Imagine a two-story venue that is spacious, luxurious, with a central nave as long as 50 meter, with ceilings as high as 20 m, Gothic arch windows, circular ornaments reminding us of reredos behind the high altar, a large room with seats, chancel-like balconies, another smaller hall next door and two others upstairs. The venue is located in the very heart of Jakarta, and it would usually be full on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays with faithful devotees coming regularly.

What would you think the venue is? A church?

Well you actually came close if you think the venue is a church. It is indeed a church, built not to house saint relics nor for any religious matters but as a shrine to nightlife, entertainment and electronic music industry.

X2 - The Whole Club

The venue is located in the heart of Jakarta, atop the city's one of the oldest, and one of the best, most luxurious commercial centers. Occupying two floors on about 6,000 sqm large area, X2 offers a concept offered only by European clubs so far : a choice of music you want to hear in several separated rooms.

Talking about X2 would never be enough without having visited the club yourself. The first time we went to X2, we discovered its rooms and decided this was the kind of club where we'd like to see big names play.

The Main Room - X2

The main room, X2, is the most spacious one, the one facing the high altar where grand DJs would be your priests of the night mass every event night. It's large, elegant, and luxurious, providing you with comfortable sofas and a dancefloor large enough to shake your booty. X2 serves you trance, techno and electronica. World DJs who have been seen behind the deck count Benny Benassi, Gabriel and Dresden, Marco V, Gareth Emery, Miss Nine, Andy Moor, and from Indonesia, almost all best Indonesian DJs have already had a gig here, including Naro, Romy, Riri, Anton, Hogi, AiMoonchild, Innerlight, Deny, Agoose.

The DJ booth sits on an altar-like construction, much higher than the dancefloor level. It's also very big, giving the DJs playing behind a certain freedom of movements without any fear of dodging anything accidentally. Several screens are hung in front of the DJ booth as well as around the room, mounted on metal hangers fixed on the ceilings. VIP sofas align on each side of the chamber, while the dancefloor occupies the venue of honor in the middle of the room. Bars are located far behind, directly on your right when you enter the gate at the left back end of X2's rectangle.

In X2 everyone is BCBG : Bon Chic Bon Genre, a French expression to describe upscale people with good lifestyle and good taste. You will see most women opt for classy look here, that little black dress with their hair made up perfectly and that smooth glamour make up together with elegant blings and matching high heels, while the men would mostly dress in formal shirts, leather shoes, or even afterwork-like suits. It's a perfect venue to come with your friends, partners, or even colleagues and clients. The ambience is chic, yet it could also get fun when the night gets later and everyone's already heated up. Most people are 23+ here.

X2 can hold up to 1500 persons within its area.

The Most Popular Room - Equinox

For you who love R&B and HipHop, Equinox must be your main destination when coming to X2. It's located upstairs, on the second floor, occupying a hall slightly smaller than X2 below. It's a long rectangle as well, with a bar on half of its right side, sofas along its left side and half of its right side. The DJ booth, again, is built following the ideal of X2, as also found on their previous constructions Vertigo - much higher than the dancefloor level in its front, where the DJ can, other than spinning, also survey his crowd like a preacher on its pulpit. Often the presence of an MC is needed here to awaken the ambience.

Equinox, au contraire of X2, is a venue for slightly younger, more fun crowd, too. They dress in brighter colors, fancier clothes, and they're a lot more open when it comes to dancing. Almost every time the tables are occupied by guys and girls dancing side to side, following the latest tube by Beyonce, 50 Cent, Rihanna, Sean Paul as well as older, more classical HipHop tunes such as those from Eminem, P. Diddy, Cypress Hill, Will Smith, or even Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, merely younger than the crowd themselves are.

Equinox can host up to 1200 persons.

The Classic Room - Vintage

Back to the first floor, Vintage is located just next to X2. The room is almost square, and a lot smaller than X2. It's also more comfortable. Vintage offers another style of electronica : Deep House, Lounge and Classic Disco, where you don't necessarily come to dance but to be with your friends, have some chats, mingle here and there, amusing yourself to try different sorts of cocktails. Vintage is perhaps more a lounge than a club. It has only a small bar, the DJ booth is also higher than the dancefloor but still it's close enough for the DJ to get interactive with his crowd. People in Vintage is also from older age range, starting from 25+.

Vintage is perhaps our favorite room because it's simply nice to be here, you'll always see cliques of friends grouping around the tables, some of them dancing, some of them mingling, some of them drinking, and you really get the impression that everyone really does have fun being here. Plus the music is the kind we prefer : Deep House, Lounge and Classic Disco. You will hear that oh-so-familiar tunes from Hed Kandi as well as Fierce Angel, Buddha Bar, Royksopp, and sometimes remixed stuff from Everything But The Girl, ABBA, or even A-Ha and Eurythmics.

The decor matches the people : Men and women dressed in urban retro styles meet the blue-violet neon lines.

Vintage can welcome a number of 150 persons.

The Private Room - Ego Ultralounge

Going upstairs once again, when you arrive at the top of the glass stairs with Equinox on your left, you will see another entrance to your right, usually guarded with a pair of men in black, with a sign bearing the phrase, "For Members Only". Indeed Ego is especially reserved for membercard holders. A luxurious, private area, where you're free to choose your music, free to bring all your clique, and of course, in a very exclusive zone not everyone may get in. Here, you can usually cross local celebs, business and media moguls, people from high society background, and even some regional politicians.

Ego can hold up to 500 persons.

What We Love and What We Don't Like

X2 reminds us very much to luxurious European clubs around The Netherlands, Germany, Spain and England (French and Italian clubs have a different style). The method of separating rooms for each musical genre, the music itself with big names coming there so often, the big dimension of sizes, we find those all a grandious idea altogether.

In the quick-changing world of Indonesian nightlife industry, the birth of X2 has brought many controversies. Some think it's the hottest, the best club around the town, others say it's way too luxurious, some rival clubs rage because X2 practically (and literally) converts their regular customers into X2 devotees, leaving the other clubs empty most of the time.

We share the opinion that X2 is actually making a good point. We clubbers are customers who actually like to choose - and everyone has his/her own taste. With X2 coming into the rivality, other clubs would have to strive more for excellence - improving their quality of events, services, and so on. X2 also brings a new concept of multiple electronica genre-rooms in a venue. It's actually the first mainstream club to do so, while certain underground clubs upnorth have already adapted the concept long before X2.

The fact that you have a choice in X2 is the genial thing about it, actually. It happens, in one night you would perhaps feel you want to dance on R&B music first, then later you switch to Trance or Techno, and to finish the night you go with your friends dancing on Vintage House tunes. You only need to stay in one venue, because all is there.

But on the other hand, the thing is that X2 is really expensive. Prepare to open your wallet open wide and your credit cards ready when you come here. Prices of drinks as well as FDC (Entry, as they like to call it here : "First Drink Charge") are a lot higher than anywhere else, mostly if you're used to unexpensive Kemang areas. Yet, compared to fellow clubs from the same level, prices in X2 are still okay.

So if you don't mind spending a bit more than what you usually spend, X2 is an ideal venue to club. But if your budget is limited, we won't suggest you X2.

All in All

All in all, the note we'd give to X2 would be........8.5 out of 10. You should really come there for the right clubbing experience, is all we can say!