Head in the Clouds

I attended the opening of the new “Cloudland” venue in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane last Thursday night.

Wow - what an amazing place.

I can’t remember ever walking out of any venue being so impressed. Then again, it is unlike any venue I have ever been in (anywhere). The superlatives being brandied about in the early reports rolling out, are appropriate. This is a venue that is well and truly worthy of its history heavy name – and would seem to do justice to the gorgeous art deco ballroom that carried it, for many years.

I was there in a professional capacity, for the early part of the night, with a colleague of mine (and his camera) to film footage for a documentary film project. The party itself was exciting and interesting. An eclectic pastiche resplendent with plenty of posturing and posing – as you would expect at such a function – with plenty of well known faces flown in from around the country; which all made for good film. I did a lot of crowd watching – the demographic was varied and intriguing and there were plenty of characters in the room. But invariably the lens (both the camera’s and my own) turned to the walls, the floors, the lights, the plants, the water features, the bars…

When I finished filming, I hung out for a while. I had some great conversations with a variety of different people. All manner of seating areas appear to open out of walls, nooks and shadows and materialise everywhere you look – spaces that maintain the kind of privacy and intimacy that lends itself to good conversation. This really impressed me; if only because it is sorely missing in so many other venues in Brisbane.

I found myself walking about inspecting the extraordinary detail of the décor as I would pieces of visual art in a gallery. The designer, Brunner, has done an incredible job. Unlike some other venues, for mine, Cloudland swerves away from being garish and tacky. It is just so very interesting.

Highlights, of course, include the retractable roof – it’s a “cool” space with plenty of ventilation and air – the planting, gives the whole place a real organic “life” and different feel and is an expression of great detail and magnitude in itself; the shape of the verandahs, and the cascading water against the glass frontispiece… but these are just the obvious things… each part of the place has a different character. I liked some areas more than others. But it is the detail that amazes.

Some of the design is astonishing and catches you by surprise. Some of the features jog reference points in your imagination and memory. It’s like leaping into a chalk drawing from Mary Poppins or something strange like that; or having a scene from your childhood suddenly spring to life. To this end, you can immerse yourself in the surroundings, which is unusual for any niteclub space - but utterly refreshing. I had become so bored with most of the nitespots in Brisbane. Cloudland changes things.

We have a number of good café/bars and restaurants scattered across town, but I’d curbed going out to “clubs” in Bris because too many had become dispensation centres for alcohol and little else. Sterile boxes with no atmosphere that were just inebriation centres. This place is much more.

The music was at a good level for what the venue aspires to. It’s not a purpose designed live music space, but does cabaret style vocalisations against backing DJ music very effectively, as was demonstrated amply on the night. I can see this being a distinguishing feature of the entertainment. But I can see so many options and potentialities for the room. It blows my mind slightly.

Cloudland truly is the jewel in the crown of the fortitude valley entertainment precinct. It is an internationally significant venue that suddenly lifts the whole precinct to a new level as an entertainment district…

Some of us Brisbanites get blasé and dismissive (even turned off) about “The Valley”, after having lived here for a while. In truth, it is a pretty amazing cultural hub. There are all kinds of interesting inspirations and relics littered through it – something of everything – a true melting pot. The mall still harbours the post modern remnants that stretch back to the area’s seedier, grittier era. And the energy and subsequent humanity this clash of influences draws is very unusual – I know many international visitors are quickly enthralled by this… But now the area has a truly beautiful space that is up there with the best of them, too…

Of course, it is a travesty that the original Cloudland ballroom is not still around. I have often thought how wonderful it would be if we did still have an inner city space like that - particularly for the purposes of concert and event promotion. We have an uncanny knack in this city of destroying the best examples of our architecture and culturally significant buildings – whether they be public facilities like the old Cloudland, most of the Regent Theatre, the Her Majesty’s etc. – or indeed, residential properties constructed in the mid twentieth century that were very progressive and defining.

But the new Cloudland is a wonderful step in the right direction – the Katarzyna Group should be commended for going to the (significant) effort and expense to design and build such a room. It does live up to the promise of being an “urban oasis” – it does have an otherworldly ambience about it and it deserves to be embraced.

As I walked out of the venue and into the cool night air, quite a bit later (earlier) than I had planned, my head was still in the clouds. I look forward to another visit soon.