And so, the rollercoaster of a summer that’s shaken up the Shanghai nightlife circuit continues. We’ve already had our ups with
Celia and
Dada being brought back to life, as well as our downs with the closing of long-running French club
Le Baron. Unfortunately, this time nightlife news is bringing another casualty and it’s again on Donghu Lu.
The bar and club from the party people behind Alter.,
X Bar has announced on WeChat that it will no longer be conducting dance business from mid-September as the landlord is taking back the space. Since assuming the reigns of the former Parrot space last October, it quite quickly became a go-to spot for cocktails, art, dancing… lots of dancing and now even
late-night pasta consumption.
Although around for less than year, X Bar’s stay in Shanghai has felt a whole lot longer due to the community co-founders Enzo Grasso and Yu Yang have built up over the years through their roving party series Alter.. Since opening X Bar, they continued supporting local talent and throwing a wide variety of parties – which is what they’ll continue to do now. In terms what's next, Yu Yang says, ‘We’re not entirely sure yet until opportunities present themselves, but we’re going to be focusing on Alter. for a while and we’ll also be doing out of Shanghai multi-day boutique festivals.’
And, in case you were wondering what the future holds for experimental pasta pop-up Yaya’s
that’s been posted up in the bar over the past few weeks, nothing’s changed there: ‘We’re still planning on opening our restaurant later this year and will continue to do more pop ups and events in the meantime,’ says co-founder Andrew Moo. If the past year has been anything to go by, don’t expect the goodbyes to be quiet.
Farewell parties will make up the final fortnight with favourite promoters and all DJs who've previously played at X Bar invited behind the decks, before one last signature groove session on Wednesday 15 September.
