MAX MOOSE Melbourne Review:

Saturdays

@

54

Bendigo
it isnt studio 54 anymore and it isnt called level 2 either studio 54 would put
level 2 to shame anyday!!!
josh, bgo, Wed Dec 1 22:29:35 2004
There is no such club in Bendigo anymore, it is now known as Level 2 and play a
wide range of music from top 40, to rnb, and then later in the night techno and
house music. This place only gets a lot of people in it after midnight
especially on a Friday night.
Erin, Bendigo, Wed Jul 14 21:22:55 2004
June 3, 2000
Another weekend let loose on a regional centre, saw us wind up at 54 following a formal dinner, and a few drinks. Interesting concept: take a movie about a nightclub, borrow the name, and open a venue totally different to the one in the movie. It looks like the one in the movie from the outside, which is very impressive. Inside, however, is totally different, both from the movie and every other club I have been to. However, it manages to maintain a cool, clubby look, with some great exposed brickwork to give a feeling of history.

The crowd is primarily local. Not too many people are going to travel to Bendigo from other places. There were a few tourists like us, but most of the crowd were from in and around Bendigo, but the size of Bendigo means the crowd is reasonably trendy. Not too disimilar from what you would find at a techno / house venue in Melbourne. They are fairly relaxed and friendly too. The only difference from Melbourne, was the wider age range. Everyone from 20-25, with a few 18s thrown in.

It gets busy late-ish. We arrived somewhere around 11, at which time things were building. It wasn't busy until about midnight, but fairly packed later. The odd thing about the venue, is the multi-story nature, with two main sections. The main room (level 2) is very commercial dance - techno in nature, and fills from 11 to 12. The retro room (level 4), plays pub classics, retro and party, and never really got going the night of this review. Maybe it was all those steps.

You enter by a desk at the bottom of the stairs. Up the stairs you hit the main room. The largish dance floor is ahead and right. The right wall, with podiums, is exposed brick, with flashes of mirrors, and the DJ booth. The back wall has stairs up, a bar, and a couple of tables. To the left is a large room with a bar, and some seating. It is kind of old style with wood and bricks, but heaps of modern touches, particularly the lighting.

This room grooves to a mix of house (verging on techno) and commercial dance, with the odd classic thrown in. This means heaps of dancing, particularly on the podiums.

The next level up, for some reason, reminded me of the Pancake Parlour. It is a viewing deck, with booth seating around the edges.

The top level is the retro room. It look a bit like a sixties or seventies milkbar. It is glassed off from the levels below to prevent the music travelling. There is a small DJ booth and dancefloor in the corner, heaps of seating, and a bar. The mix was strictly retro and party classics, and as a result, the crowd was a little older.

I have some recollection that prices were a little high, but the entertainment and crowd were good value. The locals clearly indicated that 54 was the club to check out, and this group of tourists enjoyed it. Drop by on your next trip to Bendigo.

Ben Clissold