Superclub

:"This page relates to a form of nightclub. For the article on one of the largest video store chains in Quebec, see Le SuperClub Vidéotron."

Superclub is a term used to refer to a nightclub owned and managed by a dance music record label, such as The Hacienda club, which was owned by Factory Records. The term has also been used to describe large, multistory, high-capacity high-profile nightclubs, such as Pacha in Ibiza or 1970s discotheques such as Studio 54.

Record label-owned clubs

House superclubs such as Twilo in the US opened in 1990, other massive House superclubs such as The Haçienda in Manchester opened in 1986, and the Ministry Of Sound in London opened in 1991. These clubs became more popular in the early 1990s. Examples include Gatecrasher, Godskitchen, Mansion, Crobar, Paradise Garage and The End. In The US, Crobar has clubs in Chicago and NYC. Other high profile US Superclubs include Cielo (NYC), Pacha (NYC), Centrofly (NYC), Ikon (NYC), Bungalow 8 (NYC), Vision (Chicago), Sound Bar (Chicago), MIGHTY (San Francisco), Mezzanine (San Francisco), Myth (Minneapolis), The Church (Denver), Pure (Las Vegas),(Las Vegas(Las Vegas), Tao (Las Vegas), Mansion, Prive, Opium Gardens (The Opium Group) (Miami), Avalon/Avaland (Boston/Los Angeles), Balance (Los Angeles), KING KING (Los Angeles), Belo (San Diego), Fur (Washington D.C.), and 1015 (San Francisco).

British Superclubs include Oceana (Southampton), The Syndicate (Blackpool), Fabric (London), Turnmills (London)(Recently closed down) the Arc (Brighton), The Zap (Brighton), Air (Birmingham). The Ministry Of Sound has their main club in London, with international clubs in Ayia Napa and as far a field as Sydney Australia.

German superclubs tend to play trance or techno music. Superclubs like Berghain are often situated in industrial areas, especially in suburbs of big towns or near freeways or expressways. These superclubs are in Germany called "Grossraumdiskothek" and are often visited by people coming from larger distances to them by car.

These German superclubs are known across several regions, but they are rarely nationally known. Many of them have expensive lightshows in stylish, air-conditioned venues. In many superclubs one gets a pay card, in most cases a chipcard, sometimes also a hole card, at the entrance, on which drinks and meals are booked. Pay cards reduce the necessary amount of exchange money in the discotheque, but their usage often leds to long queues at the exit, because all people in the club have to pay then their fee at the exit. Pay cards are nearly always property of the club and given back, after the patron has paid their tab. [ To prevent patrons from leaving after a night of drinking without paying, emergency exits of superclubs using pay cards should be alarm-safed. Despite the danger of trapping people inside during a fire, emergency exits are sometimes illegally locked in superclubs that use pay cards.]

Large nightclubs

The term "superclub" is also used to describe large, multistory, high-capacity high-profile nightclubs. Pacha in Ibiza, which opened in 1973, is an early example of a superclub-style nightclub. Pacha has branches in London, New York City and Buenos Aires. Annabel's in London was also one of the earlier superclubs and Studio 54 in New York City (both of which are now closed) were also early superclubs.

References

External links

* [http://www.pacha.com/ pacha.com] Pacha, Ibiza, Spain
* [http://www.ministryofsound.com/ ministryofsound.com] Ministry Of Sound, London, England
* [http://www.godskitchen.com/] Godskitchen, Birmingham, England
* [http://www.cream.co.uk/] Cream, Liverpool, England
* [http://www.gatecrasher.co.uk/] Gatecrasher, Sheffield, England
* [http://thesyndicate.com/ thesyndicate.com] The Syndicate Nightclub, Blackpool, England
* [http://crobar.com/ crobar.com] Crobar - New York, Chicago and Miami
* [http://sound-bar.com/ sound-bar.com] Sound-Bar, Chicago
* [http://www.ikon-diva.co.uk] Ikon-Diva, Southampton, England
* [http://www.mighty119.com] MIGHTY, San Francisco
* [http://1015.com/ 1015.com] 1015 Folsom - a city within a night club (San Francisco)
* [http://www.visionnightclub.com/ visionnightclub.com] Vision, Chicago
* [http://www.discoalpha.de/] Alpha, Kandel, a typical German superclub. Picture of building [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Diskothek_Aussenansicht.jpg]
* [http://www.a5-bruchsal.de/] A5, Karlsdorf, another typical German superclub
* [http://www.uk-clubbing-directory.co.uk] Listings of all English superclubs, by city