February 12th, 2008 By Cody Williams
Bar Review: Icon Bar & Nightclub
As you approach the frosted double doors at Evansville’s newest hot spot, Icon, you are greeted by a professionally dressed security guard checking you attire for the evening. Icon is an upscale club for Evansville finest. Don’t even think about coming dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The dress code is what attracts me to this club. As you walk in it is as if you are in a nightclub in a whole other city like Miami. The upscale retro decor is vibrant and fresh.
The bar at icon is positioned perfectly to serve its entire crowd. It is centered around the club. If you are out to impress someone special, Icon does offer a premier bottle service, just make sure you bring your plastic.
Some of the features that this club offers can’t be found at any other bar in town including an amazing wall of bubble lights that according to Evansville Living magazine was imported from out of the country. Icon also offers several private VIP lounging areas, but to take advantage of this reservations and bottle service are just some of the requirements.
If you are looking to get down on the large dance floor be sure to wear you’re dancing shoes. Most nights of the week the DJ is playing some of your favorite music, and from what I have noticed depending on the demographic of the crowd that’s the genre of music playing.
Saturdays tend to be more of an 80’s and urban night, which makes a great night of dancing. It’s nice to see some of Evansville more experienced bar goers (cougars!) mingle with the younger generation.
When Jason English, the owner of Icon as well as Scores, was designing the club, I think he had a more middle age crowd in mind. I have been attending this club since the first weekend and it is amazing to see how the crowd has grown. It started off very small with a mixed group of people and as each weekend came around the crowd would grow by the hundreds. Walking in on a Saturday night you would think that this bar had been established for years. Icon is a packed house on Friday and Saturday night. Icon is open every night, save for Monday, with something different going on each night. Wednesday night is ladies night with drink specials and a Coach purse giveaway.
If you are single or married, young or old, this club is for great. I guarantee a good time.
Icon is located on South Green River road in the 111 South Plaza between Brinkers and Custom Fit Personal Training.
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amy
February 12, 2008 @ 10:10AM
A bar where you can’t just go in wearing what you’ve been wearing all day? No thanks. I’m definitely not dressing up to have a few drinks.
Justin Williams
February 12, 2008 @ 10:16AM
That’s what makes the place intriguing to me. Sometimes I don’t want to go to a place like Fast Eddy’s and be well dressed, but next to some guy in a flannel shirt, cutoff jeans and a cowboy hat.
Jenna
February 12, 2008 @ 10:32AM
exactly, I haven’t been there yet, but thank god for a more upscale place in Evansville. Time there is something other than scruffy places
barky
February 12, 2008 @ 01:31PM
nice place. bartenders and servers are pretty friendly, and it is SMOKE FREE!!!
cody
February 12, 2008 @ 02:05PM
cant express how great this place is. everyone needs to check it out. for a more relaxed atmosphere go on wed nights.
eight12
February 12, 2008 @ 04:05PM
I like the club also, only thing I didn’t like was that I got different prices for drinks(same) at different ends of the bar. I just coughed that up to being new. I am surprised you did not talk about the bathroom doors.
Jenna
February 12, 2008 @ 04:20PM
I’ve heard the bathroom doors are glass, but frost up when you close and lock them
Danielle
February 12, 2008 @ 10:41PM
I went for the first time a few weeks ago and loved. I like the upscale atmosphere it made me miss living in Orlando.
zrx1200r
February 13, 2008 @ 12:08AM
uhm….where is it?
i wasn’t that interested until i read that it’s smoke free.
fechner
February 13, 2008 @ 07:18AM
Just like a Miami club….except in a strip mall. Who are you trying to kid?
Jenna
February 13, 2008 @ 01:06PM
it is in the same complex that Brinker’s is, the corner of Green and Lloyd. Drive straight in, past Brinkers towards Top Spot and Custom Fit—it’s right next door.
BandJ
February 13, 2008 @ 01:49PM
A girlfriend and I went when it first opened and we were not impressed. Seemed very cold and snooty to us. All the seats were uncomfortable as well.
zrx1200r
February 13, 2008 @ 02:20PM
duh. i saw it on my last trip to Top Spot Outdoors (the best place for clothing…….).
yo
February 16, 2008 @ 08:56PM
Quite frankly, the staff is rude. They think they’re some New York city club and that gives them the right to act like Puff Daddy’s entourage. It’s too white in there which was so 2002 and quite frankly I don’t want to see some of the 40-year-old’s faces in the light. Music is so so. I don’t understand why there’s a cover. They don’t know how to make martinis. Rather go to Blush.
