The Backroom

Remember at Stonehouse/​Prohibition/​Black Sheep Pub, how there’s the main pub, and then the second bar at the back with the dance floor and another bathroom? Black Sheep has recently gotten new management, and now that back room is… The Backroom.
Specializing in hip hop, old school, R&B, dance hall and reggae, me and my girl decided to check it out this past weekend for their grand opening. That is our favourite type of music to dance to, and the manager used to be with Fluid, which is our favourite place to dance. We arrived around 11:30pm — there was no lineup. We walked in and there were a handful of people, mostly talking amongst themselves, nobody on the dance floor yet. We had a few drinks to loosen up and headed to the dance floor around 12:30. We weren’t sure how the night would go, but boy did it heat up! First of all, the DJ was good. Really good. The resident DJ is DJ Creeazn, who is the Edmonton RedBull 3style Champion and the Edmonton Bacardi DJ Battle Champion. When we first got there he was playing some Jay-​Z and the like, old familiars to get people warmed up. Later on he was playing more reggae, dance hall and hip hop that you wouldn’t really hear in other clubs here. The floor was packed with some of the most interesting people I’ve ever seen in a club. Beautiful girls, interesting outfits, b-​boys, people you wouldn’t expect at a hip hop club… on and on. Around 2am an impromptu break dance circle/​battle/​whatever you call it broke out and It. Was. Awesome. Such a good time, everyone cheering and egging the dancers on.
Needless to say, Edmonton is severely lacking in wicked hip hop nights, and this is a very welcome addition. I’ll be happy to check it out again and again.
Drinks were standard club price — hi balls were $ 6.25. No specials on Saturday night. The bartenders were pretty nice and didn’t seem to take themselves seriously — they were having a good time. At the beginning of the night, when we were still sitting, one of the bouncer type guys was going around asking people what they thought of the new club and having conversations about it, which was nice to see because they clearly care about the vibe and if people like the club or not.
NOTE: Enter through the Black Sheep entrance and gp towards the back. There you will pay cover and go into The Backroom.