Suzy Bell: Durban nightlife
The cool idea of a “recovery room” and cigar lounge at Bean Bag Bohemia, installation art at Crash, capuccino chairs at Jamb Lounge, breakbeat insanity at Bedlam, and the mellow mood at Dusk till Dawn constitute a fine, fat slobbery kiss for Durban’s nightlife, which has clawed its way from the edge of madness and is now in stylish retro mood. Durban can at last entice a groovy crowd of night cats.
Crash, Durban’s most glamorous nightclub, situated at the Durban station, has just opened a lounge doubling as an artistic salon. It’s a slinky, sculptured space with curvaceous ice-cream walls, hot-pink lava lamps, a 1970s chequerboard floor and, now, local art. There’s a beautiful ceramic chillum lamp by David Haigh and needle-art dips into the contemporary with 32 syringe- spiked daydreams by James Beckett. Even the bar, gleaming with stainless steel, is a work of art which designer Richard Stretton shaped like a bat in full flight.
Jose Ferreira’s massive maiden’s dress dwarfs the DJs digs, where Andr and Mean Boy Roy of the Evenflow DJ collective spin balmy electronica, rippling from ambient drum’n’bass to deep house. Friday nights go national and international with guest DJs invited to the Liquid Room downstairs.
Touted exclusively as a chill lounge for VIP members and boys and babes over 21, downstairs at Crash is a seriously stylish space. On Saturday March 7, Crash hosts top London dance label JDJ (Journeys by DJ) with three of their hottest residents, Chandrika, Tomislav and Vicky Edwards, behind the decks from 10.30pm.
On the other hand, Jamb Lounge (170 Florida Road) is incredibly poncy and strictly for the bland and the beautiful, but model wannabes and classy white chicks are only as interesting as their blow-dried smiles. Deep maroon carpets, corduroy armchairs in salmon pink and heavy beige curtains sniff of that hollow atmosphere usually associated with swanky five-star hotel lobbies. Aiming at the “wealthy and well-to-do, we spent R1- million on this place”, boasts the management.
Jamies, at 39 Pine Street, is a dingy sweat- box of student-day desires. You can down two-litre jugs of potent Fallen Angel, head- bash to heavy metal (courtesy of a DJ behind bars) and stumble over naked midriffed dudes passed out in dark corners. Black-booted biker babes, Marilyn Manson lookalikes and long-haired men with matching moustaches and tattoos lean on their bikes in the street outside. Local bands perform live on Fridays and Saturdays from 8pm, which is the only redeeming feature.
With dining upstairs and flirting downstairs, Bean Bag Bohemia can be found at 18 Windermere Road and is the darling of Durban’s stylish but trashy night-time lovers. They’ve recently opened a cigar lounge as well as a “room for recovery”, where you can chill out to DJ Roy’s ambient funk.
Bedlam at the Riviera Hotel on the Victoria Embankment is where New Agers sweat out their tie-dyed dreams on the main dance floor, while lumo-jugglers do it to drum’n’bass in the second Ward. There’s a breezy verandah upstairs with street views, palms and Durban’s beautiful bay. Expect some breakbeat madness every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9pm with Skekrou, Dinkum Percy and Li’l Rich of the Crush’n’Burn DJ collective.
Dusk till Dawn at the Winston Hotel (corner Umbilo and Clark roads) is the place to be for jungle on Tuesday nights, reggae on Wednesdays and groove sessions with the Evenflow DJ collective on Sundays. It’s very laid back, the air smells sweet, and intimate circles of spunky shorn-haired females and cute young boys laze about on cushions.