Jon Hyneman
February 24, 2008 @ 02:46AM
The idea of Ican is great. Unfortunately, the administrative staff have some real issues dealing with people. I have played in bars for 25 years and have never been treated so ill as I was this past weekend. THEY HIRED ME!!
After playing this bar 5 times, suddenly, because of an altercation between a bandmate’s wife and a manager named Casey, we were to have all our equipment out of there immediately. It was always a wonder in the back of my head if we would be paid for any particular engagement. She was simply collecting what was owed. Again, HE HIRED US
I won’t be back in the place. The drinks are overpriced, the music is too loud, the wait staff does their very best but you still wait for 20-30 minutes for a drink. Don’t waste your time here.
Jon Hyneman
Bassist
SmikYs
February 25, 2008 @ 10:37AM
So, my friends and I decided to give Icon a try. We figured in our mid-twenties that we would try something different than the usual night at RiRa or the various bars on Franklin Street.
We stayed for one drink and left. It was not the decor, the bartenders, or even the price of drinks. It was the crowd. All I read about was about the dress code and got the impression that one needed to be some what “hip” to get in the door. What I failed to remember is that although the decor and the atmosphere may have been happening, what is considered hip and attractive in the ‘ville is apparently not what I thought it was. I walked in and was immediatly bombarded by every single 45 to 55 year old in the tri-state (or at least it seemed). There were a lot of over-processed women in way too young clothing (and sometimes way too little) and lots of older men that, quite frankly, creeped me out. Not the kind of folks I want to see dancing to “RumpShaker”.
I think that if image is everything, as this club seems to wants itself to be, then they have definately allowed thier image to be a place for a significanly older crowd - which is fine and dandy if that’s what you want. Upscale in appearences and you can easily forget that you are in a strip mall, but I will say the crowd ruined it for me. I felt like I should have brought my mom with me…
Meghan
March 03, 2008 @ 08:42AM
Well I still live in Orlando, and I can’t imagine anything in eville being as upscale as anything here, especially if it is in a strip mall. And I hate these people who don’t appreciate the dress code, get off of the farm for a change….
jess
March 08, 2008 @ 06:10PM
So, my friends and i are planning on going to icon on friday nite, but we heard there is a dress code. That’s fine with us, we just want to know what we can/can’t wear. Does anyone know? AND… i have to add, we are totally excited about the fact that the DJ will be playing 80’s music and it’s smoke-free!! We love 80’s music and hate smelling like cigarrette smoke after a nite out dancing. So…. DOUBLE SWEET!
aaron
March 09, 2008 @ 06:42AM
The club was pretty cool, the dress code is not that bad, just no hats, no tennis shoes, and like something else, I can’t remember what he said, I think no shorts. I went in there wearing Dockers, jeans, and a button up and I was fine. But yeah, once I got into the club, I gotta say, I liked how they had it set up, alot different than any other club in Evansville. I just turned 22 and I had gone with a friend, around 1 something on a Sat night, and it was still packed! Good looking people all around, easily way more then 100, heard good music the whole time I was there. Only $5 to get in, not to bad considering other places I’ve been. The comment about the crowed.. is way wrong, the majoriy of people, were in there 20’s. I don’t know what night that person went, but when we went, the crowed was cool.
Yoko
April 05, 2008 @ 10:00AM
At least the bathrooms are cool I would not expect to see that in Evansville….
David
May 04, 2008 @ 09:14AM
So funny that little tiny ole Evansville is trying to be upscale. They have no idea what an upscale club is about. Jason tries very hard to be such a BIG DEAL, but guess what he isn’t. He and his clubs are as tired as he was when he could barely hit a softball at Central High School. I give him credit though trying to make Evansville more tolerable. But, how can you upscale a bunch of redneck hicks and wanna be thugs. Its so funny. Every time I visit Evansville and go out I laugh because if you bring the stuff Icon is trying to be into a big city. It would not even be open for a week. Nice try but its whack to say the very least.
Jenna
May 04, 2008 @ 12:00PM
Evansville is not a big city, David, and it is probably true Icon wouldn’t make it in a big city. However, Icon is trying to bring something nicer to Evansville for those of us “redneck hicks and wanna-be thugs” that don’t want to go somewhere like Fast Eddy’s and would prefer a nicer environment. It seems to me that you probably come from “redneck hicks” or “wanna-be thugs” and are a little bitter about it from the way you wrote your comment. Basically, Icon is nicer than other places around town, and our town is a small town, not a big city, and that is why Icon fits and works in our town. So if I prefer someplace nicer, I’d prefer something like Icon. We aren’t trying to pretend to be a big city, so breath deep, David, take that chill pill, you seem to have left Evansville, but we aren’t trying to copy your “coolness.”
