Retro Nightclub Superfly Disco Has Brought Its Light-Up Dance Floor to Alhambra Lounge's Old Digs
Bust out your best 70s-style threads for a night of disco tunes, 'Theme From Shaft' cocktails and throwback fun.
Next time you head out for a big night in Fortitude Valley, it might come with a sense of history in more ways than one. Hopefully, you'll be having the kind of wild fun that cements unforgettable memories in your brain. But if you make a date with new nightclub Superfly Disco, you'll also be dancing and drinking in a new throwback spot that adores the tunes, attitude and decor of five decades back — and happens to be nestled into the site of an old Brisbane favourite.
That gone-but-not-forgotten spot: Alhambra Lounge on McLachlan Street, which has been closed for eight years. Now, its former McLachlan Street space has gone retro with vinyl, boomboxes and old-school vibes, plus a light-up dance floor that'll have you living out your Saturday Night Fever dreams (or curious to watch the John Travolta-starring 70s hit if you've never seen it).
Forget DeLoreans; making an evening of it at Superfly Disco will send you back in time, although disco classics will pump through the speakers alongside recent party hits. The rest of the fitout suits the mood, complete with walls of records, neon lights, disco balls aplenty — including in the bathrooms — and murals featuring famous music faces from the bar's celebrated era.
Whatever the venue's disc jockeys happen to be spinning at any given time, they'll be doing so from a DJ car, another piece of Superfly Disco's retro aesthetic and vibe. The space has been completely gutted from its Alhambra days, and given an entirely new look — including raising the floor by an inch and a half to accommodate those lights underneath.
Yes, when you're not hanging out in private booths, you should be dancing here — and feeling the city breakin' and everybody shakin', and obviously thinking about other Bee Gees disco tracks. Unsurprisingly, the team behind Superfly Disco see a big future in functions and parties; it isn't by accident that the venue's opening, on Friday, October 7 after first being announced a few months back, is timed just before festive season.
That crew? The Drunken Monkey Group team, adding another venue to its portfolio alongside Brooklyn Standard, Fat Angel Sports Bar and Suzie Wong's Good Time Bar. Suzie Wong's venue manager Michael Pattison has become the general manager role across the group's Valley sites, while Kyle Weir, who owns fellow nightclub Queens, oversees DJ bookings.
Drinks-wise, cocktails are the tipples of choice, all with themed names. Try the Hollywood Divorce with whisky, chocolate, orange and bitters; the Lula's Disco Daiquiri with white rum, orange, pineapple, guava, lime and falernium; and the Theme From Shaft with 12-year-old Chivas, cherry heering, dark cacao, honey and egg white. Or, there's also a sizeable range of champagne, sparkling, and red and white wines.
Entry will cost you a $10 cover charge on the door — and wearing flares and platform shoes is totally optional, but it'd fit the atmosphere.
Find Superfly Disco at 12 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley — open from 8pm–3am Friday–Sunday.
