Avalon… America Dances Here?
Lansdowne Street
Boston, MA

A few of us from Art Bar headed out clubbing at Avalon last weekend. In the past, Avalon was the hippest, hottest club in town. The line stretched around the block, there was a happening VIP section and an untouchable upstairs where only the coolest and most connected of the Boston nightlife elite were allowed to venture. Times they are a changing’. Lost in a sea of “growing up Gotti” hair, we felt strangely out of touch with the crowd we saw before us. The music was sub-par at best – a poor blend of drum and bass, house and dance made me want to start handing out glow sticks to the 18 year old wannabe rave kids. Don’t get me wrong, I love dance music more than most people – just not this dance music.

Without going off on a rant about the decline of the ‘dance club’ in general, let me say that if Avalon is any representation of clubs across the country, I can at least understand the decline. Trendy bars and martini lounges that play better house a la Deep Dish, Colette, Kaskade, etc, and often serve better, stronger and more interesting drinks. Electronic music fills the air of these bars, yet dancing is not the focal point of the night, and people tend to sway in small circles than groove around the dance floor. Therefore, what is a dance music, dance loving kid supposed to do? Not quite sure yet!

Stay tuned as Art Bar checks out more and more clubs in Boston on its now quest to find the new default club. Because, while Avalon was always still a little bit cheesy and overpriced, at least it was fun and you knew what you were getting into. So now, instead of going to Avalon where the VIP section is nonexistent, the once pristine leather couches need patched, and the lighting system was once so cool, check out her sister clubs Embassy, Axis and the Modern. At these three clubs you know what you are getting when you go to them; they are literally what they purport to be on their websites. At Avalon you would expect the most interesting and worldly crowd ever assembled if you read www.avalon.com. Instead, you are greeted with a mish mosh of barely legal suburbanites, confused college sophomores and those hangers on who wont let Avalon go (myself sometimes included).

PS – If you do decide to go to Avalon, make sure you know it’s a DJ you like and that it is 21 plus.