Freeman Dance Closed

[ChrisP]

Just a couple of weeks after its "Grand Re-Opening", the Freeman Dance / Cabaret venue in Soi 2/1 has suddenly closed. The notice on the door says Closed for Renovation"

They went thru a period of firings (or rather encouraging the staff to sign a pre-written resignation letter 3 weeks ago..) to reduce their overheads, in particular the main Thai Comic Lead "P-Day", who has now lead a very visible (on Thai TV) action to take the BBBGroup owners to Thai Labor Court.

It seems that the extensive and expensive renovations did not result in customers staying for more than just the Cabaret show - which was also tried tried twice a night, when the police would allow. Some nights there were more staff than customers.

My own feelings are that they should have closed and renamed it during the renovations.. to try and give it a new image. Otherwise you can't shake the Thai's perception of what it used to be...

This is a shame, because I feel it was a high-quality cabaret show during its hey-day. DJ station has one too, but it doesn't really come close for quality. The Freeman Cabaret show performers have scattered to several different other venues now.

Ahh, the end of an era.

I wonder what it will become next?

ChrisP

[Ijustwannateach]

That's too bad, Chris. It was certainly a better place for dancing than DJ station, and had a better quality crowd, IMHO. Unfortunately, aside from the show [excellent as you say], the place was poorly run. The waiters were careless and stumble-footed, and the music was simply terrible and very hard to dance to much of the time. Their attempt to be a gay "hip-hop" club was really very ill-advised.

Kudos to the star for standing up for her rights, but she may wish to be careful not to become unemployable as a result of being famous for labour suits.

[Scott123]

somehow I just don't like the four big posts that blocks the view of the stage.

[DUMPSTER]

I only ever went to Freeman once and that was about 3 years ago. I thought the show was awful. I just don't see the attraction of having people lip singing. I don't think that's entertainment. I would rather here them sing a western or even Thai song and do something original. The drag scene/ gay entertainment scene is far superior in England and i'm sure it's the same in the USA and Australia.

How can you compare somebody like Pam Ann to the rubbish served up here. It's one of the reasons why I never go to bars, there's just no entertainment.

IMO what they should do is find some talented guys or girls who can actually sing and perform and put on an original show instead of this fake rubbish that is obviously outdated and unpopular.

Why do they find it so hard to be original here?

And whats with the 300 baht charge, well that's what it was when I went, though thankfully I didnt have to pay. It's an outragous price for what they offer. It would have been better to have it free and maybe a door charge on Friday, Saturday and maybe Sunday especially as the entertainment value just wasn't there.

Edited July 27, 2006 by DUMPSTER

[atlastaname]

I have been to Freeman several times over the years and never really enjoyed it . The show was OK but not any better than at the much more fun DJ Station. I found that it was harder to meet people at Freeman as it was mainly Thais with a few foreigners. Unlike the much much more friendly DJS. You couldn't fail to get chatting to someone at DJ before the night was out. However Freeman did have the advantage of a darkroom .

I usually agree with DUMPSTER and love his no nonsense style . However i disagree with him on this one. To pay 100 baht in the week, and 200 or 300 on weekends and special days is astonishingly cheap and remember that includes one or two drinks as well !! How can anyone complain about the price? A local club here in the UK costs between £8 and £20 to get into depending on the day and time and includes nothing . Drinks are then an eye-watering £3 or so. I like his idea of getting Thais who can sing to perform live but it won't happen. They have a formula that works and they will stick with it no matter that it looks like something out of the 70's

[DUMPSTER]

I have been to Freeman several times over the years and never really enjoyed it . The show was OK but not any better than at the much more fun DJ Station. I found that it was harder to meet people at Freeman as it was mainly Thais with a few foreigners. Unlike the much much more friendly DJS. You couldn't fail to get chatting to someone at DJ before the night was out. However Freeman did have the advantage of a darkroom .

I usually agree with DUMPSTER and love his no nonsense style . However i disagree with him on this one. To pay 100 baht in the week, and 200 or 300 on weekends and special days is astonishingly cheap and remember that includes one or two drinks as well !! How can anyone complain about the price? A local club here in the UK costs between £8 and £20 to get into depending on the day and time and includes nothing . Drinks are then an eye-watering £3 or so. I like his idea of getting Thais who can sing to perform live but it won't happen. They have a formula that works and they will stick with it no matter that it looks like something out of the 70's

Well they obviously have a formula that doesn't work because they have closed down!

