Thursday Night at Club Underground

Club Underground is one of the oldest clubs in Blagoevgrad, and it is a place that defines Thursday nights for the American University in Bulgaria students and culture. It opened its doors on Oct. 4, 1997, and at first, it was located next to DSK Bank on Third T. Alexandrov St., before moving to its current spot, Fifth Dimitar Talev St.  

When it first opened, along with the DJs, live performances by rock groups and solo musicians filled the club with music every night. The music they played resonated with the spirit of the AUBG students because it was different from what was normally played in the other clubs in Blagoevgrad.

Since those days, Underground has been a favorite place to go and let loose after all the assignments, papers, quizzes, and maybe midterms that you had to do during the week.

In the 20 months since the COVID-19 outbreak started on March 8, 2020, the club has been closed for around 16 of them. Most of the staff had to get a daytime job to survive during that period.

Now, with the government's introduction to the new COVID-19 measures and regulations as of Oct. 21, 2021, clubs and other indoor venues can stay open if the staff is 100% vaccinated, has a green pass, or introduces a negative PCR or Antigen test every time its expiration date has passed. 

Underground falls into this category. With a majority of the staff vaccinated and the rest with green passes, the club can stay open and work at full capacity.

Once again, after a day of lectures, Thursday night can lead you to Underground, the club that has made its mark on the AUBG culture. There are no entry fees for AUBG students on Thursday night as long as they show their AUBG ID cards. Still, not everything is as it used to be. Now, along with your ID card, you will have to show a vaccination certificate, green pass, or a negative PCR or Antigen test before you can go in.

As long as you have a green card, you can once again go down the stairs to enter and feel the music beating into your chest as you are walking down. You will see the room's brick walls with framed posters of bands like The Doors, Rolling Stones, Queen and Linkin Park.

You can go to the bar and order two shakers for the price of one as you did before COVID-19. An Underground employee says that if all the regulations and measures are followed in terms of vaccine certificates, green passes, and tests, there will be no need for social distancing, and the club can work with full capacity and can be full of people.