Australia’s club culture is still alive, if you know where to find it

How pop-up nights like BWS’ Cool Room Series are keeping us dancing.

In my early twenties, weekends had a familiar rhythm. Someone would drop their address in the group chat, another would promise to bring a speaker, and the rest of us would show up with whatever bottle of spirit was on sale at the local liquor store.

We’d crowd around the bathroom mirror, layering on glittery eyeshadow and curling our hair because the chances of running into your crush at the club were almost guaranteed in those days.

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The plan was always the same: music, friends and a dark room full of people that somehow felt like home. Even before we reached our destination, the streets buzzed with anticipation. Strangers laughed and swapped Instagram handles in the line, while the bass from inside vibrated beneath the concrete.

Inside, the floors were sticky and the air was so thick from smoke and body heat that your silk cami stuck to your skin like cling wrap. You had to shout to be heard but you didn’t really care what anyone was saying, because in that dark room of strobes and sound, the world outside dissolved. For a few hazy hours, the night felt infinite.

Today, the rhythm of Australian nightlife feels different. Over the past decade, more than a quarter of the country’s nightclubs have shut their doors, shrinking from 482 venues to just 308. Clubs that once pulsed on every corner have fallen quiet, and the dancefloors that do remain feel looser around the edges.

There are myriad causes to blame but the lingering effects of Covid and the ever-rising cost of living remain the most prominent. In fact, Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) found that 68 per cent of young people (aged 18 to 30) reported being priced out of partying in 2025. But that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped craving a night out.

Today’s club scene is adapting with the times. With fewer places to go and a growing appetite for experiences that feel meaningful rather than messy, the energy that once filled big clubs has found its way into underground venues and one-night takeovers.

The parties that thrive now are the ones that feel personal; intimate spaces with big energy, curated lineups and crowds that care as much about connection as they do about the drop. You can feel that shift in nights like the BWS Cool Room, a free party series that’s popping up in Australian cities this summer. The latest instalment landed in Sydney last week, headlined by UK garage legend DJ EZ and backed by Lady Shaka, Halfqueen and a lineup of local selectors including C.Frim, who co-runs Dutty Worldwide, and Bouki from the Dayshift crew.

 

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The event turned a secret location in a central city carpark into something entirely unexpected. Guests walked through a portal-like entrance, down a concealed hallway and through an inconspicuous warehouse door, where they were greeted with a Johnnie Walker Black Ruby. Only once inside did the location reveal itself – the iconic City Recital Hall.

From there, the space opened up into a network of dancefloors, each blurring genres and generations: one fast and heavy, another soft and hypnotic. People floated between them, bumping shoulders on their way, stopping to talk, then disappearing again. There wasn’t a main stage or a moment everyone was waiting for. It was the kind of night that just kept moving, room to room, set to set, until it was impossible to tell what time it was. For a night, it felt like the club,  in its truest, oldest sense, was alive again.

Maybe that’s what the next wave of club culture looks like. Rather than trying to replicate what we had, it’s about finding new corners of the city that bring that same rush again. The names change, the venues move, but the feeling stays the same. A place to disappear and dance for a while, minus the pressure to down drinks until sunrise. And if BWS Cool Room is anything to go by, the energy is still there, you just have to know where to find it.

BWS Cool Room’s next instalment will be at another secret location in Sydney early in the summer. To stay in the loop, follow @bws_au.