And what's wrong with being original. Someone needs to have the balls and try it. I'm sure it will work if they don't overcharge. I think 300 for tourists is nothing of course but for some Thais and of course me, who works here for Thai Baht, I would think twice about paying it especially for poor entertainment value that was on offer at Freeman. With the popularity of shows like academy fantasia, I can't see why they don't have some cute guys gay or straight singing and performing live. Even in my local pub in London they had a small door charge for Fri and Sat with entertainment. It was good value and always packed. I think that formula would work here if someone tried it.

Edited July 29, 2006 by DUMPSTER

[jdinasia]

for many years Freeman was a great place ... best show in BKK (humor in both Eng and Th) and a fun crowd. The 200 baht cover included 2 drinks (quite fair .... just an enforced 2 drink minimum)

went back not too long ago after the total Reno ..... Much nicer bar ... but the show was sad .... wish they could get both going at the same time!

Friends of mine have the place next door .. so I hope things get hopping at Freeman soon!

[atlastaname]

I have been to Freeman several times over the years and never really enjoyed it . The show was OK but not any better than at the much more fun DJ Station. I found that it was harder to meet people at Freeman as it was mainly Thais with a few foreigners. Unlike the much much more friendly DJS. You couldn't fail to get chatting to someone at DJ before the night was out. However Freeman did have the advantage of a darkroom .

I usually agree with DUMPSTER and love his no nonsense style . However i disagree with him on this one. To pay 100 baht in the week, and 200 or 300 on weekends and special days is astonishingly cheap and remember that includes one or two drinks as well !! How can anyone complain about the price? A local club here in the UK costs between £8 and £20 to get into depending on the day and time and includes nothing . Drinks are then an eye-watering £3 or so. I like his idea of getting Thais who can sing to perform live but it won't happen. They have a formula that works and they will stick with it no matter that it looks like something out of the 70's

Well they obviously have a formula that doesn't work because they have closed down!

And what's wrong with being original. Someone needs to have the balls and try it. I'm sure it will work if they don't overcharge. I think 300 for tourists is nothing of course but for some Thais and of course me, who works here for Thai Baht, I would think twice about paying it especially for poor entertainment value that was on offer at Freeman. With the popularity of shows like academy fantasia, I can't see why they don't have some cute guys gay or straight singing and performing live. Even in my local pub in London they had a small door charge for Fri and Sat with entertainment. It was good value and always packed. I think that formula would work here if someone tried it.

Dumpster,

what i meant was Thailand as a whole has this out of date formula not just Freeman . I was actually agreeing with your idea , just saying it won't happen because they keep sticking to this out of the 70's miming formula that now looks tired. I still think a night out in DJ for 200 baht including drinmks is almost obscenly cheap.

[DUMPSTER]

Well, yes Thailand seems obsessed with providing ladyboy lip singing extravaganzas for mainly the Asian market, I think. Places like Tiffanys have their market, sadly, but that doesn't mean that the gay community has to be tortured with the same rubbish. Somehow I don't think the change will be lead by Thais alone. It will take a westerner with some vision and cash to give it a try. I certainly hope someone does.

[Papa_Lazarou]

Whilst Freeman was after my beddy byes, is it fair to charactise it as ladyboy lipsynching?

The performers were female impersonators, 'drag artists' in the old vernacular, but that doesn't mean they were ladyboys offstage. Neither were they depicting ladyboys onstage.

Pushing my wisdom further, one shouldn't surmise they are necessarily homo. It isn't compulsory for female impersonators:-

To wit

Les Dawson

Dick Emery

Dustin Hoffman

Monty Python (except Graham Chapman who was)

[DUMPSTER]

Whilst Freeman was after my beddy byes, is it fair to charactise it as ladyboy lipsynching?

The performers were female impersonators, 'drag artists' in the old vernacular, but that doesn't mean they were ladyboys offstage. Neither were they depicting ladyboys onstage.

Pushing my wisdom further, one shouldn't surmise they are necessarily homo. It isn't compulsory for female impersonators:-

To wit

Les Dawson

Dick Emery

Dustin Hoffman

Monty Python (except Graham Chapman who was)

Well, yes I agree but whoever were performing they certainly weren't singing live and to me that is

not entertainment or showing any kind of skill. I went to Tiffany's or Simon's, can't remember which, 15 years ago and I didn't know it was a lip synching show. When I realised, I felt it was a sham and what a rip off. Talking of lip synching, Milli Vanilli come to mind, only their sham was on a bigger scale.

