The sounds of young Santiago
This photo shows the exterior of Santiago nightclub, Blondie (the awning with the 'B' logo that is remarkably similar to Henry van de Velde's design for the Belgian Railways). The Britney Spears and N'Sync special I attended there last month was quite an eye opener. I have never seen a club as busy on a Sunday night: there must have been 1,500 people inside.
Getting in was quite a hassle. The club opened about 45 minutes late and the security checks seemed to take forever, meaning that the place filled up slowly. The slightly decrepit building housed two dance floors: one with room for about 100 people where the DJ was spinning 80s synth pop (New Order, Soft Cell, etc) and a much larger main hall for 1,000 to 1,500 people, complete with video screens.
Here, the evening started with the Britney Spears Special, which bizarrely was a replay of a live concert taped off French cable channel, MCM. Later, once the floor was full, the DJs brought the crowd to a frenzy with a succession of N'Sync videos (including the one where they are N'Sync dolls come to life in a toy shop).
Chilean taste in music is a little quirky to say the least. The aren't many places where you can walk into the metro and see Queen's 'Fat Bottomed Girls' on a video screen. You can in Santiago. Equally, it is one of the few cities where you can still buy a badge celebrating 1980s hardcore punks Minor Threat with little difficulty.
Friends from Brazil and Colombia who accompanied me on the trip were surprised that they never heard Chilean music in any of the restaurants we visited, only music from other parts of Latin America. In Colombia and Brazil, local music is heard all the time, they explained.
Getting in was quite a hassle. The club opened about 45 minutes late and the security checks seemed to take forever, meaning that the place filled up slowly. The slightly decrepit building housed two dance floors: one with room for about 100 people where the DJ was spinning 80s synth pop (New Order, Soft Cell, etc) and a much larger main hall for 1,000 to 1,500 people, complete with video screens.
Here, the evening started with the Britney Spears Special, which bizarrely was a replay of a live concert taped off French cable channel, MCM. Later, once the floor was full, the DJs brought the crowd to a frenzy with a succession of N'Sync videos (including the one where they are N'Sync dolls come to life in a toy shop).
Chilean taste in music is a little quirky to say the least. The aren't many places where you can walk into the metro and see Queen's 'Fat Bottomed Girls' on a video screen. You can in Santiago. Equally, it is one of the few cities where you can still buy a badge celebrating 1980s hardcore punks Minor Threat with little difficulty.
Friends from Brazil and Colombia who accompanied me on the trip were surprised that they never heard Chilean music in any of the restaurants we visited, only music from other parts of Latin America. In Colombia and Brazil, local music is heard all the time, they explained.
Labels: On the road
posted by Justin Toland at 11:56 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home