Clubby club club: New dance space gets 'em moving

By Damani Harrison |
By Damani Harrison
Published online Thursday Nov 20th, 2003
and in print issue #0246 dated Thursday Nov 20th, 2003

Rapture 2 Opening
DJs Bob Mould and Richard Morel
November 14

Just in case you've had your head up somewhere dark for the last two weeks, Charlottesville just welcomed its second official full-fledged dance club, Rapture 2.

Although there was a preview party Halloween night and another random event, Friday was the official grand opening of the space adjacent to Rapture 1. When I arrived at 11pm to check out the scene, I didn't expect to run into a wall of bodies barely making enough room for new flesh to enter the market.

To get into R2 (as the club is affectionately called) you have to go through the main area of R1. By the looks of the mass of people in R1, I figured R2 was packed. But when I got to the entrance of R2, I was surprised to see a decent amount of elbowroom.

This came as no surprise after the second set of doormen asked me for a $10 entry fee. Whew! Being the cheap journalist that I am, this can be when things get tricky- and sometimes ugly.

I flashed my digital camera and dropped a few names of important folk and told the security guy with the ear piece that I was here to report on the event. Normally, I get a little attitude from bouncers who don't know me. The staff at Rapture was just plain... nice. They smiled, they didn't give me a hard time, and they didn't come across as elitist.

Here I am thinking to myself: Is this actually a club, like a real clubby club club?

I must have arrived early because I wasn't there for 45 minutes before another wave of people packed the venue wall to wall. There was nowhere to go but the dance floor. I'll tell you what, though, you wouldn't have caught me dancing to the cheesy slow house that DJ's Bob Mould and Richard Morel were spinning.

I love electronic music, and I can definitely vibe to Chicago and Detroit house, but I can't get down with soft beats and lame build-ups. Now I can't say which DJ was spinning while I was there, but if they could make people dance then I can't wait till R2 snags some really real real DJ's and completely rocks the house.

Snide remarks aside, the experience was great. The club's special effects were strangely mesmerizing, and the human scenery was quite refreshing.

R2
PHOTO BY DAMANI HARRISON