Club Reports: Remembering Matrix & Metropolis

As we were leaving Live! At The Pointe at Pointe Orlando this past Friday night, we encountered this familiar view as we headed towards the garage. On the left, that vacant spot says the Museum of Ice Cream is coming and on the right, the Funny Bone comedy club operates in there. 

The view was familiar because during the early 2000's, nightclubs Metropolis and Matrix operated in those two spots. 

Metropolis on the left was the larger venue with plush decor set in red velvet. There was a dance floor to one side with a DJ booth behind glass overlooking it. There was a 13ft video wall at one end of the dance floor. The music was mostly Hip Hop during a period when Hip Hop was soaring and House/Dance were fading. Pool tables were available too in what may have been Orlando's first "ultra lounge". 

Matrix was directly opposite and paid admission to one club typically got you into the other club and you could go back and forth. Matrix was the high-tech, high-energy electronic club with sophisticated light and sound systems. An oddly shaped dance floor, poorly located pillars and a DJ booth that was behind glass and removed from patrons limited its popularity as did the fading music genre. To me they played great Dance music like you'd hear on radio station 95.3Party. Disney couple Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were known to socialize here. 

Both clubs were shuttered by 2005.