Best venues in Brisbane?

[mikeyneedslovin]

Hey- I'm from Sydney and have never been up to Brisbane before, so Q- what are the best venues up there (a) under 400 capacity and (b) 1000+ capacity?

[Orinoko]

Manra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, Mantra.
got the picture?
I may be accussed of bias as I work there but it rocks!!!

25th May Bottom Heavy....big, bad D'n'B action all the way
26th May Simon Coyle, Damien Laird, Kazu Kimura and more with techno style all night at Acidisco
27th May Yak Secret Technology Tour

Check local press if you make it up here....

Moon Bar on a Sat night also rocks on the breaks tip...

[mikeyneedslovin]

Hey Orinoko,What capacities are we talking about? (I'm actually asking from a gig production perspective)... need to get up there myself I suppose.

Mantra must kick some serious musical ass- all the people I know who work at clubs despise them after about three months (no variety...no fun)

[Polecat]

mantra mantra mantra!

i'm with u orinoko....whenever I'm in bris, you'll find me on a couch at mantra :)

PC

[Nardo]

Well my personal top three would include Monastary, Mantra and thirdly Berlin Bar at the Gold Coast. I suppose my reasons for saying that would be:

Monastary - great dancefloor pure and simple. The dancefloor is close to the DJ and you dont see people wandering across it to get to either the bar or the bathrooms. With far too many Brisbane dance clubs having poorly designed dancefloors, this club really stands out.

Mantra - Best club to chill out in. The comfy couches and quality music that this place is known for makes it a great place to go to hang out. It is quite a qwerky smaller venue that just seems to have a good feel to it. Must be good Feng Shui (sp?)or something.

Berlin Bar - only been there once, but it was very, very good. Best feature would have to be the position of the DJ booth. Seeing Derrick Carter only a few feet from the crowd spinning tunes was top class. When big name DJs play there they open up the doors through to the stripclub next door for more room.

.....and yeah the Gold Coast isn't Brisbane, but its still an option if you are serious about hearing good quallity stuff.

anyone got any others?

nardo

[AliaK]

hey mikeyneedslovin..

mantra's capacity would be about 200-250? not sure exactly. it's a cool club with a great vibe. there's a dancefloor which feels good to dance on, especially in that spot where the speakers are tuned for..

monastery's good too.. I prefer wednesday nights there with The Cross and Kazu Kimura.. lots of guests from interstate etc and quality music. personally I don't think the dancefloor is in the right spot there, although since the new sound system went in it sounds heaps better on the floor.. on a busy night most people dance in front of the dj booth which I prefer because I think it sounds better from there.. the capacity would be 300-500?? not really sure..

for an intimate night of about 150 or so you might like to try Moskva Bar.. it's got a cool little dance floor with russian theme inside and is usually darkish - there's a separator wall in the middle of the room which breaks up the space nicely, but there's not a huge amount of space in the dj area.. been some great nights there though

most of the larger parties are held at the Arena which holds about 2000 or so.. you can even hire one of the upper rooms separately which holds around 300 I think.

the most popular large outdoor festival is held at the RNA showgrounds (exhibition royal showgrounds) in some of the warehouses.. holds about 6000+ or even more depending on how many areas you use

there's heaps of outdoor parties held here too and the numbers are pretty much unlimited, depending on the space you're holding it on..the great outdoors

there's other venues such as Alliance.. upstairs would probably be 150-200? downstairs in the basement about the same.. it's split into 3 rooms downstairs and some nights use all 3 rooms, others just one or two

there's also Bonapartes downstairs.. probably 200-300? dark and dingy look.. great nights have been there too but not too many lately

there's also technomad/the ex tube, which is reopening next week with the name Matrix.. there's the main room, outdoor/carpark area and side room.. some of the larger parties used to be held there..eg gatecrasher etc. you might want to check out the decor yourself before you decide to hold something there though.. it's not quite the same vibe as it was in it's heyday, but possibly the new name will remove some of the stigma?? not sure..

there's a new 'superclub' opening shortly called The Family.. it's in a huge building so would hold heaps of people but I haven't been in there yet so I'm not sure exactly how many.. supposed to be many rooms and expensively fitted out..

last night I went to a new venue (well newly re-opened as a dance venue) called Ja Ja's - it's a really cool space.. has a largish area downstairs and then u go upstairs and there's a few other rooms.. one has a film screen area, it's nice and dark and I liked the feel of it.. you could probably hold a mid sized 500-800?? party there or even a smaller one if you just held it it in one of the rooms..

there's also the Moonbar.. it gets really packed on saturday nights, probably holds a couple of hundred as well

for a lush venue of a larger size, you're probably looking at the Tivoli..it's an old theatre restuarant.. has a few areas and some excellent parties have been held there.. probably 600-1000+?

in the city there's the Port Office which has a few areas as well.. upmarket decor.. the mid-sized parties are held there as well sometimes.. 600-800+?

there's also Rics, upstairs and downstairs.. smaller numbers though 100-200 maybe?

the empire/press club.. although I've never seen them put on other parties there except for their normal club nights.

there's a warehouse available for parties at South Brisbane as well.. three areas.. the bunker (probably 70-100 if u packed everyone in), the main area (up to 500 maybe? depending on how many props are there breaking up the space) and the hangar area (up to 600?) I'm not really sure exactly how many you could fit in there altogether

anyway.. others here please feel free to correct my numbers estimates.. I see more than 300 and think it's thousands ;) so I could be out.. there's probably some others that I just can't think of off the top of my head right now although I probably frequent them all the time..

what sort of party were you thinking of? putting one on or playing at one? some of the venues are sort of associated with a particular style of music and others have held a range of styles.. depends what you are after I guess..

hope this helps a bit :)

[driload]

haha kath where do u find the time to be so helpful : P