Chocolate City @ Lux Frágil, Lisbon

 

Lux Frágil wins the award for the most annoyingly difficult website to navigate and use, ever.

However, it also wins the award for most interestingly decorated club I’ve been in for a long time. Portugal might be in economic meltdown, but this club is looking glamorous, shiny, and like a lot of fun – without having that annoying pretentious attitude you’d expect if it looked like this and was in, say, London…

It did help, of course, that the €12 entry fee got us tickets with 12 x €1 tokens attached. These promptly disappeared on the first couple of rounds of drinks, but still – they made it essentially free to get in. Bonus!

In the bar area it was the Chocolate City residency providing the tunes, playing a mix of Old and New School beats. Earlier in the day we had heard the sad news about Gill Scott-Heron, and they dutifully dropped The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and we respectfully raised our glasses. My partner in crime was a little disappointed they didn’t play The Bottle:

The basement was big, dark, and loud, but with Funktion One hanging from every corner it sounded so smooth. I love a club that doesn’t destroy your ears. This particular night… not so danceable down there. But plenty of big hitters pass though Lux Frágil, so you might get luckier, if you can manage to decipher who is actually playing from their terrible website.

What really strikes you about the club is the interesting stuff all over the walls:

Notice the enormous 1920’s-style film floodlight? The place is dripping with them, stamped 20th Century Fox. My guess is that John Malkovich (part owner of the place) picked them up cheap from some collapsing Hollywood studio and shipped them over.

The rooftop is rather nice too, especially given Lisbon’s balmy spring weather. In the full heat of a summer evening, this place must be absolutely fabulous for hanging out and chatting while the madness carries on beneath your feet.

So if you’re in Lisbon and enjoy the midnight to dawn shift, you should definitely head down to Lux Frágil. Treat yourself. Have some fun before you sleep!