Narcissus has been the oldest mainstay in the Bangkok nightclub scene, having opened in 1992. Technically, Spasso opened a year earlier but it's a much smaller venue inside a hotel and it's an Italian restaurant with a dance floor after about 9:30 or so. As far as a dedicated club goes, Narcissus can really claim primacy. Its contemporaries in those days -- Diana at the Oriental Hotel, Bubble at the Dusit Thani Hotel and the Rome Club on Silom Soi 4 -- are all gone now, having faded away quite a while ago.
So perhaps it's because of this longevity that the owners decided a while back to completely revamp the club and re-energize its fan base. There is, of course, a tremendous amount of competition in the city now when it come to clubs, with venues all over the place both large and small. There's much more than there has ever been before so maybe Narcissus was feeling the heat a little and decided to spice things up. Whatever the reason, they've been closed for, we believe, a few months (it's now November 7, 2008) and will be re-opening on November 28. We've been told that there will now be four zones in this huge, elegantly decorated club and they'll have separate themes: hip-hop, Narcissus, live music and coyote. The Narcissus zone will no doubt be similar to the original theme of the club with DJs spinning a variety of music and guest DJs from around the world coming in on special nights. The house DJ since 1993 had been Pan, a local DJ legend who formed his own record label, ARC, and started at Narcissus in 1993. He has been a leading DJ in Bangkok since 1987 and won the prestigious Heineken DJ Spin 2002. Whether he will return is not clear at this point. Some of the guest DJs who took a turn spinning at Narcissus include Derrick May, Nicky Holloway, Alfredo and Richard F. The second, hip-hop, is pretty straightforward and we're not sure what the live music segment will be at this point although Thai bands playing cover tunes is the most likely guess. As for the coyote segment, that will almost certainly consist of scantily young Thai women gyrating to music, possibly on some sort of platforms, to recreate the dancing done in the famous (yet awful) movie Coyote Ugly. It's been a popular trend here in Bangkok for a while and it will be interesting to see how the hi-society element of narcissus' previous audience reacts to entertainment that is similar to what can be seen at the nearby red-light district down the street from Narcissus. In any case, we'll give you an update when more information is available, certainly by the time the club re-opens.
Tags: Culture | Thailand | dancing | opinion | bangkok | DRINKS | nightclub | Bangkok Nightlife | narcissus | bangkok nightclubs
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