to House music.

We walked into this!

Resident DJ Sheen Boogie (USA) was pumping out EDM hits.

Dance floor was absolutely packed.

Around 12:15AM the headliner came on.....

DJ Levi (AUS)

House music all night long.

First time seeing him play Orlando.

PTC was jammed but we also saw large crowds in other Live at the Pointe bars/clubs such as Shark Bar (Reggaeton), PBR Cowboy Bar (Country & Top 40) and Sports & Social (Hip Hop hits). 

A good time was had by all.

Friday Funny

True story! Everybody is a DJ!

 

DS Update: Shortest Line Evah!

Are people finally getting tired of Gideon's Bakehouse? Rain or shine, this was the shortest we've ever seen the queue outside the place as we passed by yesterday. It didn't even stretch as far as Mannequins. Could just be a fluke, of course!

 

This Weekend In Techno Town

With the music festival in town, a lot of music centers around Dubstep:

THU   29MAY     ALFIE's HIFI     DJ Brian Burnside (USA)

THU   29MAY     SESSIONS     FKMF Preparty: DJ Zander (USA) 

THU   29MAY     VANGUARD     FKMF Preparty: DJ YDG (USA)

THU   29MAY     SLY FOX     DJ Sloth (USA)

FRI     30MAY     PALM TREE CLUB     DJ Levi (AUS)

FRI     30MAY     CEN FL FAIRGROUNDS     Forbidden Kingdom Day 1

FRI     30MAY     VANGUARD     FKMF Afterparty: DJ Crankdat (USA)

FRI     30MAY     FIXTION     DJ Myles O'Neil (USA)

FRI     30MAY     SESSIONS     DJ Zubah (USA)(

FRI     30MAY     ALFIE's HIFI     DJ duo Latenight Society (USA)

SAT    31MAY     CEN FL FAIRGROUNDS     Forbidden Kingdom Day 2

SAT    31MAY     THE ABBEY     Gimme Gimme Disco 

SAT    31MAY     VANGUARD     FKMF Afterparty: DJ RL Grime (USA)

SAT    31MAY     YAZ     DJ Chino (USA)

SAT    31MAY     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Odd Mob (AUS)

SAT    31MAY    THE FALCON    60's Night w/ DJ Smilin' Dan (USA)

SUN   01JUN      ELIXIR BAR     DJ Luke Alessi (AUS) 

FKMF Update: Set Times & Festival Map

 

Forbidden Kingdom Music Festival rolls back into Orlando this weekend. Taking place on Friday & Saturday, May 30-31, the festival includes mostly Dubstep and Heavy Bass DJ's along with a bit of Drum & Bass, Trap, Bass House and more. The shows start daily at 2PM and the music ends at 11PM.

The festival takes place at the Central Florida Fairgrounds west of downtown along Colonial Drive (SR50). As was last year, there are 5 stages of music as shown on the map above.

Here are the set times for both dates. The Forbidden Stage is in a half-dome at the front of the grounds. As you head towards the rear, the Mystic Stage is on the far left under a metal awning and offers shade. To the far right, the Cyberian Stage is a permanent stage also known as the Orlando Amphitheater. To the rear center is the Village Stage. Not listed for set times is the Dragon's Den Stage which is also known as the Orlando Warehouse and is indoors with air conditioning. We've not seen the lineup for this room but it's typically a lot of local DJ's and last year a lot of House music. It's thee place to cool down. Hope to see you at FKMF.

Trip Report: My House, In The Middle Of The Street

We don't typically post personal photos here on the Blog but just spotted this great photo taken on the climb out of MCO a few weeks ago. You can see my house in it!

 

Club Reports: YAZ, Elixir Bar, Fixtion, Oliv Bar

While Friday night was spent everywhere except downtown, last night was spent in the city. Due to travel we had missed the grand opening of new club YAZ so last night we dropped-by to check it out.

We walked into this. Located where The Courtesy was located years ago, the place has been beautifully renovated and you'll find this bar in the entry room. But last night, no patrons.

 

The equally beautiful back room could be called the "main room" and it's where the DJ booth is located. Patronage was only marginally better here last night.

In the booth we found DJ Lord Rash (USA) along with DJ Caleb Dent (USA). The music was mostly vocal House during our visit.

Through the fog we could also see there's another large bar in the back room. YAZ is a restaurant by day and shares a kitchen with co-owned Elixir Bar next door. They seem to be going after an upscale niche but does "upscale" even go downtown anymore? They're going to need to find a way to get clubbers to venture north of Washington Street.

Speaking of Elixir Bar, we made it our next stop.

It was early so we didn't expect much activity but there was already a growing crowd.

First time seeing DJ Krazydazie (USA).

She played a great House set and we were impressed with both her selections and mixing.

Dance floor was seeing activity.

There's always great music at Elixir Bar. Upcoming events include DJ duo Odd Mob (AUS) next Saturday night, DJ duo VLTRA (I) on June 7th and DJ Lee Foss (USA) on June 14th. Advance ticket information can be found here.

We next headed over to newer club Fixtion, located where Sideshow used to stand and twin bars One Eyed Jack's and Loaded Hog were prior to that.

We walked into this.

In the booth at the rear of the club, DJ Mary Mincy (USA) was playing.

Dance floor had a small crowd for her non-vocal House set.

DJ M.O.E. (USA) came on shortly after we arrived.

He continued with that House vibe.

Just a small crowd during our visit but there was a line at the door when we departed. Fixtion needs to figure out what nightclub niche they want to fill and then stick with it. When they first opened it was a EDM club, most recently it seemed to be a Latin club and now apparently a House club?

Technically not downtown but uptown, this office building on Magnolia Avenue north of Colonial Drive is home to a nightclub in that near corner.

In that corner you'll find Oliv Bar that burst onto the music scene last year when event Promoters began holding events here.

We walked into this.

Great to see DJ Souldefunk (USA) in the booth.

House music, of course.

Dance floor was active.

Spotted on the dance floor: DJ Freeda Sol (USA) had played earlier.

Spotted in VIP: Natalie & Christina

Small club, big vibe. Full liquor bar too.

A good time was had by all.