[Papa_Lazarou]

Madonna doesn't sing live when she's on stage - says she can't because of the dance routines.

[PeaceBlondie]

A female impersonator in Hua Hin, at a cabaret, told me in no uncertain nasty terms that she was gay and would love to "do" me. I understand about the roles played by actors in the West, Papa, but from what I can tell, the Thai lip-singers at the cabarets are as gay as anybody.

We went to a restaurant last night, and the singer was doing karaoke on stage. Very well, and with his own voice. We enjoyed it.

One of my Vietnamese boyfriends in Houston was a "songer" who sang with his own voice in Vietnamese nightclubs, dressed as a young man.

[Papa_Lazarou]

I recall in the eighties at the Hippodrome on monday nights there was a drag show with a couple of artists doing that routine...is it Lana Turner, Bette Davis? Oh you know the one. One's in a wheelchair. Its a classic.

Anyway, they did come across as being a tinge camp.

[freddb]

Hi all, my question is maybe little off-subject, but hopefully related enough

End of september i come over to BKK, taking up courses to get my Thai (traditional!!!) massage skills to the next level.. Besides that, i have also been into dj-ing all of my life.. So i wonder if there are places around in Bkk where i could apply to go play a dj set while i m around.. I ve been to Thailand 2 times before, but stayed over on the country side with my husbands family (yep, gay marriage, unfortunately not with happy ending )So, i havent seen Bangkoks night/club life yet... No idea what is going on in local music scene, if dj's are good, if promotors invite farang dj's...So, would be great if u guys could help me find out!!! Btw, i m kinda specialised in (quality) phunky, - disco - deep- latin- and afro house ... I personaly like the Thai kind of breakbeat house, based on the morlum ridms and high pitched voices on top, where do they play that music in Bkk??

So , a lot of questions, hope to get some response and hope to meet some of u when i m around!! (i will post these questions in some other forums too, hope people don't mind) Greetings from Belgium!!

[pangeo]

I really don't get it. Why you bother to go to these clubs if you don't enjoy it. The lip-singing isn't that easy and if it's done well, it's just so much fun. An ordinary singing performance would be quite boring in places like this. DJ's performers are not the best ones but they are funny. And the price of the entrance is really not that much considering you get free drink/s and a show which is every night and it reguires a lot of work from the performers. I'm glad to pay for all that. It's just not that much. There are other places where you can listen normal singing act. Cheer up!

[DUMPSTER]

Hi all, my question is maybe little off-subject, but hopefully related enough

End of september i come over to BKK, taking up courses to get my Thai (traditional!!!) massage skills to the next level.. Besides that, i have also been into dj-ing all of my life.. So i wonder if there are places around in Bkk where i could apply to go play a dj set while i m around.. I ve been to Thailand 2 times before, but stayed over on the country side with my husbands family (yep, gay marriage, unfortunately not with happy ending )So, i havent seen Bangkoks night/club life yet... No idea what is going on in local music scene, if dj's are good, if promotors invite farang dj's...So, would be great if u guys could help me find out!!! Btw, i m kinda specialised in (quality) phunky, - disco - deep- latin- and afro house ... I personaly like the Thai kind of breakbeat house, based on the morlum ridms and high pitched voices on top, where do they play that music in Bkk??

So , a lot of questions, hope to get some response and hope to meet some of u when i m around!! (i will post these questions in some other forums too, hope people don't mind) Greetings from Belgium!!

Not sure how that would work with your visa. I did read somewhere, on this forum I think, that a guy got deported for jamming with some guys in a band. So I would suggest you check it out and be careful with the legal side of things.

I really don't get it. Why you bother to go to these clubs if you don't enjoy it. The lip-singing isn't that easy and if it's done well, it's just so much fun. An ordinary singing performance would be quite boring in places like this. DJ's performers are not the best ones but they are funny. And the price of the entrance is really not that much considering you get free drink/s and a show which is every night and it reguires a lot of work from the performers. I'm glad to pay for all that. It's just not that much. There are other places where you can listen normal singing act. Cheer up!

I don't go to these kind of clubs. I've been once and that was free, and i guess others feel the same hence it shut down.

Are you Thai? I do believe Thai people are starved of quality entertainers. I don't think there are enough opportunities for them, but i'm no expert so I maybe wrong.

Anyway each to their own so keep enjoying what you like.