thePULSENew Sh-Booms complex raises the bar for downtown clubs
January 2004 – Who can forget his or her first time at Worcester’s Sh- Booms? For many, it was the first club where you stayed out all night. It was the first place where you made out with somebody on the dance floor. It was the first place where you had a drop of alcohol in public. And consequently it was the first place you got kicked out of.
Those days are gone. The place with the split personality is empty, no longer existing as a club that kept music from the 50’s and 70’s alive at the same time. Built in 1986 to revive downtown Worcester’s nightlife it eventually became a staple in the city’s club experience — even if the rest of the area was somewhat lacking in vitality.
But somehow Sh-Booms survived the ups and downs of Worcester’s downtown, pulling in crowds on a regular basis — until it was shut-down by the powers that be who decided to construct a new courthouse at the nightclub’s location.
So Sh-Booms jitterbugged over to Worcester Center Boulevard, actually a more centrally located spot with tons more parking. Not only is the reborn Sh-Booms a singular success, it might actually be a major draw to the MedCity/Centrum area of downtown.
“We brought it to the next level,” says Sean Smith, general manager and partner of Sh-Booms. “The old [Sh-Booms] was 1986. This is 2003.” The difference between the Main Street Club and the Worcester Center Boulevard incarnation is startling.
To begin, the whole of Sh-Booms is now three areas instead of two. Plumb Crazy is the first room you’ll walk into, acting as a type of airlock chamber. There is the first bar that you’ll encounter in the complex.
The most pub-like of the three rooms, Plumb Crazy is a kitsch-bar. The ceiling and walls are adorned with junk, mementos, keepsakes — basically just stuff. Flamingos and sombreros are probably the most notable of the adornments.
The overall feel of Plumb Crazy is relaxed and is the scene for those not inclined to dance (which would explain the disproportionate number of guys in that area). Even though the logo on the window features a demented Jack Nicholson, a la The Shining and the music leans towards the alternative rock side, Plumb Crazy is far from threatening. But really, it is just an appetizer for what’s to come.
One thing about the entire Sh-Booms complex is that it becomes noticeably louder, darker, and hotter the deeper you progress into the inner reaches of the complex. The further you travel from the entrance the more you realize that most other bars in Worcester are hard pressed to maintain this same level of excitement in one room, let alone multiple rooms.
The namesake room — the middle area known exclusively as Sh-Booms — most resembles the club at the old Main Street location. It’s here that one is able to see what Sean Smith means by “the next level.”
The familiar retro décor is still present. The floor is checkered and the stools are still framed with chrome (or at least what looks like chrome). The yellow cut up Volkswagen bug still holds the DJ and he still spits out sometimes controversial phrases (which are too often not suitable for print). However, now you can hear these between song spurts on a much-improved sound system.
Sh-Booms features “top 40 party music” as the management refers to it. This is a compact was of saying hip-hop, R & B, the most mainstream of dance hall songs, and probably something like “Brown Eyed Girl.” Basically this room plays the songs you would hear in any other bar-wannabee-club. But with two other rooms to play music in, Sh-Booms can afford to cater to a more fun-loving crowd, making it a favorite for those seeking a special night on the town.
All of this happens with a state-of-the-art light system and two big screen projectors playing flash back movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The whole room seems exponentially bigger than its Main Street predecessor. “It’s actually the same size,” says Smith, “It’s just shaped different…there are no posts and pillars.”
Lately, Sh-Booms has attracted a larger number of college-aged people. Even though the Sh-Booms room itself hasn’t evolved much thematically, there is definitely a younger crowd at work. Sean Smith attributes this to the fact that “There are three clubs, so there are more people.” It’s true that the old site never could have accommodated so many revelers, but some credit should be given to the third room — Déjà Vu.
The bass in Déjà Vu makes your hair shake. The black walls seem to emit both sound and heat, rather than absorb them. The lights in the room make it seem like everybody there is moving to the beat.
Déjà Vu by itself is a premier club in Worcester. Similar to the old Polly Esta’s, there is a stage sectioned off by a banister with multiple levels for dancing. The difference is, though, that the stage is huge, able to accommodate anybody who wants to be up there. Add to this more projection screens, playing either trippy video graphics, or the actual video to accompany the song playing. Déjà Vu generally contains the youngest crowd in the complex who are drawn to the hip-hop and commercial club mixes.
The mighty three of Sh-Booms — Plumb Crazy, Sh-Booms, and Déjà Vu — are the end all be all of a big night out in Worcester. Thursdays it’s College Night — 18+ for everybody. Fridays it’s Lady’s Night — 19+ for girls, 21+ for guys. Saturdays are your standard 21+ nights.
For an extra $3 on top of the regular $5 cover charge you can also bump yourself up to a mini-pub crawl night, buying yourself a Circuit Pass. With this you can enter the Sh-Booms complex, The Atrium, and The Art Bar to fully overload all of your senses. All of this should be more than enough to develop a vital new scene around Sh-Booms and perhaps raise the bar for really good nightspots in Worcester.
