Club Report: The Fifth (Throwback Lunch)

If it's the third Thursday of the month, that means it's time for what I call the disco lunch at The Fifth downtown.  They play music from a specific decade and if you dance to one full song you get 50% off your meal!

Wearing his boogie shoes, DJ Trainwreck was in the booth spinning 70's Disco!

 Doing the Soul Train Line, this group was dancing for their dinner during my visit as V-Group Marketing Manager Nique and Server Jimmy looked on!

KC & The Sunshine Band, Bee Gees, Heat Wave, AWB, etc. The music reminded me of a night in 8TRAX!

A delicious charbroil burger, the menu includes wraps and awesome looking chicken'n'waffles!

 Where else can you go dancing at lunch time?

  And a good time was had by all!

DJ Ferry Corsten Coming To Orlando

Returning to Orlando for the first time since Electric Daisy Carnival 2011, DJ Ferry Corsten (NL) will be performing on Thursday, June 27th at Roxy Night Club.  The #22 DJ in the world per DJMag readers, he's a fan favorite because of his always-friendly rapport with the crowd and awesome Trance/House sets!  A lot of his songs got played at Mannequins! And there are few venues where you can get as close to the DJ as Roxy.  Don't miss it! Tickets are $15 here.

This Weekend In Techno Town

Another action-packed weekend of EDM in O-Town!

THURSDAY MAY 16
I call it the Disco Lunch but the official name is the "Throwback Thursday Lunch", held downtown at The Fifth.  Come in and enjoy lunch while the DJ spins music from a specific decade.  Dance to one song completely and get 50% off your meal including your drinks! UPDATE: THIS MONTH IS 70's DISCO!
(FREE)

Thursday night at Firestone Live they have DJ/Producer Flux Pavilion (GB) in the building and likely destroying it with Dubstep!  Thursdays are packed to the rafters so arrive early.
($10)

New venue Syn Nightclub has DJ Meaux Green (Vixen, Vain, Roxy) this Thursday night for the first time, playing Breaks, Progressive, etc!  A protege' of DJ Icey, he's had some bigger name DJ's play his productions such as the Whistle Song.
(FREE)

First Thee Grotto received their full liquor license and then they've teamed up with DJ Rob (Independent Bar) to create "Redrum Thursdays" with Goth, Industrial & Nuwave!  Thursday nights.
(FREE - $5)

SATURDAY MAY 18
Back in Orlando for the first time since Electric Daisy Carnival, Cedric Gervais (F) will be at Firestone Live on Saturday night.  Hopefully he won't beat that Molly song to death again like he did at EDC!
($15)

A new weekly "Sextacy Saturdays" at Syn Nightclub has guest DJ Alex Poxada in town from Miami, with DJ Loco Aragon opening.
($10)

Meanwhile over at Roxy Nightclub, DJ/Producer Seven Lions first visit to Orlando!  Interestingly, he'll be performing at Electric Daisy Carnival - New York earlier Saturday night and then hopping a plane to Orlando to play here!  He's best known for his collaboration with Tritonal on the Trance/Dubstep song "Still With Me" ft. Cristina Soto.  Awesome!
($10-15)

And back in Backroom, spotted last weekend but playing this weekend, DJ's Chris Fortier & John Debo spinning real, pure House!
(FREE)

Last Look Inside: 8TRAX

This space opened in 1989 as Videopolis East, a club with more than 150 video screens catering to teens and featuring 80's New Wave.  It didn't last long given the adult-focus of Pleasure Island and it was replaced about a year later with Cage, a Progressive club with dance cages and even the main dance floor surrounded by fencing.  Four years later it would be renovated again, reopening in 1994 as 8TRAX, a 70's Dance Club.  Brilliantly catching the nostalgia of Disco, the music was expanded to include 80's music in the early 2000's.

Arguably Pleasure Island's most popular club, 8TRAX was a place that was crowded even on weeknights when the other venues were generally barren.  We've read that on a per square foot basis, it was at the time the most profitable nightclub in the country!  The attraction of course was the campy 70's Disco tunes and 80's Classics that everyone of all ages knew the words to and were best danced to when on holiday away from home!  You'll remember that when it got crowded, the AC system never could keep that main dance floor cool.

 8TRAX was a happy place!

 The back stairs to the DJ booth area that no one seemed to know about.

 The specialty drink menu.

One of our Save Pleasure Island Blog roving reporters was invited into 8TRAX in October, 2010 and this is what it looked like.  The famous dance floor was still in place!  Where was John Travolta when you needed him?

Where were all the dancing queens?

But much more deplorable was what had become of the club.  Remember the downstairs bar area?  This is what had become of it!

Looking from downstairs up towards the main dance floor, the place had become a collection of junk and was also being used for merchandise storage from shops in Downtown Disney.

Untouched since that fateful night in September, 2008, the 8TRAX drink menu board was still behind the downstairs bar....and ironically, that "Great Gatsby" poster.

Merchandise against the wall of the main dance floor behind it.

Is demolition coming?  Is a Food Network restaurant moving in?  We don't know yet.  But long live 8TRAX!

EDC - Orlando Dates Announced

Electric Daisy Carnival is returning to Orlando for the third year in a row!  The 2-day/night event will take place on Friday and Saturday, November 8th & 9th, 2013.  The venue was not announced but it is expected to return to Tinker Field adjacent the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium near downtown Orlando. Tickets won't go on sale until some time in August.  Last year the Saturday show featuring DJ's Armin van Buuren (NL) & Afrojack (NL) was a 100% sell-out while the Friday show featuring Cosmic Gate (D) and Tiësto was 95% sold-out!  A must-see event for EDM fans!

Club Reports: Vixen Bar, Backroom, The Fifth, Independent Bar

Saturday night in the city, checking out the local EDM scene!  First stop Vixen Bar.

NLP in the house; DJ J-Dub spinning the Breaks!

The narrow but deep club was packed.

People dancing near the front.

Always familiar faces in Vixen.

And there is EDM music every night!

Moving over to Backroom, located literally in a back room of Native Social Bar.

With legendary DJ Leo Montoya in the booth spinning House music!

The whole club is a dance floor and people were dancing wherever they happened to be standing.

Backroom isn't large but it was pretty jammed in every direction.

Spotted:  Speaking of legendary, DJ's Chris Fortier and John Debo were in the house!  Fortier joins DJ's Kimball Collins (QBar-Bangkok) and Dave Cannalte (Mannequins) for the final-ever AAHZ Reunion this coming July 3rd at The Beacham.  Advance tickets here.

Ironically, while Backroom was jammed for EDM, the front room in Native where mostly Top 40 was being played was largely empty!

Had not planned to visit The Fifth last night.

But when I glanced in and saw this DJ in the booth, I instinctively knew that wasn't DJ Leony up there again!

DJ Orobor spinning Top 40/House during my visit!

At this late hour there weren't that many patrons dancing in the club. I'm really loving The Fifth.  Don't forget this week is the 3rd Thursday of the month which means your lunch is half-price if you dance to one full song.  We'll announce in a few days what Decade this month's music will come from.

Last stop when possible is I-Bar!

DJ Indie John in the booth.  But noticeably absent at the rear was lighting tech Ernie.

But that's cause he was downstairs at the bar, controlling the club's lighting from his cell phone!

The dance floor was still crowded, but not packed.

The Saturday night music format is 80's New Wave.

Spotted: The always Gangnam-stylish CJ with friend Trini.

And a good time was had by all!