There’s something a little dishonest about Volar, the recently opened club that occupies the space Plush used to at Core Pacific City Living Mall (京華城). For one, Volar in Taipei shares the same moniker as a respected club brand that operates a branch in Hong Kong (named best club in the Special Administrative Region by Time Out for two years in a row) and Shanghai, but the two, says the former’s director of marketing, have no connection.
Think of it as the clubbing world’s equivalent of a Taiwanese company launching a tablet computer and calling it an iPad.
The Vinyl Word checked out the nightspot’s weekly Wednesday bash, Rocks the Rabbit Party, which according to the bumph promised “sexy rabbit girls”: But no fluffy tails, and no bucktoothed females. Hopefully they didn’t come down with myxomatosis before they were due to make an appearance.
Lockers outside the entrance are an extortionate NT$50 a pop; a companion ordered a vodka and cranberry juice and received a vodka and Red Bull, and paid NT$300 for the privilege; and the music — Rumpshaker by Wreckx-n-Effect and Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J — spoke more about what type of clientele the club is aiming for than the decor, which riffed on a theme of nondescript lounge bar chic — black plastic candelabra, red neon strip lighting, and what looked like a fly loft suspended from the ceiling above the bar with black and white fabric draped around the batons.
At midnight, a quick headcount ascertained that the sparse crowd totaled about 70 persons.
Still, it’s early days yet.
Rolled out in December, Volar threw its grand opening do on Saturday of last week, and the rent-a-celebrities came out in force, including funnyman and variety show host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲).
The music policy is hip-hop and house.
On the same floor, Asia, which also opened last month, in the space that Party Room once occupied, is a drink-all-you-can affair that focuses on hip-hop.
The two new clubs face stiff competition. Attendance at Luxy on Wednesday night in the newly refurbished Onyx Room, now named Pulse, for the club’s monthly party thrown by Noodles and Mykal was about 30 percent capacity, while the Galleria was rammed. And then there’s Room 18.
Volar
Open: Wednesdays from 10pm to 4am, Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm to 4am
Address: 12F, 138, Bade Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市八德路四段138號12F). For reservations, call 0980-234-000
On the Net: www.volar.tw and volar-taipei.blogspot.com
Admission: Ladies free on Wednesdays, guys NT$500, on Fridays and Saturdays entry is NT$700
Asia
Open: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10pm to 4am
Address: Asia, 12F, 138, Bade Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市八德路四段138號12F). For reservations, call 0911-550-078 or 0980-665-463
On the Net: tw.myblog.yahoo.com/asia-club (Chinese only)
Admission: Men NT$700 and women NT$400 on Fridays and Saturdays, and men NT$600 and women NT$300 on Sundays
Top party tip for this weekend is tonight’s Taichung-based tech house and minimal techno label Dance Mafia’s First Warm Up Party at China White in Taipei.
“Their New Year’s Eve party [at Liquid Lounge] was amazing,” said Shawn Kidd, who is spinning at tonight’s gig under the name vDub. “All black suits, and the girls were all dressed up in nice gowns ... Tonight’s also suit and tie, and they’re doing one tomorrow in Taichung, for the same thing.”
Also appearing at the party, being held to launch the label, is Taichung’s Victor Yeh, who plays tech house “good and deep ... ” said Kidd. “Not super techy and not super grimy ... something I could see on fashion runways.”
Panda, Victor Yeh, Stanley Ko, Fiveon (aka Eddie Hu) and vDub (aka Kidd), at Dance Mafia First Warm Up Party at China White, 2F, 97-101, Dunhua S Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路二段97-101號2樓) from 11pm. Admission is free. On the Net: www.finique-dj.com and www.facebook.com/finiqueproduction
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