Event Review - Bloc Niteclub Opening Night 17/02/06

It was the talk of the town all week, the coming of a trendy night spot to Penrith, an area that has one of the highest concentration of young people in the greater Sydney area who have craved a quality night spot since clubs like Venue and DNA closed many years previous. With a $15 cover charge and the promise of a 'strict dress code', the 'upscale' club seemed to be living up to its claims before the whiteboydancefloor crew arrived.
The team and their extensive entourage arrived at the venue and were greeted by friendly (and highly attractive) door staff. The venue was surprisingly large, with a massive open plan main room known as the 'Industry' room, with a large perspex DJ booth, 3 bars and plenty of lounges for some inane chatter or fornication. The second room, the 'Island' was accessable through a mystrerious tunnel and is a jungle island themed room with a dark, intimate and sexy vibe; opening up to a large balcony area with an outdoor bar and BBQ.

Enough about the architecture and design, it was the music that mattered. The larger industry room played host to some superb house, while the Island was the home of banality, spinning pointless RnB. Sublime regulars Kate Munroe and Matt Mandell were the big ticket acts in the industry room, and played a superb mix of deep, funky and jazzy house with smatterings of electro thrown in for good measure. The island played host to Selwyn, seemingly few cared and the RnB on show was predictable radio friendly fare.

Overall, the club was highly impressive. Drinks are reasonably priced, with a Smirnoff Black fetching 7 bucks. The staff were friendly yet some bar staff were inexperienced. The crowd was predominantly young suburban with a strict dress code seemingly ignored with dirty skate shoes entering the venue on more that one occasion. There wasn't a great deal in the way of hardcore clubbers present with whiteboy dancing at very poor levels of skill and co-ordination, maybe its the distance from the CBD or the fact that the venue is only new but with a solid DJ line up, a proper club ambience and well priced drinks, its only a matter of time before the dance music scene sits up and takes notice. Bloc was a winner, lets hope the Penrith club curse doesnt hit yet again.