I had been hearing murmurings about The CityFox Experience, an event series from a team based out of NYC & Zurich, for months now. After stories about their now infamous temporary club concept events over the last year have been murmured across the Gotham Underground, I decided it was time to see what these cats were up to. Boy, was I impressed.
The CityFox Experience seems to be an experiment in generating high quality events in places you wouldn’t expect them. This harkens back to the pop-up party concept of years long past, especially in the era of bottle-service, mega clubs and festivals making the one-off “night of dope shit” almost impossible to come by these days. So, my companion & I decided to take a chance and found ourselves on the water outside of an enormous building with surprisingly ample parking & good traffic management. Just one of the details attended to with finesse.
After a smooth ticketing, we were jostled into two groups for entry to ensure the doors remained closed the majority of the time. This seemed like a needless hassle until entered the main room, when the vibration of my sternum reminded me they in fact had a purpose in doing so. It’s almost as if they’ve been throwing high-end events here & in Zurich since 2006 or something. The KV2 Audio 3D sound system was impressive, to say the least. However, as we exchanged our coats for the drink of choice for the evening (champagne of course), I was struck by a level of detail and a focus on deco I had not seen in years. And boy was the music excellent. If you don’t believe me, here’s a mix from just one of the coterie of DJs from all over the world, brought in to make an amazing night even better. Ame spun from 4:30 to 6 AM in the main room for everyone who made it to sunrise.
The 3d projection mapping work being done by Projektil, thanks to the insane dedication of logistics and team members I knew like Jay & Wizzard, really did make me feel like I was in a different place. Certainly not Brooklyn, at least for the night anyway. When I say the little things were attended to, I’m not kidding. Places to sit and explore in both rooms, lots of bathroom portapotties in a warehouse, and a bathroom area not entirely exposed/cold, which was huge. The River Room was so well done, I thought I was at a Vegas Day Club, with views of Manhattan.Little things like having the set times on the walls in between the two rooms, pointing at the room they’re playing in, so no matter how hard you’re partying for the New Year, it’s still possible to figure out where you need to be. Or a well lit bar, drawing you towards amenities and away from the darkened chill spaces where people began to nest over the evening. Shots of the river will filter out onto social media in the coming days, but let’s just take in how dope the bar was too.
My companion & I took in the sights, sounds & the bubbles as the night built to the new year. Interestingly, midnight was celebrated (in the River Room at least) with as little pomp & circumstance as possible. No viewing of the ball dropping, no pop music, no cheesy balloons or silly noise makers. A quiet countdown, some applause and the music was cranked back up. This was an exceptionally un-New York way to mark the occasion, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. After refilling our glasses we returned to the Studio to take it all in.
Naveen G is one of the better NYC locals making the rounds in parties that matter here in NYC. He was making the Studio THE dance floor to be on after midnight in Brooklyn on January 1st. The smooth, bubbling minimal house has consistently gotten people’s attention and it was in full effect here. To get a better idea of what he was doing, check out his 4hrs set at the Panther Room in Output. This is a force to be reckoned with, but again, so was everything here. Mano Le Tough was pushing out a ridiculously competent set for anyone who made it past 6 AM, and if you were still hanging out after getting down, kudos to you party person, I take my party hat off to you.
The champagne flowed (hey, you only live once right?), the music played & people seemed to be having a stellar time. Laughing, talking and stories in a dozen languages at the bar, while deep bass throbbed through every inch of the space. A diverse crowd danced into the deep morning, where the Ubers, Lyfts & regular cabs that don’t have a start-up on their phone awaited to take them home or to the dope afterparty at Verboten. I’ll just leave you with one of the label’s new EPs, by the DJ from the River Room in between 2 & 3 AM. I was there, were you? And if not, I hope by now, you’re wondering why.
Terry Gotham 