- what / Venue
- likes / Trance, Techno, Reggae, House, Hip Hop, Dub, Drum and Bass
Queenstown's Surreal opened in October 1997, with the owner really having no idea how it was all going to evolve.
Inspired by London and European dining and dance bar experiences the concept was to have a thriving restaurant and then late night bar scene.
It took a while to get the formula right. The dance scene was just touching the fringes in Queenstown, with only one DJ with turntables, and a couple of backpackers coming through with a few records. This rapidly changed as the dance scene exploded into major cities, and it was only a matter of time before it hit Queenstown, with Surreal pretty much being the first place to do it and do it right.
The scene was helped along massively when Chelsea and Roger Perry played in impromptu set one Monday night and the place was rocking. Through their contacts and word of mouth, suddenly we were inundated with DJ bookings, by those that wanted their music out there, and also wanted to experience the appreciative and hospitable audiences that Queenstown had to offer.
And so the scene was set, totally mixed clientele for dining, and then at 10pm chairs and couches getting shoved out into the back alley, the speakers getting louder, the unintelligent lighting starts (3 mirror balls), and the DJ kicks in.
Nationally, there's not too many that haven't graced the decks. Within the house scene we've had the pleasure of Greg Churchill, Roger Perry, Nice n Urlich, House of Downtown, Soane just to be a big name dropper. Progressively OB1 is a regular visitor, as is Dannyboy and the crew from Christchurch's Heaven.
From the Dub n Reggae crew, Downtown Brown, Manuel Bundy, Roots Foundation, Zuvuya, Salmonella Dub, and The Black Seeds. For the Drum 'n Bass crew we regularly host Nomad, Confucius, Mysterious D and OG.
Internationally, The Mad Professor, Lucien Forte, Inland Knights, Dick Johnson, Ben Davis have all helped massively in lowering their fees and keeping it real.
Nearly 5 years on, and Queenstown has got plenty of amazing DJ talent covering all genres of music.
Surreal refuses to niche itself into any dance market sector, but prefers to host nights that cover it all (except mainstream of course).
