Prior to attending Rowdytown at Brooklyn Mirage, I went out with a group of friends to a well-known club in NYC. It was overcrowded, impossible to get alcohol, and a dude who owned a yacht was confused I had no interest in speaking to him because like, duh, he owned a yacht? As much as I’d love to be sailing around in a boat with my friends, the entire club experience soured in my mouth. If you’re reading Acid Stag, you probably enjoy electronic music as much as I do, but getting it from clubs can sometimes be…the worst.
Enter Rowdytown, a one night only experience hosted by Big Gigantic, loved by EDM fans and chill-stoner types and hip hop-crossover enthusiasts alike. The other DJs? Cool, but not pretentious. The venue? Crowded, but sprawling with all sorts of space. And the bar? Overpriced, but this is New York. You take what you can get.
On top of all this, the concert was in 3D, and I admit, I was skeptical – I was fully expecting an experience a la Justin Bieber’s ‘Never Say Never’ 3D movie. But when I say these visuals were wack (in a good way), I mean they were wack – like, a saxophone fighting a piano video-game style wack. Things were popping out at you left and right and up and down, all while Big Gigantic boogied their hearts out below. It was magic – literally, there were definitely some sparkly magic droplet things flying at us at one point. You could view the chaos from the crowd, fully immersed, dancing and laughing and sharing giddy “OHHHs” with strangers when ‘Good Times Roll’ started to play. Or, you could view the spectacle from Brooklyn Mirage’s INSANE balconies high above the ground floor. Seriously, it was a whole other world upstairs, all covered in good vibes and people dancing sans any kind of judgement.
As Rowdytown makes its way back to Red Rocks for a two-night immersive experience, I am incredibly jealous of my friends who get to do the whole thing over in Colorado. The best part about Rowdytown is that it fills the void for people who like electronic music, but don’t love clubbing and feel really awkward at raves (@ me). I’m always down to bust out some moves with a bunch of people who also look goofy in 3D glasses – it makes for one hell of a rowdy time.
Stream: Counter Records
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