Big names in DnB, intimate venue - pros vs cons.

debsico

New Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Having gone to Boston in the US for three months, my first instinct was to check out the DnB scene. It seems that there is only one night, Elements, which has around 250 people capacity. Some of the major DJs in DnB have found themselves there, I went along to their residency night, here's a review:

http://debsico.blogspot.com/2013/07/18072013-review.html

In August, Andy C will be DJing and I wondered whether anyone has been to see major DnB names in small venues and what you thought of them, pros and cons, etc?

If you have any thoughts I'd like to here them.
 
At Respect in Los Angeles, it is an intimate bar/club venue as well. It only has around 300-350 capacity, and we get all the big name DNB dj's that tour through the States. We recently had Goldie for his 3 hr set, the WODB tour, the Upbeats, Utah Jazz, Ant TC 1, Aphrodite, Marky, Subzero, S.P.Y., Loxy, Heist, Klute, Sigma etc..., and I personally enjoy a small venue much more than a big venue or festival set. The artist seems to be able to read the crowd better and plays better sets than festivals. The only Con is sometimes it becomes overcrowded and sweaty, but it's not a issue. After going to much larger clubs in the UK such as Cable, Motion, and Fabric i was blown away at the size of those crowds for a "club show."


We also will be having Andy C and Noisia touring here in August at a smaller venue as well in Orange County.
 
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Small to medium venues have the best vibes imo. Can't beat a dark, sweaty club with some rugged dnb booming out of the subs
 
Elements is the one thing I'm going to miss about living in the Boston area, the vibe there is always amazing. Since I don't live in the city I only go in for the bigger headliners, but those shows are quite frequent.

I'm really looking forward to Andy C, but unless they do some advanced tickets, you're going to have to get there really, really early to get in.
 
Thanks guys, so psyched that you've experienced smaller venues. London offers great DnB nights but are huge, thousands crammed into large soulless venues.

There's something about a small sweaty venue that seems authentic. Looking forward to Andy C, up close and personal.
 
Thanks guys, so psyched that you've experienced smaller venues. London offers great DnB nights but are huge, thousands crammed into large soulless venues.

There's something about a small sweaty venue that seems authentic. Looking forward to Andy C, up close and personal.

I don't think anything I've been to in the last year in london has been soulless to be honest mate, I'm not against "intimate venues" but I'm against the "tiny raves" to be honest I've heard people make comments like "why cant we just have a small intimate venue" relating to an Andy C night before and my point would be that I believe everyone should have the opportunity (within reason of buying a ticket within a week or so) to see who they like play some dnb and take them on a journey. You restrict stuff to really tiny venues and people are gonna miss out which isn't fair everyone should get to be part of it (As I said within reason and by reason I mean you have a week to buy a ticket after release) .

A dnb rave is for the masses it's not for restriction imo.
 
A rave and a club night are two different things though, that seems to be forgotten quite often. A rave = thousands of people in a huge venue / outdoors, huge DJ lineup etc
A club night with two or three DJs on the bill is not a rave
 
small venues ftw.

It really depends on the size of the scene in the area though. I saw Spectrasoul play to 30/40 people in a sweaty little cafe bar, that was wicked vibes. Saw andy C play to a hundred in a club that was too big for the scene, that was boring.

Personally I'd pay more door money for a more intimate venue, then you only get the people who really care.
 
i like the big ones, nothing beats walking into fabric, looking over the balcony in room1 and seeing it go off!
 
went to see Andy C at The Cellar in oxford a few years back. those who know, know. The Cellar is tiny. The vibes were massive. Hard to compare the two though. 2 completely different experiences that can both be fun in different ways. chalk and cheese

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https://www.facebook.com/freerangeoxford/media_set?set=a.1938071821356.2115992.1529191476&type=3
 
Heard lots about the cellar, need to go there.

Anywho, did you seriously just suggest fabric is soulless.
 
Herbal was a wicked little venue in Shoreditch that used to do sick nights there regularly. Seeing Andy C at a DNBA night there years ago, super packed and sweaty but nuff vibes

It's now a travel hostel
 
Aperture in cardiff is in a small venue (Clwb Ifor Bach) but has a brilliant system and Dan always books big names, vibes.
 
went to see Andy C at The Cellar in oxford a few years back. those who know, know. The Cellar is tiny. The vibes were massive.

wut.

Gutted I missed that, saw Perez there a few months back which was sick though. Small venues are cool, but then thousands of people raving outside at festivals is also great. Both have their place.
 
At Respect in Los Angeles, it is an intimate bar/club venue as well. It only has around 300-350 capacity, and we get all the big name DNB dj's that tour through the States. We recently had Goldie for his 3 hr set, the WODB tour, the Upbeats, Utah Jazz, Ant TC 1, Aphrodite, Marky, Subzero, S.P.Y., Loxy, Heist, Klute, Sigma etc..., and I personally enjoy a small venue much more than a big venue or festival set. The artist seems to be able to read the crowd better and plays better sets than festivals. The only Con is sometimes it becomes overcrowded and sweaty, but it's not a issue. After going to much larger clubs in the UK such as Cable, Motion, and Fabric i was blown away at the size of those crowds for a "club show."


We also will be having Andy C and Noisia touring here in August at a smaller venue as well in Orange County.


Great event, but the Dragon Fly sucks. The volume gets turned down quite a bit when the headliner comes on.
 
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