Rated this place:
132 Queens Quay East, Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y5
What other clubs want to be when they grow up: Ah, what can I say about the Guvernment/Kool Haus that hasn’t already been said by anyone who's ventured through its doors (and stumbled out at least 5 hours later)? For those who don’t know, the Guvie, as it’s affectionately called, is a complex that’s actually composed of eight clubs/bars, the largest of which are the Guvernment (22,000 sq ft) and Kool Haus (27 000 sq ft) rooms. Located on Queen’s Quay, it’s pretty much the only nightlife in this otherwise dead industrial area, a necessity considering the volume of music that’s being pumped out of this building until about nine in the morning.
The sizes of the Guvernment and Kool Haus venues make them ideal for hosting concerts, something that has garnered international recognition for the complex: (“If there’s one city that loves trance, it’s Toronto,” said Armin van Buuren. “And if there’s one club that knows how to rock, it’s the Guvernment.”). This kind of praise from the world’s #1 DJ helped Guvernment crack the eighth spot in DJ Mag’s 2008 list of the world’s best international clubs, the only North American location to do so. In past years, the Guvie has attracted top-caliber artists such as Armin, Tiesto, Sander van Doorn, Ferry Corsten, Deep Dish, Benny Benassi and Eddie Halliwell among many others.
On regular nights, you can step into any of the rooms and hear anything from electronic to salsa, island, rap, hip hop and R&B tunes. Friday nights feature the best in R&B, Hip Hop, Reggae, Old School & Soca in the main room, and on Saturdays resident DJ Mark Oliver pumps out house and progressive tunes while the other rooms offer alternative styles to suit all musical tastes.
Even on capacity nights you don’t have to wait forever to get a drink at the bar, and the drink prices (about 4.75$ for domestic beer) fall below Toronto standards. While there have been complaints that the lines outside the complex can get real bad (ie wrapped-around-the-building bad), they tend to move quickly and the wait isn’t longer than 20 minutes on the busiest nights.
Now all those good things being said, a warning: if you don’t like being in packed rooms, then this club is not for you. While the large spaces and different rooms manage to take some of the crowd pressure off, the complex can get packed real quickly, especially on nights when the big international DJs come to spin.
That said, I’d still have to give the Guvernment kudos for being the best club in Canada, by virtue of having consistent big-name bookings (this is no joke, most music festivals can’t get the quality and consistency of bookings that the Guvie does for its events), a top class sound system with subwoofers that will melt your brain, and the largest crowds in the country.