"Follies" Dayshift at Vivide

This particular building in West Midtown has undergone a number of name changes within the past decade or so. Myself and other longtime ATL clubbers remember this building as the Body Tap, which was one of top tier “make it rain” clubs of its time not unlike Magic City or Blue Flame, especially during the crunk music era of the 2000’s. The Body Tap closed around 2010 and by the following year it was reopened under the name “Staxxx”. That was short-lived and by 2012 this club became “Diamonds of Atlanta”. DOA as the locals called it lasted for four years until rapper/actor T.I. became part-owner and opened this club as part of the “V-Live” chain in 2016. V-Live also lasted for four years until March 2020 when it became a casualty of the closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The building did, however, reopen under its current name (Vivide) after Governor Kemp lifted the restrictions during the summer originally as a nightclub. Then around December 2020 it started operating as a strip club during the day under the “Follies” name.

I’ve been to this club during the day shift a few times since the spring of last year, so why am I just now writing my first review? Well, I originally kept coming here specifically to see a long-time favorite dancer of mine from the original Follies. A very beautiful tall black woman that does some modeling and also works as a housemom at this club part-time. I gave a description of this dancer way back in my March 2nd, 2015 review of Follies and she has consistently remained in my personal Top 5 Follies favorites ever since. She’s closing in on 40 but still looks better than most dancers in their 20’s. She keeps herself up very well. Shadowcat knows exactly who I am talking about. I get very decent floor dances from her (she does a whole lot of stick shifting) and occasionally VIP (she charges $200 but I have been able to talk her down to $175 sometimes) and it is worth it.

Well lately I have been in sampling mode, so I made a few recon trips within the past couple of months. First off, this club has free parking during the day and a $10 cover charge. There are two levels to this club but all of the action is downstairs on the lower level. You will enter at the top level and have to walk a long, steep descent of stairs to the bottom. There is a “horseshoe” shaped bar with approximately 8 to 10 high chairs. The rest of the seating are open booths of couches and small cocktail tables which I don’t like and neither do the dancers. You’re forced to share a couch with another customer and dancers once it becomes very busy. There are two small stages with a pole on each; they are still named “Park Place” and “Boardwalk”. Additionally, there are two large TV’s but the one on the back wall is usually off which helps reduce some of the brightness. There are two VIP areas with two sections in each one. One across from the dancer’s dressing room and the other one near the restrooms. So four VIP "sections" total. There is a restroom troll stocked with your typical items and he is generally quiet and chill.