Avastar opening - Cheese infused Avatar ripp-off
| So original! |
After a hectic week social obligations I was quite looking
forward to a quiet weekend at home. Then the summons came from my wingwoman
Dom, epic party companion and photographer for an online entertainment site.
“Hey, I’m photographing the Avastar nightclub opening and I need my wingwoman
by my side.” After my long and tiring week I was tempted to decline, but I said
I’d think about it. A quick Google search revealed this .
David Hasselhof is gonna be there! Despite my fatigue it was clear – I gotta
see this!
So Friday I’m at Dom’s place donning my best ‘poppie’ heels
and telling her, “I just want to offer the Hoff a cheeseburger”. And off we go to Rivonia, tired, but sure
that this night would be interesting if nothing else. We turn onto Rivonia road,
and not knowing the area well, are on the lookout for 10th Avenue
where the club is located. Looking closely for the street signs was not
necessary though, as the club is lit up like a Christmas tree on LSD and could
be seen blocks away! Now comes the mission of
looking for parking, always a nightmare. But we quickly find a very friendly
carguard who motions us to a very decent parking right near the entrance (even
though we had to travel slightly up a one-way, the wrong way).
First thought viewing the club from outside: Vegas cheese.
They had complimentary Millers, people on stilts making balloon animals (I got
a kitty and Dom got a monkey, which she became quite attached to and protected
all night), and fire dancers, to entertain those waiting in the very slow
moving queue. As you walk into the club, emblazed in lights is the phrase “What
happens at Avastar, stays at Avastar”, confirming the Vegas cheese theme (although
I’m not sure if the ‘cheese’ is intentional).
| Oh look a blue guy |
Once we entered it was just a cacophony of lights and
colours and thumping beats, and I got the impression that Charlie Sheen would
have been very at home here – the mountains of coke that must have been
consumed by the patrons of this club was obvious. The décor continued to ooze
cheese with fibre optic chandeliers and badly painted Avatar scenes on the
walls. I’m not going to go into all the other gimmicky aspects of the décor,
for more you can see this video. And have a good
laugh, I might add.
Soon after we arrived, I heard the devastating news – David
Hasselhoff had apparently (assuming he was actually going to be there in the first place) pulled out! Although I don’t blame him, he probably realised how
cheesy the place was and what an insult him being there would be. And it’s ok,
we were entertained by our beer glasses with the flashy lights in anyway. And
we did get to meet Mr SA, not bad for such a young’un.
The rest of the night was pretty fun, although that is
mostly due to my love of cheese and the awesomeness of my wingwoman. The DJ’s
even managed to coax me onto the dance floor for a spell, even though the music
there is not my taste at all. Between the practically nekkid na’vi rip offs
running around, the skimpily clad dancing angels, the face painting and the
kinda cute beat boxer, there was much entertainment to be had.
| Dancing Angels - yeah I can see how that's related to Avatar... |
Do I think this place will last? No. However I would
recommend that everybody go check it out once, just for shits and giggles.
However once the novelty has worn off I predict it will crash and burn like
most gimmicky nightclubs.
Images from jhblive.com taken by Dominique Baxewanos