WellUrban

Personal reflections on urbanism, urban life and sustainable urban design in Wellington, New Zealand.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Retro-a-go-go

File under: ,

Attention all Wellingtonians! Are you tired of local bands creating distinctive original music that mixes popular appeal with musical integrity? Sick of innovation, creativity, sophistication and imagination? Unable to understand any music recorded after you left puberty? Well, salvation as finally at hand in the glitz-tastic form of Boogie Wonderland!

Now, I hate to sound like a snob ... oh, who am I kidding, I love to sound like a snob ... but this one has "bridge and tunnel" written all over it. It's a nightclub that is about to open underneath the Paramount in Courtenay Place, and it's an offshoot of an Auckland club (on Queen St, no less). A quick Googling reveals a large number of mentions on a site called nzweddingplanner.co.nz as a suggested hen night venue. 'Nuff said.

3 Comments:

At 4:42 pm, September 16, 2005, Blogger Tom said...

Yes, free Fluffy Ducks for 500 guests, or so I overheard (one of the organisers was in Boulot yesterday evening ordering pre-party pizzas for the staff).

I actually don't mind a bit of retro from time to time, but I guess I care too much about music to hear the same stuff over and over again. Perhaps if they played some forgotten gems by Giorgio Moroder or Afrika Bambaata I'd be intrigued, but I'll wager that it's the same old Abba/Bee Gees/Village People/Jackson Five stuff that every second Courtenay Place bar plays all the time anyway.

I'll probably have to swallow my pride and get dragged down there sometime after drinking too much Lindauer Fraise or something equally appropriate. Until then, I'll remain a curmudgeonly old snob!

 
At 7:26 am, December 01, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey well guys, have you given it a go? have you been? i mean there is only so much stuff you can play that everyone else plays before you have to make a difference...

 
At 11:49 am, December 03, 2007, Blogger Tom said...

I've been once. The trouble is that it does indeed play stuff "that everyone else plays": as I said in my previous comment, it just plays the same old tired top-40s pop disco that's become a Courtenay Place staple. If you had DJs spinning lost funk classics and obscure Euro disco then it could have been great and really "made a difference"; but instead of evoking Studio 54 circa 1978 the vibe has ended up more like a sixth-form ball in Timaru circa 1982.

If you want to go for the office party and hen night crowds, then that's up to you: those of us who actually care about music will go elsewhere. Alice is pretty good, though.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home