Bars and Nightclubs
Melbourne South, Melbourne

The Marquee Club

127 Dorcas St, South Melbourne VIC
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One of Melbourne’s premier party venues, putting on the best DJ’s delivering the best RETRO (downstairs), HOUSE & RnB (upstairs) over 2 massive levels to ensure a party atmosphere which is unsurpassed,


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The Marquee Club Review


Review By Sophie Lane

As a second visit to South Melbourne’s Marquee nightclub revealed the peroxide blonde door booty in a leather one piece hot suit, I realised that my vision of the club had not been incepted by Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I did it again’. No she was not a figment of my MTV imagination, door booty Dennis was there, and as I snapped out of my Britney Spears day dream I realised I was holding up a line of ten men who viewed Dennis’ leather choices as an erotic vision into what they might take home tonight. Tonight I was not drinking alcohol, and not surprisingly, the double edged sword of Marquee nightclub was about to reveal itself.

Why did I leave my rose coloured glasses at home? I surely would have fitted in upon entering the downstairs retro room. “I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can…”, well you get the point. In creating a retro room, the Marquee club really out did themselves. Whilst most nightclubs will provide some Abba airwaves alongside Michael Jackson crotch grabs but nothing more, this club provides complimentary middle aged men – with real life 1960’s experience. If slimy – sweet hand kisses to songs of the seventies are your style then the Retro room provides unimaginable authenticity.

In being fair, the retro room isn’t all wrinkles and kiss dodges, the fact that the room (along with each room at Marquee) is serviced with its own bar, is a definite positive. The down side is that if you are not drinking the alcohol offered at the bar, you may find your fingers ever so eagerly reaching for the 13 Cabs number on your phone.Ground level offers same age play, which although the retro wrinklers have access to, is obviously avoided (as doof-doof proves their kryptonite). Playing all the current house hits, plus rnb and hip hop, this room is endlessly packed to the brim, with ravers taking stance on the large black stages, tapping the air as if doing a synchronised dance to their metro God.

The bar service in the house room is fast and efficient. Upon entering Marquee you are also given a card for a discounted Midori shaker (this bright green drink container is yours to keep as a memento). The drinks are at the standard price for nightclubs, although the relaxed atmosphere of the bar staff means that if you smile politely and order a few shots consecutively, another shot of Tequila is usually on the house.

In between wrinkly retro kisses and metro Midori shakers, the rooftop smokers’ room provides comfort to the designated driver. Although the room is quite small, the fresh air from above means that accompanying that drunk, chain smoking, wine-guzzling friend into a room of grey is no longer a chimney chore.

When comparing my previous intoxicated experience to that of the more recent night of sobriety, it becomes apparent that the club Marquee is best served with multiple vodka shots, after which a night of retro brilliance will proceed. Unfortunately, if you forget the rose coloured glasses, the forty year old men lurking in the dark are less than a ‘thriller’ and more of a reason to catch the next cab home.







A 2nd Review of The Marquee Club


Review By Matt Wilson

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been to Marquee… Well, I wouldn’t be rich, but I’d still have enough to buy something cool!

This South Melbourne club has two separate lines: one for its members and one for non-members, showing that the Marquee cares about its loyal regulars and makes it less likely they get barred by the bouncers. If you get there early enough, you can get a voucher for a free Jagar bomb and a cheaper entry fee if you are a member and know what the password for the night is.

Marquee has two stories, each with a completely different theme. Downstairs starts off as a room playing RNB/Dance music from when it opens until about 10:30 when the upstairs room opens and takes over the RNB/Dance duties as the downstairs room transforms into a room with hits from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and a couple of ’00s songs here and there. The Retro Room plays a lot of the old school songs you probably heard a heaps of times when you were a kid when your parents were listening to Gold FM, ranging from ’70s disco tracks like the Bee Gees’ ‘Staying Alive’ and Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ to ’80s anthems like Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ to daggy ’90s hits like Five’s ‘If Ya Getting Down’ and Shania Twain’s ‘Man, I Feel Like A Woman’, and later in the night the DJ plays slower songs for all the drunkards to sing along to, like John Farnham’s ‘The Voice’ and Mr Big’s ‘To Be With You’. I could list many more of the classic party songs Marquee’s Retro Room always play, and as much as I’d like to write more about these awesome songs, the list would go on forever. Marquee prides itself on its old school image; the club’s logo is of a man disco dancing ’70s style, replicating John Travolta’s infamous pose on the poster of Saturday Night Fever. The Retro Room is equipped with one bar, has a couple of tables around for people to sit at, and has some TVs around usually playing old school movies or whatever is on telly at the time. If all these things don’t make for a good time, I don’t know what does.

Upstairs is a complete paradigm shift from what’s downstairs. Considering most of Marquee’s patrons would be in their late-teens or early-twenties, it’s only fair they have a room catering for those who would rather hear RNB and Dance tracks that are currently in the Top 40 or no older than about five years old. Songs like ‘Golddigger’ by Kenye West and Jamie Foxx, ‘Sexy Back’ by Justin Timberlake, ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga, and numerous other chart toppers from recent years are what’s on the menu upstairs. This floor has two bars, one at each end of the room so there is less struggling to squeeze through the herd on the dance floor just to get a drink. Part of the dance floor is set up sort-of like a pyramid, so some dancers are higher up than those at the bottom, and get to see a good view of the room rather than just the other patrons’ heads being all around you. The smokers will love the upstairs room too, as there is a small section that is a designated smoking room to have a much needed break from all the craziness on the dance floor, and makes things much more convenient for smokers so they don’t have to go outside for a power drag and risk not being let back in.




Captured At The Marquee Club

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