hhh, the smell of sweat-drenched youth. The room is packed with it; arts students mingle with androgynous dreadlocked partiers. This is where Torontonians blessed with rhythm and appreciation of tribal house put a little bounce in their Saturday night. Both floors are packed, and the whole place looks like a drunken abandon of kids cutting loose because they have no respect for sleep, and every other club in the city has now closed for the night.

Another Saturday night has turned into Sunday morning at Boa-Redux, the latest club to hit the block. Not a typical nightclub - this is a non-licensed after-hours temple of dance. Boa-Redux is aimed at serving as Toronto’s after-party scene when other clubs have closed down for the night - but if the lack of cocktails disappoints, clubbers of all ages would be cutting their night too short.

The idea of creating a high-end version of an after-hours dance club on Spadina might on the surface seem foolhardy, but it’s been a dream of owners Tom Vencelides and Rony Hitti for many years, and they’ve finally managed to follow through on it; and amazingly enough, the club, like its cocky young owners, really does take wing - unlike, most notably, Chinatown’s other after-hours club, Film Lounge.

The first few Saturday nights (the only night it’s open) have been a little bumpy - throwing a 26-hour New Year’s Eve fest with a party license into the mix evidently confused clubgoers into thinking Boa was a licensed club - but while it never reaches the stage of transcendent enchantment, the club is still mighty good fun.

The virtues of Boa-Redux are considerable. The most immediately obvious is its gorgeous physical appearance. The creation of a two-level dance club carved from a Chinatown porn theatre is impressive enough, but it’s the clever use of the space that’s truly entrancing. The trip through the two levels is eye-catching, and the second floor dance-floor area itself, with its trippy (literally) layout, still has the multi-leveled floor (where theatre seats would have been), creating tiered dance areas, ghostly chill spaces and a raised preacher-like DJ booth all rendered with ingenuity and good humour. A fine space, and when the night goes sailing off into Sunday morning - the room filling and energy intensifying - the sight is a splendid one.

So too is the sound, not just in terms of the acoustics but the choice of sound system as well. Superior acoustic abilities and mammoth space were the most important criteria for Vencelides and Hitti when planning out Boa. In combining these high demands they took the bold move of outfitting the club with an Alpha Concept sound system, a system many regard as the highest standard in professional club sound reinforcement. The components, manufactured by German-based Dynacord, blast a dynamic range of more than 115 dB, which makes it one of the most powerful digital controllers available.

Anything that makes a sound at Boa-Redux comes through an Alpha Concept product - digital controllers, power amps, and loudspeakers - but not mixer, because, as it turns out, comes with too high a learning curve for their star DJs to master on the fly.
A quality sound system is hardly enough to make for a good time, however, and this dance club comes out a winner primarily because, unlike crudely liberal ‘after hours clubs’, it’s surprisingly faithful to its progressive tribal house roots. A lineup of well-picked DJs is a plus, too: Matt C, Miss Honey Dijon, Nick Holder and Sean Miller are on the roster.

What do 1,800 (maximum capacity) thirsty clubbers coming straight from other nightclubs drink here? The beverage of choice is Happy Planet juice, Red Bull and the almighty water. ($$$$!)
Boa-Redux - the name is an attachment to Boa, the ‘80’s Yorkville bar - may not be enthralling enough to redeem its reputation completely, it evokes enough of the wonder and awe of a hell-raising rave stuffed into a mainstream dance club to make it a worthy option for frenzied Saturday night, destined - one suspects - to make that Saturday night last a little longer.- DE


Review this place
Reader Reviews

Acid reflux is more like it.
Erika, Toronto,
September 8, 2004
Boa Redux? Hmmph; acid reflux is more like it: I arrive Friday sometime past 2, after a great Movement night at Roxy Blue. The body search is the most intimately unpleasant one I've ever been subjected to with my clothes on. After paying my $25, I instinctively hold out my hand for a stamp, only to be told "There are no in and out privileges here". To which I reply "Is this a club or a parking lot?" Inside perhaps 50 people are trying to find some atmosphere; the drinks, non-alcoholic, over-priced and mundane. The music, even more mundane: when I hear techno late at night, it's got to be GOOD! This is bland beyond belief. My friends and I spend an hour or so, hoping something will improve. Nothing does. We leave, vowing never to return, and go create our own party elsewhere, well past sunrise.


I have just one thing to say - LOUD!!!!
A.J. Gomez, Toronto
Sept., 8, 2004
Boa's main room has an extremely loud beast of a sound system pumping out tribal and progressive house in all it's variations. Entry is strict and involves an acceptable level of patting down for drug, contraband and God knows what. Then one must pay at another flight of stairs, and then finally scale some more stairs to get to the main room, whereupon the thunderous assault on one's ears takes place. The place is basically a beautifully renovated theatre made for dancing, with a stage on the left and several levels of dance plateaus on the right. Hundreds, if not thousands of people can fit into the main room, because it extends back as far as the eye can see. On the other side of the theatre layout there lies another downstairs room with chairs and tables and it's own DJ spinning soulful house with lyrics on the night we were there. What keeps Boa fresh is that although there are resident DJ's, there are also invi ted guest DJ's that spin there as well. The DJ on the ones and twos in the main room was one such guest DJ, his name being Sandy Rivera (Kings of Tomorrow, Defected). My three friends and I spent the night going between the two rooms and dancing to whatever came on. Overall people are going to Boa to hear appealing music on a sound system that is only rivalled by System Sound Bar. Some people are also going to dance off their Ecstasy or similar drug haze, so we were very aware of the occasional stoned and off-balance humans manoeuvring on the dance floor and throughout the club. In light of this, one can appreciate the no alcohol served rule at Boa. Not to worry water, power drinks, and Red Bull are all available at the bar for about three times what you would pay in a grocery store... heh, heh, heh.,



Nuff said!
Hotstepper,Toronto
March 4, 2004
listen here...when ROMMEL is there, u know it's a hot place to be in! 'Nuff said!

swing by Shark City
Ilya Toronto,
January 15, 2003
The ambience is awesome, the sound amazing, and the vibe euphoric (no pun intended)...but I don't remember much. Check this place out...if not, swing by Shark City - same good fun there.


The best thing since the old Sona?
A. Toronto
January 21, 2003
Consider Boa-redux Toronto's version of Stereo (Montreal). However, Stereo has got quite a reputation to match, so what Boa-redux lacks in reputation (so far), it makes up for in several other aspects. First, the crowd is well mixed between straight and not. Second, the hours of operation are better, allowing access a full 2-3 hours earlier than Stereo. Is it the best thing since the old Sona?...well, maybe no, but it sure is great having another late-night choice in Toronto. Amen.


Don't go!
Straight & Sober, Toronto
January 10, 2004
Just what TO needs...a place for drug-fienes and the like to inhibit themselves and give into their so-called stylish-addictions. Just ask anyone in I.M. Productions. Don't go...don't support...go home...go to sleep.


must be liberal-minded
LT Toronto
January 11, 2004
This place rocks! A much needed addition to T.O.'s late-night (early morning?!) party scene. Friendliest door staff & security in town, a delicious mix of scenesters (you must be liberal-minded, peeps), wicked layout and a sound system that rips through to your soul. It might be rich from a price-point perspective, but that too has a positive impact on the crowd that attends. Snaps to all involved and wishes for huge success!