Was wandering through Sanlitun Friday night and saw Big Live where Smugglers (I think that's what it was) used to be.
Big Live is kinda like Vics meets Tun (circa 2008). On one hand you have relatively cheap drinks (20 kuai beers, 35 kuai large mixed drinks). On the other hand you have Chivas and Green Tea.
The crowd also straddles these two categories. On the night I went, there were tables and booths (all requiring table fee/minimum charge) full of Chinese nouveau riche with fruit plates, drinking the aforementioned Chivas (or XO or Grey Goose or whatever) by the bottle and playing dice. Around the bar and on the dance floor were plenty of expats, sucking down beer and dancing and having a great time.
Likewise the music. It ran the gamut from the requisite Flo.rida and LMFAO you'd expect at Vic's/Mix to old Chumbawamba and Cypress Hill (which were Tun standards). Heck, they even threw in some Gangnam Style, which got the crowd going and got a couple of Korean dudes next to me pretty hyped.
Somehow, despite trying to serve two very different crowds, it kinda worked. I had a great time and it seemed like everyone else was, too. I'm not sure if they can keep up with successfully attracting and serving such varied clientele... time shall tell, but it was a good time.
One note of warning - I was drinking jack n' cokes all night and felt fine the next day, but the girls I went with both had 2 margaritas (and that's it) and felt really lousy the next day. Both are usually fine with a lot more than 2 drinks, and didn't seem or feel drunk that night... so that would be a red flag for me that the tequila was maybe fake (or the ice is dodgy)...
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