Only in NY: Quiet Clubbing

Let’s get one thing straight: I am NOT a clubber. I hate techno, I don’t like random slimy men dancing up to me and grinding on me, and the music is too loud. Even when I wasn’t old I couldn’t stand clubbing. But I have to hand it to NYC for continuing to prove it’s the greatest city on the planet. While Cindy writes about the canals of Venice, in her Only in LA post (oh look, water…in California, how original), NY is always innovating. The city that never sleeps is also the city that never stops creating.

In this latest, ‘who thought of that?’ concept, you combine a stunning rooftop with a view of an epic landmark (perhaps you’ve heard of the Empire State Building) and since noise ordinances prohibit loud music outside after hours, you bring the music to your ears only. Genius!

This is how we do it in NYC.

My friend Christina and I decided to try this because it was pitched as a rooftop beach party. Well except for one inflatable inner tube that the drunkest person there wore as a necklace, the beach theme wasn’t executed on. But we fell in love with Quiet Clubbing. How it works is simple:

1) When you check in you get a pair of wireless headphones

2) There are three channels on the headphones which you control with the click of a button – each channel is helmed by a specific party DJ, in this case a more techno channel, a 90’s hip-hop type channel (flashbacks to college abounded on this one – Rob Base, Bel Biv Devoe, etc.), and a current R&B/dance channel

3) When you change channels your color changes on your headphones so you can see who else is rocking out to your station

4) You control your volume

I admit to being skeptical at first. After all, how can you meet and talk to people when you have giant headphones on? But you can easily put them around your neck when you want to have a conversation, or if someone is bothering you, you can just pretend a really good song came on and dance away (not that I would ever do that, of course).

For me the fun was twofold: being able to dance to recognizable music at an acceptable noise level while being outside AND feeding off the energy of the crowd and changing channels based on who was dancing or even singing along to certain channels. It ended up being MORE social than any dance club I’ve ever gone to.

This Quiet Clubbing is not limited to rooftops though. They do it on the subway and even across the Brooklyn Bridge! You can bet I’m going to try that. Who doesn’t want to dance on the subway with a car full of other clubbers? It’s like a quiet flash mob!

Take that LA.