Bar Review: Boom

What: DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs have got themselves a venue in Shanghai
Why: You want to see a DJ with a name bigger than the venue you see him in
How Much: Bottled beers RMB 40; standard cocktails RMB 45
Where: 1131 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Donghu Lu. Tel: 3469 1131

Finding Boom can be a little difficult. This is perhaps the reason that the club’s short-lived predecessor, Tantra, even in spite of its name, came and went so quickly. It's located across the street from the Donghu Hotel, but set back from the road in a \villa complex that used to house the Belgian Consulate. It doesn’t exactly scream “deejays in the hizouse” but the folks at Boom are making a valiant effort. You’ll know you’ve found it when you see videos advertising future events projected large on the façade of its entrance.

Boom. You walk directly into a converted two-tiered patio, with whitewashed neoclassical ionic columns on the stairways which lead up to a warehouse-styled roof. .During big DJ nights, such as the club’s grand opening with Sven Vath on 18 February , the knob twisters fiddle with their gadgetry here. Boom. The lounge area off to the right is bathed in red light and you’ll see beaded curtains and plush couches. The bar here serves a special drink called the Boom Man (RMB 200), a massive jug of gin and juice lit up with glowsticks. No joke. DJ events also take place in the lounge and one can imagine on such nights the small space also doubles as the final test for those overcoming claustrophobia. Overall, the venue claims to be able to hold 800 people, but this would make for a very packed house indeed.

The manager, formerly of G+, is affiliated with DJ Mag, the folks responsible for one of the official top 100 DJ ratings, so for music expect a steady stream of hyped-up, Ibiza-weary, mostly European DJs to arrive at Boom in the months ahead. On a regular night, expect house (“no hiphop, no mashups”) from resident DJ Johnny Gao of the EDM DJ school, a local DJ collective whose mixes you might have heard spinning at Phebe and G+.