CLUB SHOWS, WORTH IT?

I know that this website is mostly focused on music festivals and one of a kind events, but after an experience I had a few weekends ago, I wanted to take a minute to talk about club shows, more specifically, to ask if they were worth it? For those of you who don’t know what I mean by that, for some reason, by club show I mean when a particular DJ headlines an evening at a nightclub. The particular show that sparked this post was the Factory 93 takeover of Exchange LA (for those of you who live in Los Angeles). Factory 93 is a company that essentially curates ‘underground’ experiences and promotes techno artists. They tend to sponsor the stages at events like Escape or EDC where you here house and techno blasting from the speakers.

Let me first start off by saying that I am going to specifically be talking about the clubs in Los Angeles, where I live. I can’t really speak to the clubs where you live, but I seriously doubt there is too much of a difference from city to city (unless LA is particularly bad). People tend to act equally terribly in most major cities, and too much liquor can make anyone act like a fool regardless of geography.

Anyway, when I saw that Factory 93 was doing a takeover of one of my favorite spots to go out in Los Angeles, I knew I had to go. Even though my last few experiences at clubs had been a little cagey to put it lightly, I REALLY knew I had to go when I saw that the headliner was Charlotte De Witte, who I had always wanted to get to see live. So, I tried to grit my teeth through the pain of buying a fifty dollar ticket and decided to go. Now usually, whenever I choose to go to a club show, I have to put a lot of thought into it before I pull the trigger. This is mostly because in my experience club shows are either great or the worst experiences ever. It doesn’t help that it is hard to tell beforehand which one of the two it’s going to be. However, the lineup of this particular show was enough to make me lock in to going without too much thought.

I want to add, just so I can prove how ridiculous some of the things that happened were, that I was not alone. I went with a guy I had been on a few dates with before, which meant that I thought I was going to be safe from one of my biggest frustrations when I go to club shows either by myself or with a group of girlfriends: getting hit on. Now, maybe some women don’t find this annoying, but I do, especially when people don’t take a hint and will not stop unless you physically walk away from them. There is nothing more irritating then needing to give up a good spot at the front of the room because some idiot thinks it’s okay to try and grind on you or touch you without permission. Yes, I have dealt with some creeps are proper music festivals, but never anything more than maybe getting catcalled or having someone actually come up and try to talk to you. I have never had someone attempt to literally grope me at a festival. That particular piece of shitty behavior seems to be reserved for club shows.

I think the biggest problem with club shows, especially for raver who is only interested in dancing to the music, is that you get a mixed crowd. By a mixed crowd, I mean that you get people who came because they love a particular DJ and want to see them while they are in their city, and you get people who came because they wanted to go “to the club.” These are the ones who are trying to pick up women (or men) or get wasted and don’t really care about the music. They are the reason why I tend to think twice about going to club shows.

This particular night at Exchange really made me question whether it was even worth it to go to club shows any more. I was grabbed multiple times by strangers while I tried to dance, repeatedly harassed by a group of drunk friends who thought it was okay to make overly sexual remarks to me, and even literally stopped by the same group later as I waited for my date to get our coats from coat checked. It was incredibly uncomfortable, and it had me looking over my shoulder the whole evening. There is nothing worse than not being able to enjoy yourself in a space where you should be able to feel safe. This is a problem I have never had at a festival. Despite there being slightly irritating moments here and there, I have never felt like I needed to be always on my guard from the moment I walked in. As I started to reflect on my experience I began to go through the other negatives I have found when it comes to club shows.

The first thing that came to mind was the lack of space. Clubs tend to be packed really tight, which means that if you are someone who likes to dance in any way that isn’t swaying side to side, you don’t really have the space to do so. The second thing was that you weren’t always getting very much for the ticket price. Headliners often show up late, and by nature of the fact that things tend not to pick up until around midnight anyway, you are less likely to get the amount of music that you would for even a single day GA ticket at a festival. Finally, the quality of the experience is often nowhere near what you would have if you just saved the money on the club tickets and used it to get festival tickets. I think this is the biggest one.

Shows in LA can get pricey, especially when you factor in drinks, uber rides, and maybe dinner beforehand. If you aren’t really disciplined, by the time you get to the end of the night, you might have just spent the entirety of a 2-day GA pass to a festival where you would have had way more fun, not been groped by drunk strangers, and gotten way more music for your money.

So to get back to the question that started this whole little reflection/rant: are club shows worth it? Personally, I think they aren’t worth it for me anymore. I have had one too many bad experiences at this point to favor them over festivals, and the money that I spend on them every couple of months could easily be put towards adding another festival to my list for the year.

That being said, if you like going to club shows and have never had a bad experience, then more power to you! It is important to do the things that make you happy and personally, club shows just aren’t it for me anymore. This post isn’t really an attempt to sway anyone, but I hope it at least gives you a look into why someone might decide that going to the club isn’t worth it.