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“The Sugar Club just bursts with activity. I don’
t think there’s any other venue I know of where in the space of a week you could go to a live podcast, a club night, a film screening and a brass band in concert. We’ve had the pleasure of launching three of our concert projects there over the past two years and we’ve always had an uproarious reception there. It’s an important and valued venue on the Dublin scene and long may it continue to host great events.” Glasshouse Ensemble After decades of cowboy club operators and barely legal debauchery, Leeson Street’s reputation was dreadful in the ‘90s. While we were in the build, I’d be ringing up booze reps to try and do some trade with them. Once I’d say I was calling from Leeson Street, most of them would either just hang up or never got back to me. The few who did actually come and see the space would look at me perplexed when I said that we wanted to serve these bizarre concoctions known as cocktails in what was effectively a forgotten cinema that had been collecting dust for 13 years. Then when we finally secured the all-important theatre licence in order to serve alcohol, finding high quality acts was difficult. Back then, the club was much smaller and the only way to make it commercially viable was to promote all the entertainment ourselves. This was my background so I knew lots of musicians, some of whom had bands already and others I had to create bands for them so that we could roll out the types of sounds conducive to a cocktail atmosphere. My first calendar was starting to come together, but I needed something unique to finish it off. By pure fluke, I had been strolling down Grafton Street and could hear classical guitarists beautifully belting out Metallica. I approached them and introduced myself to a lovely Mexican couple named Rodrigo and Gabriela. While I had no Spanish and they didn’t have much English, we somehow managed to strike a deal and they opened every Friday and Saturday night for a couple of years for us, becoming hugely popular. Everybody adored them. We happily sponsored their first album and secured their work visas. Seeing them now as global stars is a joy. Looking back, I love that I made so many great friends there whom I still see regularly. Some of my favourite moments include the CD that the resident DJ Aidan Kavanagh mixed for us as a Christmas gift for our regulars in 2000 and the week in 2011 when in the space of three days we hosted a massive sweaty rave with Lil Louis, followed by a private opera and then a live Today FM presidential debate with all the candidates. I’m still a big Michael D fan. Oisin Davis Great Irish Beverages & General Manager of the Sugar Club (1999-2012) I have worked on and attended hundreds of shows in The Sugar Club, it is a great venue that constantly boxes above its weight in relation to talent procurement, too many names to mention here, but heavyweights like James Murphy, Lee Fields, Sharon Jones and Snarky Puppy stick out in my mind. The production is world class, lovely Function 1 sound system, not to mention the uber cool selection of cocktails which are totally fab and the team behind it are all big music fans. Since the refurb it is really enjoying a golden period and long may it continue. Johnny Moy Over the course of our adventures across the many and varied venues in Dublin town, The Sugar Club has increasingly stood out for the flexibility and warmth of the atmosphere in there. All that wood, and jazzy tiered seating makes for a comfortable, and for once, an artist focused alignment, which puts the show front and centre. Some people don’t like the mix of seating and dancing set up – but I actually love it – I like that people can arrive early, sit and chat with friends, and still roll on down those steps and get loose on the dance floor (or on the tables, as has been witnessed!) as the night progresses. It has a little touch of class too, and it’s an actual venue, not a bar with a stage shoehorned into it. That besides, and most importantly, The Sugar Club is run, not just by numbers, but by that rarest of unicorn in the Dublin venue scene – an actual music lover. Mark and the ChoiceCuts gang have stuck to their guns throughout the years, and their commitment to a broad palette of amazing music, while operating as an independent, is nothing short of inspirational. This love for the game seeps into the experience as a promoter, and as a musician, again, the experience is artist and music led, and that makes for a comfortable connection between the audience and the act, and I would hope that it’s a point of kindred contact between the ChoiceCuts and Homebeat vibe. Homebeat highlights would definitely be James Holden (2018) Christian Loffler (2019) but my own personal highlight was a very magic evening with Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke (2018) – a moment of pure magic, and a typical ChoiceCuts flavour. Emmet Condon Homebeat 33