Just more than a month after Malate went on comatose, members of the pink community started roaming around Metro Manila to look for alternatives where they can spend their weekends and sometimes their weeknights. The truth is, the magic of O Bar Ortigas didn’t enthrall the entire pink community, only some of its members. And the others, many of whom most people would like to label as the BED crowd, didn’t bother to go back to O Bar Ortigas after one or two visits. Hence, the turn of events resulted to an even greater faction of the pink community.
Quezon City is starting to produce several bars and clubs that attempts to cater to the pink community.
As we all know, years and years ago, Quezon City has been known to be one of the places for the heterosexual crowd. Then people started flocking to different places like BGC, good old Makati, Eastwood and other places in Metro Manila. And so Quezon City slowly transformed to become one those kinds of places where a great selection of venues is available for anyone’s palate.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a new sing-a-long and stand-up bar opened in Cubao, Quezon City; it is called Rapture. It is located along Aurora Blvd., just a couple of streets away from Palawan 2.
If some of you have been to Palawan 2 or to any sing-a-long and stand-up bars in the Metro, Rapture attempts to imitate the feel of those bars.
The facade of the bar looks very inviting, it almost seems like you’ll most likely experience extreme happiness when you enter.
Once inside, you discover that the place holds 170 seats for its guests, with tables and chairs positioned very close to each other.
On a Saturday, the place can be very crowded, so that if you arrive past 12 midnight, you won’t be able to find an available seat for you and your friends, and you’ll have to wait until a group leaves – this may be because of their no door charge strategy after two in the morning, even on weekends.
And just like any other sing-a-long and stand-up bars, they have drag performers acting as hosts, seemingly to make sure that the guests are well entertained in between performances. There’s nothing special about their punchlines, though. In fact, there’s nothing really “funny” about the jokes they’ve been throwing back and forth from each other – which may be because most, if not all, of their one-liners revolve around ridiculing people just to poke fun of the mishaps and shortcomings of their heterosexual co-hosts and some of the guests. Don’t get me wrong, the jokes and punchlines are funny at times, but after being saturated by Vice Ganda’s one-liners almost everyday, there’s nothing funny and original (anymore) when someone maligns someone onstage.
Their liquor selection is very limited – but they offer cheap prices for their drinks, and you can get a bucket of beer for a very low price.
A quarter of the area is separated from the main area of the sing-a-long and stand-up bar – this is where KlubDude, their version of a “dance club”, is located.
Their release, which states: “…where the only furniture installed are high cocktail tables. The absence of chairs enables guests to move around freely and socialize with others…” rings true: this place really is bare and empty. At four in the morning on a weekend, their guests prefer to just stay in the sing-a-long stand-up area instead of standing in the humbly-sized dance floor area.
The set-up of KlubDude may have worked if their show in the sing-a-long area ends early, so that their guests would transfer to the dance floor, just like in Palawan 2.
Rapture Cafe Bar also has pageants and competitions left and right – Ms. Gay Rapture, Mr. Rapture, Rapture Idol, and many others. It seemed like they want to make sure they provided all kinds of entertainment possible. And that’s really good.
But, it is rather sad for someone who grew up in the world of Malate, or in O Bar or in BED Bar or other similar bars to conform to what’s only (if not many) available gay spaces like Rapture offers.
LGBTs go out with their friends, with their partners, or sometimes alone to experience an undeniable and real extreme happiness and delight – it’s not because they are elitist or “choosy”, but it’s more because of personal preference. Among others, maybe it’s to listen and laugh at jokes that don’t ridicule anyone, a be at a suitable and safe environment for anyone.
Nonetheless, maybe above everything else, Rapture Cafe Bar and KlubDude may be considered as some form of “advancement” in the LGBT community, as it is another gay space where the community members can hang out and express themselves. Who knows, it may also be a place where one could find their next best hook up or their next possible relationship prospect.
Rapture Cafe Bar and KlubDude are located at 903 Aurora Blvd. corner Harvard St., Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila. For more information, call (+63 2) 441-1769, (+63) 917-8989306 or (+63) 939-9032103. Or visit their Facebook page.
