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DJ Mag Top100 Clubs
46
Tenax Club
| NEW ENTRY

One of the birthplaces of the Renaissance - the 14th century art movement, not the club brand - the weight of history hangs as heavy as the Tuscan heat in Florence, where religious statues stare down at you from seemingly every corner.

And the Tenax club has an equally illustrious heritage, one that has made it as much of an icon in Italian clubland as Michelangelo's David is to the millions of tourists who flock here to take photographs of his cock.

Opening in 1981, Tenax has long provided an alternative to the overpriced and poncey meat markets full of wannabe lotharios and their preening girlfriends that otherwise seem to dominate this city, and during its early years it welcomed punk and new wave bands such as Killing Joke, Bauhaus and Echo And The Bunnymen to this huge space just on the outskirts of the city.

It continues to operate as a concert venue to this day, but Tenax really experienced its own Renaissance when Alex Neri started his Nobody's Perfect events here in 1999. One of the forerunners of the Italian house scene for nearly two decades now, with productions such as diva anthem 'Happiness' featuring Jocelyn Brown under his Kamasutra alias with Marco Baroni, and latterly as the brains behind the Planet Funk project, Neri has ploughed a much deeper furrow here with sets that begin in minimal and progressive territory before descending into solid tribal grooves as the night wears on.

And few rooms are as suited to such a sound as this dark cavern with its crystal clear soundsystem, which has also been worked to its limits by old masters such as François K, L'il Louis Vega, Frankie Knuckles and David Mancuso, as well as the new breed like Dan Ghenacia, James Zabiela and Ellen Allien, who says: "This club is hot because the soundsystem is the bomb! The crowd are amazing and a lot of fun, the promoters are great and there are always some very funny and amazing dancers.

Many of whom may well be attired in the Nobody's Perfect clothing line Neri has launched. For whilst Tenax is definitely a place to go to dance rather than pose - and its location some way outside the city centre means it really only attracts people for that purpose - this is still Italy, where making an effort and looking good are important yardsticks. A test which Tenax passes admirably, with its exotic dance shows and spectacular lighting as gorgeous as anyone on the dancefloor.

Neri has also established the Tenax Recordings label for his own productions and collaborations with like-minded artists such as Jay Haze, and whilst the name of his night might claim that Nobody's Perfect, the club it takes place in comes pretty damn close.