MAX MOOSE Nightclub Review: (Closed) East 93, SATURDAYS (Melbourne)

MAX MOOSE Melbourne Review:

Saturdays

93 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

www.east93.com.au
A MAX MOOSE Website

It was the best! close to home, good music, mad atmosphere (hot guys)but then
it shut down, i was shattered!
Zia Cole (ExiE), Coldstream, Tue Apr 15 10:05:34 2003
East 93 has closed due to excessive rental costs. Some elements of their
Saturday night are going to Club Dakota (Ex Denim Lounge), including Pean.
Ben Clissold, MaxMoose, Wed Jan 15 04:14:18 2003
East had a great night for their beach party (and Max's 4th birthday part 1),
and took the prize for the longest queue for the night (@ 1.30am). Everyone was
in a great mood, from those in the spa, to Inferno, to Pean, to the DJs, to
everyone else. Just a great night out. Its been good lately.
Ben Clissold, MaxMoose, Mon Dec 9 06:48:05 2002
Like everywhere else on Saturday, East was down on normal numbers, but it was a
brilliant night.
The crowd was sooo friendly and happy. Just about everyone whose photo we took
just wanted to have a chat, and they were great people. It was one of the most
sociable nights ever (heaps of picking up too). Hello to everyone who was there!
Daniel Collopy, Josh from Home & Away dropped by too for a celebrity visit. The
girls loved that!
Ben Clissold, MaxMoose, Mon Nov 25 06:09:36 2002
East 93 is off the chain yo. plenty of honeys.
carlie, Mon Aug 12 10:29:01 2002

May 11, 2002

Very few venues in Melbourne have the number of rooms, and variety of entertainment that you find at East 93 on a Saturday. Saturday is their show night, attracting large crowds and making the venue come to life. It is easily one of the largest venues in Australia, and probably the biggest Saturday night in Melbourne's suburbs.

It attracts people from all over the eastern, north-eastern, and south-eastern suburbs, but primarily from around the Ringwood area. They enforce a reasonably strict dress code for the evening (collars for the guys, dress denim borderline), giving the crowd a better edge than most suburban venues. It is a very Aussie crowd, and has a very wide variety of age groups. You find a few 18s, plenty of early and mid 20s, with a few late 20s, and a couple beyond. As such it is a very friendly crowd.

People start to wander in around 10pm. By 11 there is quite a crowd, and by midnight the place is fairly packed. It stays close to full until 4am, and still has enough people for a party at closing time (5am). As such, it is one of the biggest Saturday crowds anywhere in Melbourne, and probably the biggest anywhere in the suburbs. It is pretty reliable.

The venue has four rooms. You walk into the front bar. Straight ahead is a huge bar for all your drinking needs. Just to the right of the bar is the stage for accoustic duos and soloists (with jukebox between sets), and a collection of couches to watch from. Further to the right is the pool room, with a heap of pool tables, some seating, and a handful of video games. The back of the pool room has an entrance to the back bar. Going back to the left wall there are a stack of booths and tables. Behind the booths is the entrance to the main room.

The main room is primarily a huge dancefloor. If you walk in through the front bar, on the left you will find a small bar, with some couch styled seating around it. To the right is the entrance to the back bar. Over the back is a large bar. Both bars have quick service. The rest of this massive room is the dancefloor, surrounded by dry bars and seating. The dancefloor has raised podium edges, and a couple of podiums on it which are used by the East 93 dancers. The DJs play a fairly broad mix, but it is all dancy, and, more importantly, it is all good. They play everything from RnB to commercial dance to top 40 to your all time favourites. I like the music mix, and you can spend the whole night on the dancefloor without any worries. It is supported by a pretty fair light show too, which creates a pretty good atmosphere.

The back room is the band room. It is done in a rustic theme, and plays host to Pean on a Saturday night. If you come in from the main room, the stage is at the far end of the room, in front of the dancefloor. There are two easily accessible bars to the left, in an area that is raised to make watching the band easier. Pean play a bit of everything. They play the standard alternative songs, but mix in a bit of top 40, and retro, including their retro mega-mix. They get the crowd involved in lots of things through the night. Between their sets, a DJ plays a pub/retro set. The DJ satisfies a slightly older crowd than most.

In all, it is a very broad range of entertainment. A band, DJs, soloists, duos, dancers, and much much more. It is a lot of entertainment, but definitely justifies the $12 covercharge. Drink prices are fairly standard for a Saturday night.

East 93 hosts Melbourne's biggest suburban Saturday night. With a fantastic amount of entertainment, it is not hard to see why. The age of the area, dress code, and the covercharge also make for a very good crowd. They offer something for those who are looking for quality in a night out.

Ben Clissold

Photos