Shinjuku - Club Doctor Review

Club Doctor - Shinjuku
http://www.clubdoctor.co.jp/
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Contributor: Cori
November 10, 2010
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Tonight I made it back out to Club Doctor in Shinjuku. It's been awhile so I wanted to wait until I went back to give them a proper review.

The place is very centrally located which for me is a huge plus. I mean it's only a few minutes walk right down the street from Shinjuku Station, and you can't miss it.

I talked to the booking girl at the door Ami, and she was hella cool.  She informed me it was free drink night. Wow, never in my 5 years in Japan have I seen free drink night at any of the clubs.  It was great.

I got there a bit early and there was only a couple of people there, which was surprising since every time I've been, the place is always packed.  I waited a bit and it filled up slowly over the night. By the end of the night it was packed with a lot of people and becoming a very fun atmosphere.

The club itself has a great layout. Nice large area for the audience, great setup with a backstage area and everything. One thing is there's not a lot of space backstage, so there's a separate area the bands sometimes keeps there gear over near the restroom, but at least there is a big drape hiding it. Pretty clever use of space.

The sound at Club Doctor was really good. I was impressed. I heard from some of the bands that the equipment was not so great, but not bad either. I find that hard to believe because the sound was great. I guess that's the important thing.  I do thing they could use some more bass. Lower dB's seemed not so audible, but other than that it was great.

All of the staff at this place was very helpful and cool.  I was very glad to get to meet with Ami, I introduced her a bit a friend's band (ATP), and she seemed happy about that too. I hope they can play there more often.

The lighting for Club Doctor was not bad, but it wasn't that great either. I think they could do a lot with some great blacklights, more spot lights, etc. Give me Trippy!? Ya! Do it now! Actually that would have looked great from one of the 80's punky/new wave bands called Broken Dolls that played here. They were all wearing florescent great, it was great! :)

Actually, Club Doctor is becoming one of my favorite live houses.   If you can get the chance, by all means, head out to Shinjuku, take the west Exit at the street level, cross the street, turn right, walk about 5 block and you'll find Club Doctor in the basement on your left. Tell Ami that I sent you. Maybe she'll hook us up with free drinks again next time.