Devout Review 2 - Opening Night
Friday October 19th - 2001

"Go west young man"..... so Pepsi_Boy took on where Oliver Cromwell left off, and headed down to Salthill thru the pours of rain to the opening night of Devout. The night kicked off bang on time! How did I know? I was woken up by Dj Hugh Scully (Pod) spinning discs in the nightclub right below my bedroom!

'Devout' is located at Bogarts of Salthill which is
bang opposite Seapoint at the beginning of the prom. It is part of the Breezers hotel complex (more later) The venue has been running club nights for about three years and this is the first time they have dipped their toe into the whirlpool of gay club culture. The building was designed specifically as a night club and boy is it well planned.. none of your basement conversion jobs. 

Everything seemed just right about the venue. The box office was half way down a long entry hall, so no getting soaked while queuing. On entry up the short flight of steps was the lower bar to the left with a large space and central drinks pod in the middle, while off to the right was a cool section called 'Secrets' which held the majority of people when I arrived. Loads of stools and bar seating in this area. I draw attention to this, because there
is a distinct lack of bar stools in the rest of the
place except up in the elevated bar at the end, and
these are bolted to the floor - so no nicking stools!!
A large video wall graced the lower bar area with two further screens located on the top bar.

On tier two is the main dance floor and Dj box. Size
wise, think three times the George. The third floor
overlooks the dance floor and has its own bar. There is a raised walk way back to level three on each side of the floor. 

The lighting system is great lighting system,
definitely beats anything I’ve seen in Dublin. Some
more UV lights would have added to the atmosphere. The sound system also was music to my ears. Suiting both the dancers and the chatters who want to have a bit of a natter.

Drink prices were of course cheaper than Dublin. Club entry price was £7 quid, which also entitles you to a bottle of Tiger Beer. I say a voucher in inverted commas as we got a coloured marble. Took me five minutes to dig it from the bottom of a Levi pocket, so use it as soon as u get it. I didn't avail of the said beer, but Panti gave it her seal of approval anyway as I saw her swigging some ;-)

Not much happened before the twelve bells of midnight, it was the late half of the night when the crowds arrived in their and quickly packed the 400 clubber venue. At its height it was comfortably packed and the dance floor never saw a slack moment. 

The two podiums at the dance area housed ‘Flesh’ a male and female dancer, who certainly lived up to their name with the Flesh side of things. It would be great to see that replicated else where. Natch enough, I positioned myself in front of male Flesh, dancing away in his boxer briefs. There were three costume changes throughout the night. Mind you what was in the lunchbox was nothing to write home about.. but that's just being bitchy :-)

Panti performed two numbers and cut the opening ribbon at about 1am. She later held court in the upper bar for her fans, of which to say I am one. The night ran on till about 2.40. Average age group I would say was about 24. There was a good mix in the crowd including a scattering of Str8 couples.

Devouts website gave a list of accommodation in the local area. I tried frantically to book a place on Friday afternoon (ok I know it was late) but to no avail. There wasn’t a double room to be had in any of the hotels except for the Corrib Gt Southern at £120 a night! I had presumed Breezers Hotel in which Bogart’s complex is located would be booked up, but was surprised when I rang, they had a room and so that’s where I stayed. It was a very comfortable, clean modern wing of bedrooms. £20 in all. Cost me £25 for the night and the ability to walk down the stairs and str8 (sic) into the Disco. I
would urge anyone to stay there in terms of hassle
free etc. One is going to pay £20 for a B+B anyway so why not stay very local ! I will leave it up to your
imagination to decide if the other half of my double
bed was occupied or not.!!

Check out Devout , some good Dj's lined up for the
coming weeks.

Opening Night - Press Release - Click Here
Pre Launch Information - Click Here
User Review 1 - Click Here

Reviewed Sent in by Pepsi_Boy October 2001
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