Honey, I Shrunk the Nightclub

Nightlife in this town isn’t dying, it’s downsizing.  It’s a phenomenon that is happening all across the country. I’ve played both big and small venues and both have their pros and cons.

With a big crowd it’s almost impossible to play a record that bombs.  This is due to a few factors, the most important of these being that people in a large group are as equally stimulated by the situation as they are the music.  Simply put, being in a large crowd of people that are all ready to get down, is an intense experience by itself.  A lot of people in Virginia have no idea what it feels like to be in a room full of 500+ people and the song breaks down to almost silence and everyone around you is screaming in anticipation of the beat dropping back in.  Go to RVAlution at Hat Factory on a Tuesday if you want to get a glimpse of what it’s like. Also with a crowd that large, once it gets rolling, it’s momentum will carry it through to where you could drop something completely random like polka and they probably wouldn’t care.

The downside to a big crowd is that you lose the intimacy of programming for the individual.  Whenever I DJ for a big room, I look out and find one or two people that seem to be an accurate representation of the whole and program based off their reactions.  Another thing that I dislike about big crowds is what it turns DJs into.  I absolutely hate DJs that pre-plan sets knowing that the crowd is so big that no one will care.  I’m a huge advocate for spontaneity while DJing. I played a party with Steve Aoki in Chicago on July 18^th and I walked in having no idea of what I was going to play.  I went with the flow and played to the people and they enjoyed it.

Small crowds are a lot harder to play for simply because the mindset of a smaller group tends to be more judgmental.  If you’ve got a room full of 100 and half the people aren’t feeling it, that 50 person negativity is going to spread a lot quicker than half of 1500 at a large party. You can lose a dance floor at a small club a lot easier than you can lose a one at a big club. My first experience with DJing to a smaller crowd was 3 years ago at Lucky Buddha.  It taught me that I could be more selective with my music, but that I had to gain the trust of the crowd first because if 5 people left the dance floor the rest would follow suit quickly.

The upside to the smaller crowd for me is the challenge of trying to keep as many people happy as possible. Sometimes a smaller crowd has a much more refined taste and are looking for a little bit more than your typical programming.  When I DJ for smaller crowds, I tend to look more at the individuals than I do at the whole group. It also allows me to interact more personably with the crowd.  Usually the DJ booth is more accessible in smaller venues.  This allows me to take requests easier and talk to people who want to talk to me if I so choose.

In Virginia, the trend is moving towards smaller venues and parties, but it’s not a bad thing.  Having a lot of smaller parties to choose from ensures that you will eventually find one that’s right for you as opposed to having to settle for going to that one big club where the music is okay and the people are tolerable.