🇻🇳 Clubbing in Hanoi - Surusinghe at Unmute

Ever been to a club with a bouncy floor?

My post on Hanoi got a bit long, so I thought I’d dedicate a separate post to going out in Hanoi. I’m sure my fellow gremlins back home will also appreciate a dedicated review of Hanoi’s main clurrb.

The night

During my stay in Hanoi, Surusuninghe was playing at Unmute (RA link). She’s an Aussie DJ, mostly playing bass-heavy club tracks, and dabbling in techno and electro. I’ve listened to a few of her sets before, so this was a perfect opportunity to finally get to see her perform live.

Entry was cheap, costing between £5-9 depending on how early you bought the ticket. The full lineup with set times was as follows, with Surusiunghe being the only real “big” name.

The curious thing here is that Surusinghe was on pretty early on in the night, quite a change from the usual 2/3 AM headline slots you get in Europe.

Pres

I found that a group was going to the same night on Nomadtable, so we met up beforehand to drink a little and get to know each other. The group ended up pretty eclectic, mostly consisting of travellers, but also a few locals. Most people were just looking for a motive, though, and didn’t go out often. I ended up talking to quite a few cool people, so I was looking forward to going out with them. Fuelled by a few bia hois and banh mis, I was ready for the night.

Arriving at Unmute

The club is across a busy road, and you’d be unlikely to bump into it by accident. Even more so, as there’s nothing outside hinting at the fact that it exists - the entrance is through a garage door that the door guy keeps closed, with only a neon sign with the club’s logo outside confirming that you’re in the right place.

I got my ticket scanned and went upstairs to the club, where one of the residents was coincidentally playing Trudge’s remix of Ferdinger by St. Nimmerlein - a track I discovered through one of Baby Pantera’s sets recently and had on repeat for a while:

It’s only later that I realised that there was no security going on whatsoever.

The club

The club is relatively small with a capacity of 300 people. It never quite felt packed, though, as many people were present on the huge rooftop bar at any given time. It was also properly air-conditioned to the extent that it was difficult to break a sweat. I’ve never quite reminisced about how sweaty you can get at Corsica Studios or Fold in the summer, and it’s the first time I found myself missing that aspect. There’s probably a middle ground.

The sound system was clear and precise, with quite a lot of sound uniformity across the dancefloor. It didn’t get as loud as some clubs I’ve been to, but it was a comfortable level (albeit with earplugs). I couldn’t complain about it.

The most interesting feature of the club, though, was the floating floor. In essence, the floor has a mechanical system underneath it, such that it moves as people on it dance. In reality, it felt to me like a sort of rigid trampoline, and frequently took me out of whatever trance I could get myself into as I found the floor either falling underneath me or rising up towards me. Unmute’s website describes it like so:

Unmute’s Sping-Lift is structured with acoustic springs, rockwool, soft rubber and cement. Mechanically, the floating floor system create a mattress-like bouncing floor. The springs and soft rubber layer partly carry the weight of every dancer, while it also reduces the vibration transmission to the building itself and surrounding neighbours. The cement layer reinforces and distributes weight across the floor surface, making each dance step floor feel effortlessly rhythmic and energetic, yet very sturdy.

I’m unsure if the floor’s ulterior motive is to reduce the volume perceived by neighbours, but I found it detracted a little, especially when the dancefloor got busier.

As to the lights, no notes - nice and subdued, tastefully matching the music.

The night

The residents warmed up the dancefloor well, mostly sticking to techno, but also incorporating elements of bass and trance. The standard of the residents seemed to match the standard of the club - everything felt proper.

Interestingly, the crowd was mostly foreigners, with a minority of the club being locals. Having spoken to some locals later, club culture is nowhere near as established as in Europe, with most young people listening to vinahouse and American rap. I heard about this before on RA Exchange’s episode with Eastern Margins, but it was super interesting to see it first-hand.

As the night progressed, I also found that this sort of night may be out of reach for many locals due to the costs involved. Small cans of beer cost at least 120k dong (£3.46, about quadruple what they do in bars), and even small cans of water cost 50k dong (£1.44), which you’re going to end up buying quite a few of over the night. There’s no alternative to getting water in the club, and tap water is not safe to drink.

Locals seemed to opt for nitrous oxide balloons instead of drinking, which were available from the bar for around 60k (£1.73) dong I believe. In fact, there was a group of a few people seemingly doing balloons all night at the back of the club, and not dancing an awful lot. Other substance-wise, the crowd was pretty tame, mostly opting for drinking, with the occasional whiff of weed. It was a novel sight not seeing a single swinging jaw.

Surusinghe’s set was fantastic, with great selections and energy.

She also played an edit of EsDeeKid’ds4 Raws, which the crowd surprisingly went crazy for (there might have been a good few British people in the club).

After Surusinghe’s set, many people left, but I stayed on for a bit as the remaining crowd was dedicated. It started feeling a bit like being in London again, although without sweat dripping from the ceiling.

After the night, I got a Grab bike back, although a walk wouldn’t have felt too unsafe either. At 4 AM, many people have started preparing food and setting up market stalls outside, so it felt busy despite shops being closed.

It was a really fun night, and I was glad to finally experience some good music after a month and a half of travelling. I’d love many aspects of this venue to be present more in Europe.