Is Roger the new Henri? Hopefully. Roughly a decade ago when Joburg’s happy and gay district on Henri Street, Braamfontein, closed all it’s doors, we thought we were doomed to the northern suburbs forever. Now Roger Road in Selby, on the southern side of the CBD, is home to two new gay bars, Rawbar and SimplyBlue. Nestled in between CitrusLounge and Lemon8, Rawbar is a welcome and stylish addition to Joburg’s rather flaccid gay scene (which includes Risque in Fourways). The CitrusLounge crew have again shown their skills at creating spaces that are conducive to, um, crowded and fun times. Promoted as an “all male cruise and booze bar”, this place isn’t for girls. Or sissies.
If your idea of nightlife is about nineties nostalgia then The Oxford on Oxford Road, Illovo is the place for you. If you’re impressed by heavily made-up bottle blondes and mammoth bouncers in ’smart’ shoes, then this club will be right up your alley. Problem is – it’s not up an alley. It’s in a office block/car-park/restaurant court. You even have to exit the club and face the fluorescent lighting of the centre to get to the loo. Clubbing in Johannesburg is best when it’s about downtown discos, sublime djs, sexy views and no pretension. The Oxford feels more like a pop-up club with dated trimmings. Thumbs down.
Brett Bailey’s ‘House of the Holy Afro’ is finally showing in Joburg after six years of performances in Europe and Australia. It’s a show and a party in a space that’s usually a theatre but is now a pop-up club.
Hi energy, super slick, crosses many musical genres and celebrates everything we’re celebrating right now – the fabulousness of 21st century Africa. It’s original, inspired and quirky – from the 11pm starting time to the Afro kitsch outfits, from the camp drama to the disco make-up. Think Zulu Lulu on steroids – in a glitter pit.
On every night at 11pm (except Mondays) until 11 July – so a perfect party spot after the evening match.
With Newtown’s revival came this very important live performance venue. It’s really special in that its a lot bigger than the city’s other clubs currently being used as live venues, but it’s far smaller than a stadium. So it’s proven to be perfect for the kinds of bands that fit somewhere in the middle of undergound and above the ground. Often a party, always a good time. Famous for its Ragga nights on Thurs.
Throughout the day on Sundays, three venues on the Greenside strip host live music while you enjoy the sunshine. Enjoy live jazz in the morning at Vida with some of the country’s best. Fratelli hosts what can only be described as great acoustic folk covers of bands like Radiohead, MGMT and others (pictured above). This works great around Fratellis half priced cocktail jug special from 3pm till 5pm. And then Mamas Shebeen keeps the party going with more of a jazzy funk vibe from 7 onwards
The concept is simple; get a bunch of happy people drunk, and then only play the best sing-along songs. A little on the expensive side, but the customers are encouraged to dance on the tables…
If I had one night to entertain a foreigner that was young and hip like myself, I wouldn’t think twice about taking them to a place like Mama’s Shebeen.
Not to be confused with Mama Tembos in Linden. Both are of a similar concept and both equally as cool. Mama’s Shebeen is smack in the middle of the Greenside Strip.
The style is one that successfully recreates a typical bar within a South African township. For the foreign folk reading this, this type of bar is commonly known as a Shebeen. The hand-painted product placement and bright mismatched furniture are just some of the aesthetics we’ve come to celebrate as unique South African design. They often have live music, and I’ve seen some makeshift dancefloor action. What’s truly great however, is its middle positioning between Gin and Tokyo Star. This serves as an airy pit-stop between the sweat and smoke, as well a great chance to bump into people you know mid bar hop.
PS: don’t bother eating here though.
found on the Greenside Strip on Gleneagles Ave. Here’s their official site
Places in the Northern Suburbs run the risk of being very carbon copy. Many restaurants are amazing, beautiful and sit on a world class level…..but… often lack a charm, personality, or any kind of tradition. All of this can be contributed to the “newness” of the area. 15 years ago, much of what now constitutes The Northern Expansion, was veld and the occasional horse. So when Tanz Cafe first opened, I couldn’t help but feel it had fallen into a similar trap. It was calling itself a live venue, but lacked any kind of daring “rock n roll” a live performance venue should ideally want.
The idea of booking a table, and sitting down to watch a radio-friendly singer songwriter isn’t going to be everyone’s idea of fun, but for many it’s great. So the first thing to realise is that they’re largely catering for a specific market, that being the demands of the northern suburb citizen. The kind of citizen that most probably doesn’t want to go any further than Sandton to have a good time. This is largely due to sheer distance. A journey from the centre of the city to the outskirting neighborhoods of Fourways can take as much as 40 minutes to an hour… and that’s without traffic.
I fear we’re starting to seem pretentious, so I’m gonna back up a little and say Tanz Cafe is still very successful in so many ways. For starters, its remained a fully-fledged live performance venue, without every having to double up as a nightclub playing CDs to youngsters. And secondly, on return visits, I’m starting to see the walls fill up with block mounts of previous events. All this contributes to the history and tradition I spoke about earlier. So that’s why we chose the picture above.
So our suggestion, is keep an eye out to gig guides and the line up on their site. You’ll quickly realise what’s for you and what isn’t.
People still speak of Carfax. It was a landmark warehouse style venue for parties in Newtown. In 2006, the club Loaded was launched. And all that it effectively was, was Carfax from a different entrance. That whole venue has since closed to make space for the uber-cool college City Varsity. But the entrance to Loaded was at the end of this massive alley. And so today many events go down in this alley. The most notable of which being New York rapper Mos Def, and the Urban Electric Festival. The vibe is great in that it feel like a city block party style event with towering factory silos on one side, and the double decker De Villers Graaf Motorway in the other direction.
So keep your eye out for events that use the term Loaded or Carfax, 9 out of 10 times they’re refering to the Loaded Alley.
check out their site for updates on events, festivals and parties coming up.
The idea is simple. In order to truly love something, you first have to understand it. Johannesburg is no different in this regard.
Connect with the real city through those who live and play here. The result? A catalogue of Johannesburg like no other.
