Bedlam

I’ve stopped by this place many times and always ended up leaving. This past Saturday night visit reminded me why I never stay here long. The DJ was god awful. He played tired songs from early 2000s mixed awfully that the crowd constantly had to stop, adjust, listen and dance to completely a song with a completely different BPM Han the previous song. I’m tired of hearing Shakira and Ja Rule. No, Enrique Iglesias followed by X-​Tina won’t make me want to dance. There was no drink menu so everyone resorted to well drinks: gin and tonics, whiskey and cokes. The dance floor was pack, which would have been a positive trait had the DJ actually took some liberty in making an attempt at mixing songs together for the pleasure of dancing. Instead, the dance floor was just another place for people to check their dating apps and get in some last minute shopping.
This place is a bore and doesn’t offer anything special.

Lived around the corner from this place for 7 months before realizing it existed. From that point I have been coming here between the pregame and the club as a middle ground to dance and have a couple more drinks that are strong and cheap. The music is on point and is a mix of danceable hip hop and 90’s hits remixes. The place is great on a Friday or Saturday night (pretty dead on Thursdays) and always a fun spot to bust some moves on the dance floor. Definitely not a goal destination but a perfect spot on the voyage to it.

I had my wallet stolen here. I would be very careful at this bar. It looks like several others (posted below) also had their belongings stolen here too.

I would’ve NEVER mistaken this bar for a gay hipster joint! I came during Psychobilly Luau and the third night of the event was held here at Bedlam. The atmosphere was really chill, and the drinks were nice and strong! The bartender was a friend of someone we attended with, so after hours she kept the place open for us out of towners! It was a really sweet gesture considering I was on Cali time and wasn’t ready to go to sleep! I would most definitely come back and have a few cocktails here if I’m ever back in town.

Isn’t this anderson cooper’s boyfriends bar?

This bar runs about 60−70% gay and that’s why it’s fantastic. Come here with your gays, your straight girl/​guy friends, and anyone in between. I usually come here once per quarter and I think this frequency is just right for a bar like Bedlam seeing as it sometimes borders on being a tad out of control.
Pros: Fantastic music (DJ is usually on point) and drinks are strong and not super expensive! Also, huge-​ass moose head mounted on the wall is… interesting.
Con: It’s deep in Alphabet city (Ave C) and it can sometimes turn into a bit of a hot mess on the dance floor (I’ve definitely contributed to this notion). $ 20 – 25 credit card minimum.

You come to this bar if:
— You’re a lady with your gay best friend
— You are the gay best friend
— You are the gay best friend out with «bros»
— You are the straight guy out with the gay best friend’s lady
— You like good music
— 20 something
— You heard it was a new bar on LES
— Your friends from out of town said «TAKE US SOMEWHERE WE CAN DANCEEEE»
— You don’t wanna wait in line
— You don’t wanna pay a cover
Try it. It’s fun.

I was disturbed. There was a seriously messed up girl here who was getting naked on the dance floor with multiple dudes touching her in appropriately. I tried to help her by telling someone who worked there and they told me she is a regular and that this is her normal behavior and there is nothing they can do. She was not in her right mind and I was scared for her life.
Sketchy place.

Fairly nah.

Decent priced drinks. Super cute vibe. And was really into the strange way it transitions from basically a lodge with moose heads to a dance floor. And the fact that it’s a little bit of a gay bar makes it way more enjoyable for me!

DO NOT GO HERE!!! Seriously like the reviewer Eileen below me, 5 of my friends and I got our phones stolen. Mine was in my tiny purse which was zipped up and in front of me and next thing I knew I found my purse was open. Not worth $ 800 and the headache of replacing a new phone

Another reviewer this dive seemed sketchy. Well, I’ve been here twice in the past few months for birthday parties — and both times my phone was stolen. AVOID this haven for criminals.
There are lots of other places to dance.

FUN bar with dancing, no cover and no attitude… It’s perfect! Only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Cheap drinks, great décor and good DJs playing mostly pop with some retro tracks added in.
Gay friendly scene with a relaxed mix of people. It’s a late night crowd and has been jumping big around 1−2am. Love this place.

This place is always a blast because they play great music.
But it also always smells like butt. STOP FARTING ON THE DANCEFLOOR.
Thanks.

Came here for a friend’s birthday, and immediately found this place quirky. Perhaps it was the giant moose head (fake) mounted on the wall. But I knew I’d like it.
Nice mix of gay couples, straight couples, and groups of friends dancing in circles. Given that this place is not-​so-​secretly gay friendly, the music was pretty good! By 1am, the open space near the bar was filled with people dancing to pop hits old and new.
My friends and I were planning on bar hopping, but this place was do good that we ended up sticking around, and loving it!

We came Wednesday night 9−10−14 and gates were down. I think they’re permanently closed.

Love this place! It’s a super fun gay dance bar. No cover, you don’t have to check your coat, and the vodka sodas are $ 8 — not too terrible. The music is awesome and just what you would expect it to be: Katy Perry, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, more top 40, sprinkled in with some memorable 90s tunes from Janet Jackson, Spice Girls, etc. Everyone is there to dance and have a good time. It is a later night bar, and when I left around 3 am it was totally packed, and relatively empty when I got there at around 12:15.
Oh, and there is a $ 20 minimum on credit cards, which is kind of annoying because it’s over 2 drinks.

Lesson to anyone planning a birthday party: visit the venue first. Two of my straight guy friends had a party here last night and it took us three hours to realize that it was a gay bar. Seriously.
That’s not to say we didn’t have a good time. Music was fun (although you’d think we would have noticed they were all 90s gay anthems), lots of dance space, cool vintage scenery, and drinks were cheap and very, very strong.
It didn’t pick up in here until after 1am. By 2, it was a madhouse and it got a little trashy. There were quite a few straight guys in here and they were obnoxious and gropey. I guess they thought they could pass as gay and grab my friends’ asses. Not on my watch.
Other than that, it was fun though!

Bedlam is located far away from East Village’s mecca of night life and good food. It seems a bit sketchy, in my opinion, but I might be completely wrong.
Bedlam gives off a divey feel but there is a back-​section with lots of strobe lights, compatible for a long night of dancing. There are plenty of booths/​seating if need be, without being forced to order bottle service. Drinks are not cheap though. And they play Billboard 100 songs. I think I heard Britney Spears’ I Wanna Go 4x during the course of the night.
The crowd is diverse. Plenty of gay men, the occasional group of Asians, and East Villagers that live in the area.

Not that I’m a connoisseur, but this seemed like a pretty decent gay dance club. Came here on a late-​night invitation from a regular. There were some good looking ladies and it was easy striking up a convo (albeit difficult to maintain one due to the pulsing club music).
This is definitely one of those places girls come to let loose and get down on the dance floor without necessarily getting grinded by bros on the hunt. If you’re a gay dude, you’ll probably have tons of fun here.