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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires nightlife > CBGB CBGBBartolome Mitre 1552 (@ Parana)
In and around an unmarked building a couple of blocks to the north of Congreso is where one can find all the young punks. Is there a better way to advertise what a club is about than using the name of one of the most famous representations of that scene? Apparently not, in Buenos Aires. Along with the They killed Kenny café and Emily, is CBGB's a punk rock and heavy metal bar with a focus on live music in tribute to the original New York institution. Although at the Buenos Aires venue CBGB stands for Café Bar Godspell and Blues instead of the New York version: Country, Blue Grass and Blues. Faded black t-shirts are almost door policy, and the more obscure the band which adorns the T-shirt the more credibility one gets. Like any good club, its existence is not when one sees an illuminated sign, but in the gatherings of teenagers and early twenty-something’s on the street in front of the bar. CBGBs is a relatively cheap bar with litres served in plastic cups for $8AR, but the kids still can’t get enough of ducking out between sets to swig from peso-saving hipflasks and store-bought litres. Inside, the space is what North Americans refer to as a ‘dive’ bar. Without too much unnecessary (and un-punk) decoration and with a clever economising of space there is ample room. The stage is enigmatically set at the second floor above dressing rooms and looking down on the crowd below. The best views are to be had up a stairwell and on the second floor, although without being in the crowd below some of the atmosphere is lost. The sound is much of what could be expected – quantity over quality - although the young punks don’t seem to mind, and once the night wears on you might even catch a few of them pogoing or flinging themselves around. —CBGB review by Murdoch Stephens
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