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Ring in 2011 at Vancouver's newest, most intimate and ritziest nightlife venues.
Fortune Sound Club is hosting an invite-only New Year’s Eve party
New Year’s Eve 2011 is less than a month away and already some of Vancouver’s top events are close to selling out. If you don’t want to be stuck out in the cold on December 31, 2010, you might want to call a group huddle with your mates, pick a party and get things rolling.
This year there are a few newish venues on the scene, adding some competition to the annual party lineup—the much anticipated Waldorf Hotel (which saw crazy multi-hour lineups at its grand opening Halloween party), W2 Storyeum (which recently hosted the sold-out Red Bull Megahertz a/v spectacle) and the glitzy, ritzy Shangri-La (which is holding its first-ever New Year’s Eve event despite being open for almost two years now).
While my own New Year’s plans have been sorted out for a good month or so (I’m celebrating in the Big Apple), I have been poking around to find out what is crack-a-lacking here in town. Here are seven of the city’s top New Year’s Eve events.
The newly revived Waldorf Hotel in East Vancouver has become an instant hit. Touted as a creative hub where contemporary art, music, food and culture convene under one roof, the entire multi-room hotel will be a giant-sized house party come New Year’s Eve. The event extends throughout the hotel rooms, lobby, two dining areas, 50s tiki bar and the Cabaret and Leeteg rooms. Pre-sale tickets flew, and if the venue’s Halloween Party is any indication, expect the rest of the tickets to this New Year’s Eve event to sell-out lightning fast.
The night includes performances by John Maus, TRS-80 and Geneva Jaccuzi, analog sets by Mr. Pablo, Mr. Anselmi, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Fazio and El Garzita, a slideshow of Penthouse Cabaret press shots and an all-night dance party.
Doors at 7 p.m., party until 4 a.m. The $25 “locals only” tickets are sold-out. Regular $35 tickets are now on sale.
Website | Tickets | Sign up for updates
This intimate music lounge on the eastern edge of downtown can hold up to 150 people. With a live music line-up that includes local music acts Adaline, Elias, Hannah Georgas, Mother Mother, Said The Whale, Dominique Fricot and Rococode, the band member-to-guest ratio guarantees local groupie status for all.
Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door and include free champagne at midnight, party favours for all and a photo booth. A special VIP ticket is available for $35 and includes priority entry, coat check, exclusive lounge, personal beer and wine bar, and private washrooms (it’s not clear exactly where the regular folk will pee).
Website | Facebook | Tickets
W2 Storyeum is closing out the first decade of the 2000s with its first-ever New Year’s Eve bash in its massive public space at 151 West Cordova. With five different rooms spinning reggae, dancehall, funk, dubstep and drum and bass, you can get down and dirty with an endless night of underground beats in this modern warehouse environment. If I were going to be in town, I would be all over this one.
(Proceeds from the event go toward a special fundraising initiative to help build W2 Community Media Arts Centre, an inner-city media centre for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, across the street in the Woodward’s complex.)
Doors are open from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Early-bird and advanced tickets are already sold out. Standard tickets are available for $40 online. Enjoy complimentary hors d’ouevres, silent auction of cool gifts and secure coat check.
For those who like to live the good life, Vancouver’s sky-high 5-star hotel is promising the “ultimate experience.” The hotel’s first-ever New Year’s Eve party will be all elegance and class. With a red carpet elevator entrance that takes you up to the Conway Ballroom, two VIP rooms and a heated solarium located on the sixth floor, guests will be given the star treatment from the moment they arrive.
If the mandatory formal Hollywood dress code doesn’t keep all the riff-raff out, the 23+ gents and 21+ ladies age restriction sure will. There will be a real-time visual countdown clock, canapés courtesy of Jean-Georges of Market restaurant and a complimentary glass of champers. Two dance halls will be playing house, top 40, dance, R&B, 90s, party anthems and old school tunes.
This soiree runs from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. This event is almost sold-out, so snap up your tickets this week if you are planning to go. Remaining tickets range from $120-$140.
Website | Tickets
This is the second annual invite-only Fortune Sound Club Friends & Family NYE event meant to keep out the “randoms found at other clubs.” (Though, by the looks of it, there may be far too many people in this place to sincerely know everyone, but it is a nice thought anyway.) Any remaining tickets after December 10 will be open to the rest of the world. If you can get into the site of the former Ming’s Chinese restaurant to dance the night away on the red oak dance floor and remember anyone’s name the next morning, I’ll be impressed. Taking full advantage of the club’s stellar sound system, a barrage of DJs will be flipping things up every half hour.
The night is on from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. If there are any remaining tickets on December 10, they will be offered to the public for $25. Tickets include champagne for all, party favours, confetti cannons and midnight balloon drop.
Almost a year after the Olympics brought international focus on Vancouver and made the convention centre home to the media and Olympic torch, the flashy waterfront building will be hosting Massive Gala 2011. Vancouver pop star Dirty Radio will be performing the hit single “My Heart” and other hits from his recently released album Debut. A number of DJs will also be playing hip hop, top 40, old school and house tunes as you countdown to 2011. A suit and cocktail dress code is in effect for the night.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; party ends at 2:30 a.m. Tickets start at $130 for general admission and go up to $2,000 for a table of 10.
For a final theme party of the decade, head on over to the Cultch in East Vancouver for a 1930s Burlesque Extravaganza. This stylish New Year’s Eve will be full of burlesque dancing, live jazz, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and party favours, full bar service and a “dirty 30s” photo booth with ’30s-themed props. The night will feature seven of Vancouver’s hottest burlesque starlets, including Ms. Burgundy Brixx, Melody Mangler, Lola Frost, Madame Mae, Lydia Decarlo, April O’Peel and Nikki Ninedoors. Doors from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.; show starts at 10 p.m. Tickets are $35 at The Cultch’s online box office. Website | Tickets
There are tons of other New Year’s events out there; for a more complete list check out sites like clubzone. And feel free to post worthy parties in the comment section below (but please sign in first).
