CLUB WATCH
Pure makes its move into popular Chippewa dance spot
Published: May 01, 2009, 7:41 am
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Red Room. Calumet. Zoo Bar. McMonkeez. Shaker Lounge. Club Vodka. Chippewa Street has a high turnover rate, with each new bar swiftly replacing the last.
Now, Club Level is gone, but Pure is here to take its place as the city’s self-proclaimed hottest night club.
Pure, like Level, isn’t for everyone. But sometimes you want to dance and you don’t mind fighting the lines, crowds and cheese factor to do it.
Last Saturday, primed for the night with a coffee and a Red Bull and vodka, I grumbled with my group as we waited in a line of about 15 people before we could get into Pure.
We soon moved through the line, showed our IDs and paid our entry fee. It was $3 cover for women and $6 for men— and don’t get me started on gender discrimination at bars.
For a club, it’s all about the impression it makes when you first walk in the door, and Pure meets that standard. It was packed, at the bar, on the main dance floor and on the second floor that rings the first floor.
The music was ear-splittingly loud, lights pulsated on and off, a fog machine worked overtime and women danced suggestively in open cages.
It didn’t take too long to get served at the bar. Five well drinks and one Blue Light for my group, plus tip, came to $34.
The dance floor could have been bigger, since there was a lot of unintentional bumping and grinding with random people nearby. At some point, one woman asked me to give her a little space. At least, I think that’s she said, because it was hard to hear anything.
One female friend griped that she was bumped and groped by some obnoxious guys, echoing a complaint from another friend.
Some adventurous women got up on the raised dance floor to shimmy to the “Cupid Shuffle,” “Sexy Back” and that Fatman Scoop classic, “Be Faithful,” among other tunes. Twice, Pure dancers and a nerdy rapper got up on the raised dance floor, giving entertaining performances that killed the vibe on the dance floor.
The music and energy of the place did get us moving and grooving, but by 2 a. m. most of my group had had enough.
I left with one friend, but we stopped in the front bar area, a mellower and brighter section of Pure that boasts private rooms that can be curtained off and reserved in advance.
As we left, the entrance was clogged with young’uns chatting and texting and waiting to enter the world on the other side of the rope line.
Pure
75 W. Chippewa St., Buffalo 240-7879 www.purebuffalo.net
Scene: Club Level, Part Deux.
Music: Old school hip-hop to current dance hits, all loud.
Drinks: Beer in bottles, mixed drinks in plastic cups.
DressCode: Jeans and untucked dress shirts for guys, anything tight and skimpy for gals.
swatson@buffnews.com
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