Justin Williams
May 04, 2008 @ 06:55PM
Did he really just use the word “whack” in 2008?
ZRX1200R
May 05, 2008 @ 02:14PM
david — must suck knowing that a guy who could barely hit a softball owns the most popular adult entertainment bar (lots of money, women) and a popular nightclub.
turns out those dweebs we made fun of in high school can make something of themselves. who wulda thunk it?
know why “an upscale club” doesn’t fit with evansville? because we’re not a phalanx of snobs who pretend that showing off money, that superficiality, that supercilious condescension, that designer clothes to match the designer, import, $20 drink, that paying $8 for 1 bottle of domestic beer make us better people.
are there not rednecks (or faux rednecks) and thugs and wannabes in whatever pristinem, upscale city you want to mention?
ZRX1200R
May 05, 2008 @ 02:17PM
nothing like a cliche flame war to pass the day………..
chels777
May 13, 2008 @ 01:07PM
Really? There are more people in Evansville with money than you think who would rather go to an upscale nightclub. What does hitting a baseball in high school have anything to do with what kind of person they are going to turn out to be anyway? My family has always had plenty of money, drive nice cars, wear nice clothes, have big boats. Because someone has money and can afford to buy things that they enjoy makes them a showoff? I am hardly superficial! I wont turn away from people because they have less or more than I do. Get a grip and stop trying to use big words to get attention. Sounds like bloviating about the ken of Evansvilles nightlife made you look completely fatuous. Dumbass.
zrx1200r
May 13, 2008 @ 04:05PM
chels777: uhm, whose comments are you responding to? mine or david’s?
zrx1200r
May 13, 2008 @ 06:12PM
i believe you misinterpreted my comments to david, who considers evansville populated by hicks, where anything he deems upscale would be doomed.
my comment about baseball is sarcastic, directed at david making fun of Icon’s owner’s high school days.
your comments about not being superficial support my statement that evansville is NOT full of people looking to show off their money (though it would be easy to read “My family has always had plenty of money, drive nice cars, wear nice clothes, have big boats” as contradicting that assertion).
i like how you command me to not use “big words” while then doing the same.
as for the out-of-leftfield insult, name your game: trivial pursuit, jeopardy, ntn, stratego, chutes n ladders, cribbage…….
zrx1200r
May 13, 2008 @ 06:13PM
i believe you misinterpreted my comments to david, who considers evansville populated by hicks, where anything he deems upscale would be doomed.
my comment about baseball is sarcastic, directed at david making fun of Icon’s owner’s high school days.
your comments about not being superficial support my statement that evansville is NOT full of people looking to show off their money (though it would be easy to read “My family has always had plenty of money, drive nice cars, wear nice clothes, have big boats” as contradicting your self-description).
i like how you command me to not use “big words” while then doing the same.
as for the out-of-leftfield insult, name your game: trivial pursuit, jeopardy, ntn, stratego, chutes n ladders, cribbage…….
cody
May 13, 2008 @ 07:08PM
i am excited everyone is enjoying my review! i gave up on icon. if you dont cash out your bar tab they will tack on a nice tip in excess of 10 dollars for a bottle of beer.
zrx1200r
May 13, 2008 @ 08:14PM
you just never know what writing will inspire
chels777
May 13, 2008 @ 08:58PM
Naaa…I wasnt talking to you ZRX. And the comments made by me were to be sarcastic and condesending. Ha. Love the competition. Bring it on! I pick Scrabble.
Nicole
May 19, 2008 @ 10:11PM
Awesome place but don’t try to go to the bathroom. The lines are very long and they are unisex. Drunk guys go in there and pee all over the walls, toilet seats, toilet paper, and floors. There is no soap and most of the time no toilet paper. Why have a bar that is nice enough for a dress code but the bathrooms are right in the open, and a porta potty is nicer. No wonder people are urinating outside.
susie
May 28, 2008 @ 09:09PM
My friends and I are planing on going to Icon this Friday night-does anyone know what the hours are? I have read so many comments about this place Im not sure what to really expect-so someones said no shorts-what about capris or the new skimmer shorts? can someone please answer my questions before we go out.
mary
July 05, 2008 @ 11:36PM
Here it is July, and Icon is dead. Good place to go if you are trying to meet a black guy in a suit who’s full of —it. What happened to the bleach b owner with the big silicone, she’s probably at hammerheads having a good time. By the way, the parking lot may look like there is a crowd, but they must get all the employees and their friends to park out front. Looks like former worn scores girls working it——classy “upscale” looking place with well, you know. Been there twice, done.
mary
July 06, 2008 @ 11:05AM
Please delete the above comment—-was having a bad day